Women’s Soccer defeats Otterbein in PKs, advances to eighth straight OAC Tournament finals
By Wes Mayberry
ADA — The Ohio Northern women's soccer team played to a scoreless draw with Otterbein in Thursday night's Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal game at Kerscher Stadium, advancing past the Cardinals 4-3 on penalty kicks.
The second-seeded Polar Bears (12-1-5 overall) have advanced to the OAC Tournament championship game for the eighth straight year and will play at top-seeded Capital on Saturday at 1 p.m. as they seek their second consecutive tournament championship.
The third-seeded Cardinals bow out of the tournament with a record of 11-4-4 on the season.
Ohio Northern out-shot Otterbein 17-8 during the 90 minutes of regulation time as neither team was able to find the back of the net.
The Polar Bears continued finding opportunities in the two 10-minute overtime periods, closing those 20 minutes with a 5-0 edge in shots. But the game remained scoreless after 110 minutes of play, meaning it would be decided by penalty kicks.
Senior Becky Moss (Lebanon/Mount Notre Dame) played all 110 of those minutes in goal for ONU, recording two saves as she posted her 13th shutout of the season. But the Polar Bears turned to freshman Whitney Ho (Hilliard/Davidson) in goal for the round of penalty kicks, and she delivered.
Junior Kylie Cabana (Dexter, Mich.) matched OU's Cierra Clemons with a goal in the first round, and the Cardinals' Anjuli Anderson and Polar Bear sophomore Chandler Clark (Lima/Bath) scored in the second round.
Ho saved a shot attempt to the lower-right part of the goal off the foot of Payton Kaufman to open the third round, and sophomore Emma Bowman (Novi, Mich./Northville) put ONU up 3-2 with a goal after getting the ball past OU keeper Ella Schwertfager.
Junior Emma Cook (Marysville/Fairbanks) and OU's Grace Weidenhamer matched goals in the fourth round, keeping ONU ahead 4-3.
A high miss from OU's Mackenzie Peeke to start the fifth round sealed the Cardinals' fate, sending ONU to the championship game.
ONU finished Thursday's game with a 22-8 advantage in shot attempts and 4-3 edge in corner kicks.
The Polar Bears enter Saturday's OAC Tournament championship game riding a 12-game unbeaten streak that includes seven consecutive shutouts.
