The passion was there, much to the delight of Miami University women’s soccer coach Bobby Kramig.

The veteran mentor thought his squad coasted through the last two games of the regular season, but the RedHawks brought the heat Sunday in a Mid-American Conference quarterfinal.

Kayla Zakrzewski tallied a goal in the sixth minute and MU outshot Ohio 30-5 en route to a 1-0 triumph at Miami Soccer Field.

“I was just pleased that we brought the level of commitment and energy that we’d been lacking the last two games,” Kramig said. “I was a little bit concerned about it. I didn’t feel like we had the kind of momentum that you would want going into a tournament. But they seem to have corrected it. Good for them.”

Goalkeeper Allison Norenberg collected two saves for top-seeded Miami (17-2-1), the MAC’s overall regular-season champion. No. 8 OU finished 8-10-1.

“The key thing for us was to set the tone and to be winning every ball in the air, and we did,” sophomore defender Courtney Zanotti said of the RedHawks’ defensive performance. “We were always on their back. They didn’t have a chance to turn. They didn’t have a chance to even get through.

“We were running on empty (toward the end), but the important thing is that we all sucked it up, we played as a team, and we got through it.”

Miami will host the rest of the tournament next weekend. MU will face No. 4 Kent State at 11 a.m. and No. 2 Central Michigan will meet No. 6 Toledo at 2 p.m. in Friday’s semifinals. The final will be Sunday at 1 p.m.

“We have our energy back,” said Zakrzewski, a junior midfielder. “I think our attitude got a big boost today.”

Her goal came off a throw-in from Jess Bronke with 39:21 left in the first half. Katy Dolesh got a touch before Zakrzewski converted.

“I just finished it off,” Zakrzewski said. “It’s that simple.”

She had another goal waved off on an offsides call and also hit the post with a shot. The RedHawks had an abundance of scoring opportunities, but Bobcats goalie Mattie Liston (15 saves) turned in “an All-American performance,” according to Kramig.

“It was a little disappointing not to get the second goal, but that’s soccer,” the MU coach added. “That’s why people don’t like our sport. You can take 30 shots and still not score.”

The 30 shots represented a season-best effort for Miami, which topped Ohio 1-0 on Sept. 28 in Athens.

“They commit a lot of numbers into the attack, and that makes them a tough team to defend,” OU coach Stacy Strauss said. “I would put us up there with anyone else in the conference in how we defended them not just today, but in the previous game as well.”