Oct. 29, 2009

Box Score

AKRON, Ohio - An Akron goal late in the 41st minute proved to be the deciding shot as Ohio dropped a 1-0 nail-biter on the road to the Zips to wrap up the regular season Thursday. The `Cats will now prepare for their Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinal game Sunday when they play host to Toledo.

With the setback to Akron, Ohio (9-7-2, 6-3-2 MAC) will draw the fourth seed in the conference tournament and take on the Rockets, who claimed the fifth seed by virtue of their win over Bowling Green. The `Cats upended Toledo 1-0 in Toledo when the two teams met earlier this season.

Ohio was outshot by Akron, but the `Cats made their shots count, landing all of them on goal. Kim Nordtveit (Newtown, Pa.) led Ohio with two shots on goal on the day. Lauren Burke (Medina, Ohio), Kelsey Pichel (Rochester Hills, Mich.) and Toye Famodu (Bloomington, Minn.) each had a shot on goal. Jess MacLean (Loveland, Ohio) tallied three saves to move into second place on the Bobcats' career saves list.

"It was not our best game," Ohio coach Stacy Strauss said. "Akron did a very good job. They have some dangerous players and were able to create some chances. We failed to adjust to their formations. That was the difference in the game. That said, our chances today were very dangerous, all of our shots were on goal."

Akron (9-6-2, 7-3-1 MAC) came out the aggressors early on and took aim for the nets, but the `Cats defense was up to the task and shut the Zips out. Burke had a chance to put Ohio on the board late in the 17th minute, but the Akron keeper managed to get her hands on the ball in time to keep Ohio away. Nordtveit came back about five minutes later and nearly put the `Cats on the scoreboard again, but another nice save from the Zips' keeper kept the score where it was.

Both sides battled back and forth over the next several minutes until Akron managed to get the lone goal of the day late in the 41st minute when Katie Wise was able to get her head on the ball off a corner kick and deflect it just out of reach and into the net.

Ohio came out of the half strong and controlled the action early. Nordtveit put up another direct shot that was headed for the back of the net before Akron's keeper managed to get in front of it to make the save. The `Cats came back with a pair of corner kicks over the next few minutes, but the Zips defense was able to keep Ohio out of the net. Famodu had a chance to tie things up late in the 71st minute, but her shot was collected by Akron's keeper. The Zips defense held up the rest of the way to edge their way to the win.

The `Cats will now welcome Toledo to Chessa Field Sunday afternoon for the First Round of the MAC Tournament. First touch is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET.