Nov. 4, 2006
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Athens, Ohio - The Ohio women's field hockey team defeated Ball State 2-1 in overtime to win the 2006 MAC Field Hockey Championship. The Bobcats field hockey program now has four MAC Regular Season Titles, three MAC Tournament Titles, and two NCAA Tournament appearances.
Ohio's game-winner came 10 minutes into the first overtime period.
After a diving save by Ball State goalkeeper Caroline Lehman and a defensive save by Jodi Mann, Torrie Albini (Escondido, Calif.) recovered the ball near the top of the circle and blasted a shot into the back of the cage to give the Bobcats the win and the tournament championship. Albini's goal was her 14th overall and her sixth game-winning goal of the season.
"Winning the MAC Tournament is definitely a relief," said junior forward Torrie Albini. "We came in as the number one seed, and generally that puts a lot of on people's shoulders. Winning the regular season was great, but winning the tournament is definitely an amazing feeling."
The first half would prove to be a defensive battle as neither team scored a goal. The Bobcats outshot the Cardinals in the half 7-4, while the Cardinals won the penalty corner battle 4-3.
After a scoreless first half, the Bobcats knew that they had to make some changes at halftime. "I'm not a huge motivator when it comes to halftime speeches," said Head Coach Neil Macmillan. "I just make the adjustments. The players' responsibility as a team is to get themselves fired up. Mine is to do the X's and O's and coach."
For the majority of the second half, the Bobcats looked as if they would win the game in regulation. Ohio took a 1-0 lead off a goal from Megan Rentschler (Akron, Pa.) at 48:28 and held onto a one-goal lead until the 70th minute. The goal was the third of the season for Rentschler.
In the 70th minute, with Ohio trying to run the clock out, Ball State forward Tara Reed stole a Bobcat pass outside the circle and placed a shot into the top right corner of the cage with 37 seconds remaining.
Ohio finished Saturday's game with 16-8 advantage in shots and won the penalty corner battle 9-7. Jessie Martin made four saves and Albini led all players with six shots.
The Bobcats had four players named to the all tournament team. Albini, Rachelle Coetzee (Bloemfontein, South Africa), Estienne Coetzee (Bloemfontein, South Africa) and Amanda Arnold (Oceanport, N.J.) were each named to the all-tournament team.
The Bobcats are now 13-8 overall. The team finished the MAC schedule 8-2 to earn its first regular season championship since 2001.
Ohio will now travel to California to take on No.13 California, Berkeley. The Bobcats and the Golden Bears play on Tuesday, Nov. 7 at 10 a.m. (PST) at Maxwell Family Field in Berkeley.
"Cal a good team, said Macmillan." "Miami played them so hopefully they'll give us a scouting report on them. I know of a couple other opportunities to get scouting reports as well. It's a tournament, which means that we have two days to get a game plan together, and that's exciting. We'll be fine with that."
