Freshman Hannah Martin leads Women's Soccer in 4-0 victory over Mount St. Joseph

By Caleb Scott

ADA — The Ohio Northern women's soccer team opened the 2016 home portion of the schedule with a 4-0 victory over Mount St. Joseph Friday evening at Kerscher Stadium.

The Polar Bears improve to 2-0-0 overall, while the Lions fall to 1-2-0.

Northern was led offensively by freshman Hannah Martin as she posted the first goal of the evening and added an assist for the Polar Bears. 

Martin was able to get Northern in the scoring column in the 24th minute of the game as she beat a defender and found the back of the net.

Freshman Alyssa Manley was able to set senior Missy Ward up for the second goal of the night in the 44th minute as she played a ball into the six yard box and Ward would tap it in to push the lead to 2-0.

Sophomore Sarah Puntel would add to the Ohio Northern lead in the 54th minute after Martin played a free kick into traffic and Puntel beat the keeper with a header to make it 3-0.

Senior Shelby Stephens would find the back of the net for the first time this season and seal the victory after junior Anna Niemeyer found her on a breakaway and Stephens beat a defender to seal the 4-0 victory. 

"This was a great team win tonight," said head coach Mark Batman. "We figured it would be a slow start since it was our first home game and we haven't played in a week, but these girls had a great second half. They stuck to the plan and played a great game."

Freshman goalkeeper Meagan Grierson earned the victory for the Polar Bears in the goal and recorded three saves. 

The freshman also recorded her first career shutout victory.

ONU outshot the Lions by a 14-7 margin and won the corner kick battle by an 8-0 margin.

Northern will return to action Saturday as they host Transylvania (Ky.) at Kerscher Stadium at 5 pm.