Sports
Northwestern Bests Bobcats 1-0
By: Jay Carroll
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The Ohio Field Hockey team fell to the No. 12 Northwestern Wildcats 1-0 on Sunday. The Bobcats hoped to follow up their performance from the previous day, a victory over California-Berkeley, with another win, but to no avail. The Wildcats dominated all aspects of the game, defeating Ohio Sunday in Evanston, Ill.
“I’m a little disappointed with the outcome today but I think we fought really hard throughout the game,” Bobcats head coach Neil Macmillan told OhioBobcats.com. “Northwestern did a nice job of playing an up tempo style. Every time we turned it over they ran at us hard and put us under pressure.”
Coming into the game, the 12th-ranked Wildcats were 7-1, posting impressive victories against No. 15 Northeastern, No. 16 Boston University, and Cal in overtime. They lived up to their billing, outshooting the Bobcats 12-5 and holding a 10-6 advantage in penalty corners. Defensively, the Bobcats performed admirably, and were anchored by senior goalkeeper Brittany Walker. Walker had five saves in the game.
Offensively, the Bobcats were unable to create many legitimate scoring chances. Freshman Franziska Schmiedel led the Bobcats in shots for the second consecutive contest, attempting two. Junior Lauryl Desch took Ohio’s only shot on goal.
Northwestern enjoyed a couple of early chances in the game, but were turned away by Walker at the seventh- and 13th-minute marks. Ohio’s first opportunity came in the 16th minute, a failed penalty corner from senior Jessica Jue.
The Bobcats’ best opportunity to take the lead came in the 32nd minute, off of another corner from Jue. Desch’s shot was knocked away by Wildcats goalkeeper Maddy Carpenter. The two teams went into the break tied at 0-0.
The Wildcats came out of the half playing at an aggressive and accelerated pace. After Walker made a save in the 36th minute, Northwestern broke through four minutes later, when Nikki Parsley beat Walker from just inside the top of the circle.
Ohio’s next chance came in the 45th minute, but the shot from senior Luli Gomez Teruel went begging. In the 56th minute, Schmiedel had a chance to score off of a Jue corner, but was unsuccessful.
Walker made her fifth and final save with six minutes to go in the contest, giving Ohio one last chance to equalize in the 68th minute. Schmiedel was once again wide, and Northwestern escaped with a victory.
The next fixture for the Bobcats is Saturday, Sept. 21. They will take on Indiana in Bloomington, Ind., at 1 p.m.