Sports
Ohio Soccer: Bobcats Rout Northen Illinois in First Game of Critical Home Stand
By: Joey Madore
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The Ohio women’s soccer team came into Thursday afternoon knowing the need a win to solidify their spot in the Mid-American Conference with just three games left in the regular season. They had to go through Northern Illinois to take the first step in doing so.
Ohio (7-6-3, 5-2-2) controlled the ball for most of the game and dominated in shot totals, out-shooting the Huskies (2-15-0, 1-8-0) 31-10. All of this lead to a Bobcats victory over the Huskies, 4-0.
It was the first game back after a three game road trip for Ohio, and they wasted no time getting on the board.
In the seventh minute, Sidney Leckie played the ball through to midfielder Madi Kah who raced past all defenders and slotted the ball past the keeper into the right corner for her third goal of the season to give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead.
The Bobcats back line looked very strong throughout the first half only allowing one shot by Northern Illinois.
With 12 minutes left in the half, Ohio goalie Erin Beurket saw her first action of the day in net.
Northern Illinois midfielder Abby Gregg ripped a shot at Beurket, and she jumped up and knocked it over the crossbar to keep the score at 1-0.
Ohio started the second half much like the first half. Just a minute into the half, freshman Abby Townsend whipped a ball into the box to junior Alivia Milesky who guided it past the keeper to extend the Bobcats lead to 2-0.
Milesky’s day was far from over though. Just under four minutes after that, Milesky got the ball at midfield, out ran the entire Husky defense, and ripped it into the top left corner past a diving MacKenzie Lee for her second goal of the day. These were Milesky’s fifth and sixth goals on the season which leads the team.
The Bobcats added one more goal to the tally off a corner kick in the seventy-fifth minute of the game. Maria Collica sent the kick to the middle of the box to her teammate Sarina Dirrig found the back of the net to make the score 4-0.
Beurket added four more saves in the remaining minutes of the game to put her total at eight on the day to record the shutout, her third on the season.
It was a key win for the Bobcats with just two games left in the season to try and remain at the fourth seed in the MAC and get a home game in the MAC quarterfinals.
Head coach Aaron Rodgers is confident that his group is more than ready for the team’s final two games of the season.
“I feel good, this team has been so resilient all year, and this team has such a good togetherness about them.” Rodgers said. “So I really am looking forward to playing Western Michigan on Sunday and seeing how we can finish in the league”.
The Bobcats host Western Michigan on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Chessa Field.