Sports
Soccer: Ohio Gets Conference Win In Second Half Surge
By: Tyler Rosten
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The Ohio soccer team turned up its intensity in the second half of Friday’s game against Bowling Green, scoring three goals in the final 45 minutes en route to the 3-1 victory.
The Bobcats (5-2-2, 1-0-0) have had problems all season with sluggish starts, and that continued to be the case against Bowling Green (0-7-0, 0-1-0). But late goals by Holly Harris, Allison Cislo and Carly Manso sealed the deal for Ohio’s first conference victory.
“We didn’t come out to compete in the first half,” Ohio coach Aaron Rodgers said on his team’s slow start. “More than talking tactics to them at halftime, we talked about will to win and will to score and having the heart to compete.”
And in the second half, the Bobcats showed that will to score and to win.
Cislo’s first career goal came in the 83rd minute off an assist by Manso. The redshirt freshman controlled a corner kick by Tonya Frasik, tapped it to Cislo in the box where the freshman knocked it into the back of the net from 15 yards out.
“It felt amazing, honestly,” Cislo said. “I knew everyone was relying on the forwards to finish [the shots]. We’ve been struggling in this game and in the past games to finish them, and I knew I needed to get one.”
Manso extended the Bobcats’ lead in the 85th minute, finding the back of the net on a penalty kick. Bowling Green goalie Lauren Cadel fouled Cislo in the box, and the Bobcats went to Manso with the shot.
“For me, penalty kicks are just about a gut-check. Who’s willing to take the chance or take the risk to go up and take the shot?” Rodgers said. “I let the girls decide. Who’s going to grab the ball? I hope we have girls fighting for it. Carly was the one that stepped up, and she dispatched it very well.”
The Falcons got on the board in the first half on a Kaitlyn Tobin goal in the eighth minute. They held the lead until Harris tied it up in the 59th minute off a Manso assist. Manso finished the game with one goal and two assists.
Friday was the second straight game the Bobcats had more than 20 shots throughout the game. They had 13 shots in the second half and 21 total.
Bowling Green, on the other hand, had just five total shots and two in the second half. It took 35 minutes in the second half before the Falcons even put up a shot attempt on Ohio goalie Mattie Liston.
“[The defense] did a good job in the second half of being a lot more organized,” Rodgers said. [Bowling Green’s Madeline Wideman is] a very talented player. She was very good in the counterattack, and we did a much better job in the second half of preventing her running.”
The Bobcats take on Central Michigan (1-7-1, 1-0-0) on Sunday at home. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. The Chippewas defeated Kent State, 1-0, on Friday.