Sept. 6, 2012

ATHENS, Ohio - This fall, OhioBobcats.com is taking you closer than ever to the Ohio Women's Soccer season. Throughout the 2012 campaign, senior Veronica Rock will be writing a blog about her experiences with the program, both on and off the field.

Rock (North Royalton, Ohio) is a versatile player for the Bobcats with three seasons of experience to her name. The senior was named an Academic All-MAC Honorable Mention during the 2011 season and scored the game-winning goal in Oct. 16's 2-0 win over Mid-American Conference rival Bowling Green. Rock is currently making the transition to a defensive role for the Bobcats during the 2012 season and serves as one of the program's set-piece specialists.

It's official: preseason has come to a close and classes are in full swing! Now begins the balancing act of juggling practice, homework, travel schedules, reading, writing papers and studying. Locker room chatter has quickly shifted from the usual complaints of sore legs and too many practices to grumbles about tough professors, early morning classes, and the disbelief of having homework already. Some veteran experience has come in handy, as upperclassmen have been handing out advice to underclassmen on taking classes the rest of us have already conquered. And just when we think our day is about done, we're off to the field...

Practices this past week have been incredibly productive. We have been trying to focus on correcting the things we have seen on game film we feel we can improve upon. With each practice there has been notable growth in the team dynamic. As we continue to learn each other's styles and strengths, our play continues to improve significantly. After putting in a hard week's work it was off to DePaul to see where we stood.

To say the least...our game against DePaul wasn't good. In fact, with an 3-0 loss it was easily our worst performance of the season. Fortunately, we had a long eight-hour bus ride back to Athens to think it over. We came to the conclusion it is just simply unacceptable to work as hard as we do in practice to fall apart during a game. At that point with a 0-3 record, it would have been an easy to say that we just don't have it in us this year. But this team knows better and we don't quit that easily. We continued to pound the nail at practices and we knew our best play was still yet to come.

Then came Marshall and Morehead State. We approached these two games with a calmer attitude, far more relaxed, deciding we would play in these games as we do in practice...confidently! Marshall we took at home and although it was an incredibly hot day we battled hard. KCR (Kitty Cat Rogers) came up big, burying two in the back of the net for us! It was certainly the win we needed. As we packed up for Morehead we were excited to go into the game with some momentum and a win behind us. We toughed it out for 88 minutes with our back line keeping us in it before Cat came up big again! A nice shot tucked into the side netting with two minutes to go was the difference in that one. Win two on the board for the 'Cats! Needless to say, we have told Cat to continue to eat whatever she has been before games...its clearly working and knowing her, it's probably covered in barbeque sauce.

With one more weekend before MAC play we are happy with our last two performances, but not content. We continue to put in the work during the week and are striving to finally hit our stride as we prepare for conference play. Until then, we will continue to work hard in the classroom by day and on the field by night. Go Green!

Ohio will next be in action on Friday, opening a three-game homestand against Niagara. The Bobcats and Purple Eagles will kick off at 4 p.m. from Chessa Field.

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