With Oakland University looking to make up some ground in the Summit League standings against South Dakota State (see scoreboard at left), head coach Nick O’Shea knew that the Jackrabbits would be content to tie. So, he turned up the heat on the defense in order to score the winning goal.

“When they’re content to keep more players back in the box and only one up, we’re trying to go around them because there’s not much space behind them,” he said.

O’Shea said that in this situation    he calls on sophomore midfielder Meghan Hartwig to “serve” the ball inside to a striker to chip in.

“She’s not as strong going around the defender on the outside, but coming to the inside we can play to get a piece of it as it’s coming across,” he said.

O’Shea said that he can rely on senior midfielder Jessica Boyle, who has scored eight goals in the year, in one-on-one attacking situations.

“Boyle is very good at this. As soon as she gets the ball at her feet (on the right side) and starts to go at that defender, she can either get around that player, or go down and then serve the ball inside.”