Oct. 5, 2008
Box Score
OXFORD, Ohio - The Ohio field hockey team rallied from a one-goal deficit once, but could not repeat the task again, as the Bobcats fell to the Miami RedHawks 2-1 Sunday afternoon at the Miami Turf Field. The loss snapped Ohio's (5-6, 3-1 MAC) three-game winning streak and dropped the 'Cats into a tie with Miami (8-3, 3-1 MAC) and Kent State (8-4, 3-1 MAC) atop the conference standings.
"Overall, we didn't play well today," Ohio head coach Neil Macmillan said. "We tried to play the same brand of hockey that Miami was playing and we got into trouble with that. That's not how we play hockey, so it hurt us a lot, especially in the second half."
All three goals in the game occurred in a four-minute stretch, as the Bobcats and RedHawks fought back and forth. Miami got on the board first, as sophomore Christine Brightwell knocked home a cross from junior Maggie Marcum in the 20th minute.
The Bobcats would respond less than two minutes later, as senior Rachelle Coetzee (Bloemfontein, S.A.) scored off a penalty corner set up by seniors Nikki Gnozzio (Flanders, N.J.) and Estienne Coetzee (Bloemfontein, S.A.) to knot the game at one. Rachelle's goal was her team-best seventh of the season. Gnozzio's assist tied her for the team lead with four, while Estienne's assist was her second in as many games.
The match would not stay tied long, as the RedHawks regained the lead 1:27 later on a goal by junior Mary Hull. Senior Elizabeth Gilroy earned the assist that helped put Miami on top, 2-1.
"On the goals, we had a couple of mistakes defensively and they capitalized. Miami did a good job putting the ball away," Macmillan said. "We made the most of a corner and Rachelle buried it, which was nice. But overall, it was not the best of days for us."
The rivals would go into halftime with the RedHawks leading by a goal, despite both teams taking four shots in the half. Ohio did hold the edge in penalty corners, 4-1, in the opening frame.
Miami would not relinquish their lead again, as they limited the Bobcats to only one second-half shot, and held on for the 2-1 victory. The RedHawks fired three shots in the second stanza and earned all four penalty corners in the half.
"We changed the lineup in the last little bit of the game and got a few things going, but the second half really belonged to Miami," Macmillan said. "They took us out of our game and really crated a lot of opportunities for themselves. It's a shame we didn't play better, but it's nice to know at this stage of the season everything's even and there's still a lot of games to play, plus we'll see them later this season at our place. Hopefully the coaching staff can put together a better game plan for that game, than we did today."
Senior goalie Jessie Martin (Louisville, Ky.) made four saves on the day, while her counterpart, freshman Abbey Huck, stopped just two shots in the win.
Ohio finished with five shots, three of which were on goal, while Miami took seven shots, with six landing on goal. The RedHawks also held a slight advantage in short corners, 5-4, despite the Bobcats holding Miami well below their average of 9.56 corners per game. Rachelle and junior Marcy Dull (Ephrata, Pa.) paced Ohio with two shots apiece. Rachelle's pair of shots moved her into fifth place on Ohio's career shots list. Miami was led by Brightwell and senior Danielle Gaynor's two shots each.
The win was the RedHawks' first over the 'Cats in their last six tries. The game was also Ohio's eighth one-goal game of the season, in which the Bobcats are 4-4.
Ohio returns to action Friday, Oct. 10, when they play host to Kent State at 3 p.m. at Pruitt Field in a showdown of MAC leaders. The Bobcats defeated the Golden Flashes, 1-0, in Kent a week ago (Sept. 28).
