Sports
Soccer: ‘Cats blow lead and lose to Miami in double-OT
By: George Peck
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The game was almost as ugly as the weather. On a windy, rainy evening, Ohio let a 1-0 lead slip in the second half and lost to the Miami Redhawks 2-1 in double overtime. The match was extremely physical, with four yellow cards being handed out, and over twenty fouls called.
Ohio welcomed the Redhawks to Chessa Field in the first game of a three game home stand. Ohio sat atop the MAC East in first place coming into the game, while Miami was stuck in dead last looking for an upset. The Redhawks were hungry for a win after dropping there past five games. They say throw out the records when rivals meet. This game proved that point true.
Miami came out as the early aggressor forcing Mattie Liston to make ten saves in the first half of play. Ohio was outshot in the first half fifteen to one. Midway through the opening period heavy winds, rain wreaked havoc on the field of play. The first half ended scoreless.
Head coach Stacy Strauss said of the first half, “We withstood the Gail-force winds, and were a little bit fortunate for the score to be 0-0.”
In the second half Ohio was able to make some adjustments, and found it getting more opportunities to break the tie. In the 72 minute of play Toye Famodu drove a shot into the goal from close range off a Kelsey Pichel corner kick.
Miami didn’t go down easy. They continued to attack. In the 75 minute Mattie Liston was injured after colliding with Miami's Kayla Zakrzewsk. Liston toughed it out, and stayed in for the remainder of the game, but was visibly limping.
Strauss said that Liston was, “fine,” and that, “there was not much she could have done on either goal.”
With ten seconds left in regulation it looked like another win for the Bobcats (6-8-1, 3-3-1 MAC) was in the books. Out of nowhere, Miami’s Jess Kodiak put one by Mattie Liston to send the game to overtime.
In the overtime periods, Miami (7-7, 2-5 MAC) had the momentum, and the in the 106th minute of the second overtime period, Katy Dolesh found the back of the net off a nice pass by Giselle Mangal. The Redhawk bench ran onto the field in jubilation, and that was the ball game.
“We didn’t pressure close enough, so we allowed them the space to turn, and play through balls in behind us”, Coach Strauss said of the loss. “That was why they got several free services in the late going, including the game winner.”
Ohio will look to get the bad taste of its mouth Sunday as they host the Bowling Green Falcons at 1 p.m.