Sports
Ohio Suffers Heartbreaking Loss, Misses Postseason
By: Clark Wicks
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In their final game of the season, the Ohio Bobcats women’s soccer team fell 3-2 in overtime to the top-seeded Kent State Golden Flashes despite the best efforts of the Bobcats persistent offense.
Kent State’s Hayden Pascoe was the difference maker Thursday night as she scored two goals for the Golden Flashes, including the game-winning goal scored with less than five seconds left in overtime. The win would have snuck the Bobcats in to the postseason to play dark horse as the eight seed.
“To be so close, it hurts,” coach Aaron Rodgers said. “This has just been the weirdest season I’ve ever been a part of because our record is no indication of the quality of this team.”
While Rodgers admittedly hates “moral victories,” his offense just put together the most productive season in program history. The Bobcats finished the season with a program record 27 goals, the fifth most in the Mid-American Conference.
Despite missing out on the playoffs for the third straight season, the Bobcats held their own against a tough Kent State team that has allowed less goals than any other MAC team this season. Ohio was just the third team to score more than one goal on Kent State this year, the other two being top-seeded Ball-State and a nationally ranked Ohio State team.
The Bobcats got on the board first at Chessa when senior Mollie Whitacre connected with Alivia Milesky on a corner kick. Despite five fouls called on Kent State, the Golden Flashes were able to tie the game up going into halftime.
Ten minutes in to the second half, Madelyn Kah weaved through the stifling Kent State defense and put the Bobcats back on top. But the lead didn’t last long as the Pascoe scored her first goal of the night no more than two minutes later. It took Pascoe another 45 minutes to score again and go home with a win.
Although Kent State’s winning streak has stretched to seven years, the Bobcats have proved that they have what it takes to continue playing at a high level. With a talented group of young players performing well this season, the Bobcats have shown that they have the potential to win games in the future.
“We have such a great group moving forward and I know that they have tasted playing against the best and beating the best in our league, Rodgers said. “Now they know we can do it, now they know we can compete at the top.”
According to Rodgers the bright future of this program can be credited to the work the seniors have put in during their time at Ohio University.
“It just shows the foundation that the seniors have left moving forward…I’m just so appreciative of the four years they’ve given and how hard that they have played and how much they have given to this program,” Rodgers said.