Women's Soccer: 2017 Div. III NCAA Tournament: 2nd Round - #20 Illinois Wesleyan (17-4-0 Overall) at #14 Ohio Northern (18-1-2 Overall)
Sunday, Nov. 12, 2017, 1:30 pm, Kerscher Stadium, Ada, Ohio - 2017 NCAA Div. III Tournament - Second Round
Sunday's Preview: The No. 14-ranked Polar Bears enter Sunday's contest after earning the Ohio Athletic Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA III Tournament and defeating Penn St.-Behrend 2-0 in the First Round of the NCAA Div. III Women's Soccer Tournament ... Northern is making its fourth appearance in the tournament, returning for the first time since 2012 ... ONU earned the automatic bid after defeating Capital in the OAC Tournament Championship match 2-0, and claiming its second OAC Tournament title in school history ... The Polar Bears also won the OAC Regular Season title after posting an unblemished 9-0-0 record in conference play, marking the first time in school history the Polar Bears won both the Regular Season and OAC Tournament title in school history in the same season ... Northern is 2-3-1 in the NCAA III Tournament since its first appearance in 2009 ... The Polar Bears had nine players named All-Ohio Athletic Conference, in voting conducted by the league's 10 head coaches ... Seniors Hannah Reich and Anna Niemeyer, and sophomores Haley Moses, Rose Nienaber and Meagan Grierson were all named First Team All-OAC, while sophomore Hannah Martin and freshman Jenna Fuller garnered Second Team All-OAC Honors, and senior Mary Kate Munz and freshman Sydney Leshnak were both named Honorable Mention All-OAC ... For the second consecutive season, Grierson was dubbed OAC Goalie of the Year, while Fuller was named OAC Freshman of the Year, Reich earned OAC Defender of the Year, Moses was named OAC Midfielder of the Year and head coach Mark Batman was named OAC Coach of the Year for the second time in his stint at ONU ... Fuller and Nienaber are currently ranked 1-2 on the team and rank fifth and sixth in the OAC with 10 and 11 goals, respectively ... Fuller's 12 assists lead the team and OAC ... Fuller and Nienaber rank 1-2 on the team and 3-5 in the OAC with 34 and 25 points, respectively ... The duo are the first pair of ONU teammates to score double digit goals in the same season since the 2011 season ... Fuller's 12 assists breaks the freshman record at Ohio Northern, breaking a 20-year-old record set in 1997, while her 11 goals are are tied for 10th for a freshman at ONU in a single season ... Grierson currently leads the team in the goal with a 18-1-2 record ... The OAC Goalkeeper of the Year leads the team and OAC in shutouts (12) and goals against average (0.43) and ranks first on the team and second in the OAC in save percentage (.839) and goals allowed (9) ... Her 18 career shutouts rank sixth in school history ... Grierson owns the freshman GAA record at ONU and is on pace to break the sophomore school record ... With the 2-0 victory over PSB, the Polar Bear defense broke the school record of 13 shutouts set in 1997 ... Illinois Wesleyan enters the Second Round of the tournament after defeating Centre (Ky.) 2-1 on Saturday afternoon at Kerscher Stadium ... The Titans own an overall NCAA Tournament record of 10-7-3 ... Freshman Cameron Hindel leads the Titan offense with 14 goals and 32 points ... Her four assists are tied with sophomore Jordan Ellerbrock for first on the team ... Defensively, IWU is led in the goal by freshman Kelli McCarthy, who owns a 17-4-0 record ... McCarthy has a team-best 64 saves and owns nine shutouts this season.
ONU Statistical Leaders
Goals | Assists | Points | Saves | GAA | ||||||||||||||
1. | Fuller | 11 | 1. | Fuller | 12 | 1. | Fuller | 34 | 1. | Grierson | 47 | 1. | Grierson | 0.43 | ||||
2. | Nienaber | 10 | 2. | Nienaber | 5 | 2. | Nienaber | 25 | 2. | Grisnik | 2.98 | |||||||
3. | Niemeyer | 7 | 3. | Moses | 4 | 3. | Niemeyer | 17 | ||||||||||
Breier | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
Martin | 4 |
Series Record: Sunday's meeting marks the second time in school history that the two teams have met ... Northern opened the 2014 season with a 1-0 victory over the Titans in the DePauw (Ind.) Classic.
Head Coach Mark Batman: Batman is in his 14th season as head coach with a 184-75-25 career record and a winning percentage of .692 ... Batman is the winningest head coach in Ohio Northern women's soccer history.