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For the third consecutive season the Denison women's soccer team will play in the
North Coast Athletic Conference tournament championship game following their
2-1 victory over Ohio Wesleyan on Wednesday night.
The #2 seed Big Red will face top-seeded Wittenberg
on Saturday (Nov. 3) in Springfield,
Ohio at a time yet to be
determined.
From the onset of the match Denison controlled the tempo and took command
on the offensive end. They outshot Ohio
Wesleyan 7-1 in the opening period and put the first goal on the board in the
29th minute when Anna Rusch (Washington,
D.C./Sidwell Friends) touched a corner kick out to Kia Anderson (Princeton, N.J./Princeton) who played a cross in
toward the goal. The pass hit off the
cross bar and was finished off by Katie
Eckenhoff (Glencoe, Ill./New Trier) in front of the OWU goal. The goal was Eckenhoff's third of the season.
DU would finish off the first half with a 1-0 lead and would
continue their offensive pressure into the second half.Within a three minute span that began in the
70th minute, freshman Maggie Hoskin
(Chicago, Ill./Homewood-Flossmor) got off three solid shots, two of which
ended in saves by Ohio Wesleyan goalkeeper Laura VanHoey. The second was a blast following a perfect
pass by Sarah Ash that went off the post. Just eight minutes earlier Kim Oshita had an open look sail over the
cross bar.
Just when it seemed like Denison
may fail to add an insurance goal, Julie
Dean (Liberty Twp., Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) crossed the ball from the left
corner into the box directly on to the back heel of Jessie Birdwhistell (Lexington,
Ky./Henry Clay) who
redirected the ball into the back of the net.
Now sitting on a 2-0 lead with just under eight minutes to
play, OWU brought more players forward and stayed alive with a goal by Meredith
Gerrick with 3:07 remaining. With two
minutes left the Bishops had a corner kick attempt and brought their goalie out
to gain an advantage but the attempt by Meg Smith was cleared and Denison pushed the ball
into their own half of the field to run out the clock.
Denison
outshot OWU 19-7 and finished with four corner kicks to their two. Liz
Gillette (Chardon, Ohio/NDCL) posted four saves in goal for
the Big Red as did VanHoey for Ohio Wesleyan.
This is Denison's
third straight trip to the NCAC title game and their fourth appearance in the
last five seasons. Wittenberg defeated Kenyon
1-0 in their semifinal match from Springfield.
