Sept. 27, 2009
Box Score
ATHENS, Ohio - Battling soggy conditions and physical play, Ohio soccer scratched and clawed with Eastern Michigan through regulation and two overtimes before coming away with a scoreless tie Sunday afternoon at Chessa Field.
The Eagles (4-2-4, 0-0-2 MAC) entered the weekend as the second-best team in the Mid-American Conference and featured a strong offensive attack. The `Cats (3-5-1, 0-1-1 MAC) defense, anchored by Sarah Brown (North Royalton, Ohio), Remi Famodu (Bloomington, Minn.) and Jess (MacLean (Loveland, Ohio) in goal, was strong and turned EMU away on several occasions. For MacLean, the shutout was her first of the season and the fourth of her career, tying her for fourth on Ohio's career shutouts list with Anita Alexander (1999-02).
Ohio's offense also turned out a good showing for itself, outshooting the Eagles 12-11 on the day and matching them with five shots on goal. Rachael Goulding (Toronto, Ontario) paced the Green and White with four shots, including two on goal, on the day. Amy Lower (West Chester, Ohio) also picked up two shots on goal to go with her three shots overall.
"We did a better job all the way around today," Ohio coach Stacy Strauss said. "The communication was very good defensively. I thought we played very composed with the physical play too. You have to expect that type of play in the MAC."
Neither side managed to get much going through the first few minutes of play as both defenses managed to keep the ball from getting too deep in the other's territory. An early yellow card issued to the Eagles in the 13th minute set the tone for the physical battle that would take place the rest of the way. Both sides had promising opportunities to get on the board toward the end of the first half, but the defenses turned the other away.
The back-and-forth battle resumed to start the second half. Ohio came awfully close on two occasions at the start as Lower and Goulding each fired shots that were headed for the strings. The EMU keeper made nice saves on both attempts, however, and kept the score where it was. The Eagles came close to putting a score up early in the 74th minute, but the attempt hit off the crossbar and was cleared out by the `Cats defense. The physical play picked up over the last nine minutes as both sides fought hard to get on the scoreboard. Regulation finally came to an end with the score knotted at zero.
Overtime one commenced with the physical play from the end of regulation carrying over. Ohio had a promising opportunity just over midway into the period, but a Paige Howard (Mentor, Ohio) shot was blocked away. The `Cats defense kept up its strong play throughout the rest of the action and forced the scoreless tie.
Ohio returns to MAC play on the road next weekend as it takes on Northern Illinois and Western Michigan.
