Oct. 12, 2007
Box Score | Photo Gallery 
ATHENS, Ohio - The 15th-ranked Ohio field hockey team returned to its winning ways with a 4-3 win over Ball State Friday at Peggy Pruitt Field.
Ohio scored twice in the first four minutes of the game and came back from a one point halftime deficit to stay undefeated on its home field this season.
"We played much better defense in the second half," said Head Coach Neil Macmillan. "Initially we gave them three goals on four opportunities and any team is going to be successful with that type of statistic. The good thing is that we scored right off the bat to put the pressure on them, so being down 3-2 going into the half was not a bad situation for us. I knew we had the ability to come back. They only had one shot in the second half so we completely dominated. Our defense was solid and our execution up top was really good."
Rachelle Coetzee (Bloemfontein, South Africa) put Ohio (11-4, 5-1 MAC) on top just more than a minute into the game. After two denials, Coetzee pushed it past the Ball State (3-10, 1-5 MAC) defense at the 1:09 mark for her seventh goal of the season and a 1-0 Bobcat lead.
Ball State's Casey Hunsicker scored a goal at the 2:10 mark to knot the score at 1-1.
Not long after, Coetzee struck for her eight goal of the season after scoring off the post and a feed from Lauren Stahlhuth (St. Louis, Mo.) and Nikki Gnozzio (Flanders, N.J.) to pull Ohio ahead 2-1.
"I was excited before the game," said Coetzee. "I think we took advantage of open opportunities and things worked out really well."
The Cardinals had the last word in the first frame as Brooke Macgillivary scored two goals to give the `Cards a 3-2 advantage going into half-time.
For the half, Ohio took six shots and had four penalty corners. Ball State took four shots with no penalty corner opportunities.
After not seeing any action in the first half, senior Torrie Albini (Escondido, Calif.) weaved through the Cardinal defense for a wide open shot and goal seven minutes into the second frame to tie the game at 3-3.
Making the most of a penalty corner, Albini then scored the game-winner at the 55:10 mark off an assist from Lindsay Schwartz (Littz, Pa.) and Gnozzio.
"In the second half we started focusing on what we needed to change," said Albini. "At no point were we really concerned with the score. We had confidence in our ability to come back so we redirected what we worked on in practice and knew that that was going to get us the win. Our halftime strategies really had an effect as well. We started slowing the game down and started playing our game by controlling the ball."
For the game, Ohio took 15 shots, including 13 on goal, and landed nine penalty corners. Ball State took five shots, including four on goal, and was awarded one penalty corner.
Ohio will remain in conference play Sunday with a match-up against Miami. The Bobcats knocked off the RedHawks earlier in the season in Oxford. Sunday's game is slated for 1 p.m. at Peggy Pruitt Field.
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Quenjana Adams is the field hockey contact in the Ohio media relations office. She can be reached via email at adamsq@ohio.edu and in the office at 740-593-1299.
