Before the final two regular season games, the same names seemed to dominate No. 16 Ohio’s offensive statistics: Torrie Albini, Rachelle Coetzee, Marcy Dull.

Entering this weekend’s Mid-American Conference Tournament in Oxford, however, four new names popped onto the score sheet, scoring their first goals of the season in Ohio’s last two contests. The Bobcats will bring a more rounded attack as they attempt to continue their reign as MAC champions.

Taylor Anderson and Patty Donahue found the back of the cage against Missouri State Oct. 21, while Nikki Gnozzio and Lauren Stahlhuth scored in the regular-season finale against Central Michigan.

Stahlhuth said it was the first time she had scored since high school, and Gnozzio said she last hit paydirt her freshman year.

“It was so fun,” said Stahlhuth, who typically sets up other players for goals on penalty corners. “It was exciting to be up there. Torrie (Albini) hit a perfect ball. I put my stick down and closed my eyes.”

“I almost forgot what it felt like,” Gnozzio added. “I was pretty excited.”

Before the offensive outburst, four players had contributed 44 of Ohio’s 46 goals over the first 17 games. Ohio coach Neil Macmillan said he was pleased with that much diversity offensively, but following the final two games, 11 players have now scored for the Bobcats.

Different players’ getting their opportunities gives the team confidence, Gnozzio said.

“We realize we are a team, and we don’t need just one person who can score,” she said. “We can diversify as much as possible, and that makes it harder for teams to mark up on defense.”

“When teams tend to focus in on someone like Torrie, they’re going to leave other people more open than they would otherwise,” Macmillan added. “That leaves us options, and it gives other teams matchup problems against us.”

The selflessness of the major offensive players has led to the emergence of the team-wide offense, Stahlhuth said.

“At the beginning of the season, you knew the two or three people who could always get the ball in the back of the net,” she said. “It’s nice to see them passing to set other people even when they might have their own shot.”

With their new offensive weapons, the Bobcats will face Central Michigan in today’s semifinal game after the Chippewas defeated Ball State 1-0 yesterday in the quarterfinals. The Bobcats swept both games between the teams in the regular season.

Because Ohio did not know its opponent until less than 24 hours before the MAC semifinal game, the team had to focus on itself, Stahlhuth said, and couldn’t start looking ahead to
tomorrow’s championship.

“We have to stay focused, stay disciplined to our game,” she said. “There’s not a team that we can’t handle. We just need to take it seriously and take it one game at a time. It’s down to us.”

The unusual schedule made practice this week a little difficult, Macmillan said. The Bobcats had to prepare for both teams in just a week’s time, but the team should be ready today, he added.

“You’ve got the enjoyment of a rest day while the other two teams are playing,” said Macmillan, who got a chance to watch Central Michigan yesterday. “You really get to learn a lot watching them the day before you play them, because they’re not going to do anything drastically different between now and tomorrow.”