Sports

Ohio Soccer draws with Kent State, clinches 2 seed in tournament

By: Alex Michalec
Posted on: Thursday, October 28, 2021

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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Electric is downplaying the atmosphere of a packed Chessa Field on a gloomy Thursday afternoon with the attendance totaling over 1,000 people.

Bobcats and Golden Flashes fans alike knew this match was going to be an absolute thriller. Although the match ended in a 0-0 draw, head coach Aaron Rodgers was pleased with the team’s effort.

“We outshot them, we had more shots on goal,” Rodgers said.  “I think we created some really good chances and Kent is obviously a really good team and credit to them for the finish they had this season as well.”

Coming into the game the Bobcats were sitting in first yet they knew that Kent State was not far behind. The stakes were high for both teams as a win for Ohio would guarantee them the number one seed in the MAC tournament as well as home field advantage and a surely packed Chessa Field.

However, things did not pan out in either team’s favor as Bowling Green, which entered the match in third place, won its game 1-0 against Toledo, securing the Flacons with the number one seed.

With this shift in the rankings, the Bobcats end the regular season in second place, which is far better than last year’s ninth place finish.

“Fortunately we’ve defended so well this year that our goal difference was better and we finished second in the tie-breaker,” Rodgers said.

At the start of the match, it looked as if Kent State was dominating on the offensive side of the ball, but Ohio continued to show resilience and put itself in scoring positions.

The Bobcats found their success on the counterattack, with Abby Townsend and Isabella Ginocchi consistently making runs at the opposition. These counterattack opportunities happened frequently in the first half as the Golden Flashes had 10 corner kicks in the first half alone, giving the Ohio midfield plenty of chances to attack.

The second half was all Ohio, which out shot Kent, 13-4, and forced their opponents to get yellow carded three times within the last ten minutes of the half. Utter domination from Ohio in the second half, however, did not carry into the OT periods. Kent State looked to be in complete control as it out shot the Bobcats 7-2 in the OT phase of the match.

Overall, none of these shots converted, ending the game at 0-0 and giving Bowling Green the one seed in the MAC tournament.

Yet again, the experienced Ohio defense saw another clean sheet in the draw with Kent State.

Seniors Morgan Collica and Olivia Sensky continued to play stout defense and junior Ella Bianco showed how vital her role is to this team.

Although the defense played exceptionally well, it was senior goalkeeper Sam Wexell who stole the show yet again.

Wexell finished with only three saves after 110 minutes but the saves she made were astounding and put Wexell’s capabilities on full display. The senior from Pennsylvania stopped one shot at point blank range and used her width to stop the cheeky shot from six yards out. Only a couple minutes later she tipped the ball over the crossbar in what surely would have been a goal for the Golden Flashes. It was Wexell’s play that kept the Bobcats in the game and motivated them to use her defense and transition it to offense.

In the end, neither the Bobcats nor the Golden Flashes came out victorious and as time expired you could see the look of despair in both teams eyes. The match, well played by both squads, will surely go down as one the most entertaining 0-0 matches in recent history.

Ohio will take on either No. 3 Kent State or No. 6 Toledo next Thursday in the semifinals of the MAC Tournament.  First touch is scheduled for 7 p.m. from Cochrane Stadium on Bowling Green’s campus.