Bri Straus scores 2 goals to lead Women’s Soccer over Baldwin Wallace

By Wes Mayberry

ADA — Junior Bri Straus (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern) scored a pair of goals to lead the Ohio Northern women's soccer team to a 2-0 win over Baldwin Wallace on Wednesday night at Kerscher Stadium.

Straus' goals were the first of her career.

The Polar Bears improve to 11-1-4 overall and 6-0-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference while the Yellow Jackets fall to 9-8-0, 4-4-0.

ONU currently trails OAC leader Capital by two points in the standings and leads third-place Otterbein by one point. The top two teams in the standings receive a first-round bye in the OAC Tournament.

Northern is currently riding a five-game win streak, five-game shutout streak and 10-game unbeaten streak. The 10-game unbeaten streak is the fifth-longest in program history.

Wednesday's victory also marked the 250th career win for 19th-year head coach Mark Batman. Batman's career record at ONU stands at 250-90-39 for a winning percentage of .694.

Both of Northern's goals in Saturday's game came in the second half off of corner kicks.

Straus first found the back of the net in the 51st minute on an assist from sophomore Alyssa Beckett (Monroe) off of a corner kick from sophomore Emma Bowman (Novi, Mich./Northville).

The assist increased Beckett's team-leading point total to 18 on the season.

Another corner kick from Bowman sent the ball to junior Kylie Cabana (Dexter, Mich.), who found Straus for a goal in the 59th minute for the 2-0 lead.

Bowman now has a team-best eight assists on the season. Cabana ranks second on the team with six assists and 14 points.

Senior Becky Moss (Lebanon/Mount Notre Dame) recorded one save in goal for the Polar Bears and notched her 11th shutout of the season.

Those 11 shutouts are tied for sixth-best all-time at ONU in a single season, and Moss' 11 career shutouts tie her for ninth on the all-time list.

Northern out-shot Baldwin Wallace by a margin of 20-2, including 7-1 in shots on goal, in the game, and finished with a 7-1 edge in corner kicks.

The Polar Bears return to action on Saturday at OAC foe Marietta at 2 p.m. for their final game of the regular season.