WESTERVILLE, OHIO – Otterbein, needing a win to clinch the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) regular season championship, grabbed a 3-2 victory over cross-town rival Capital in dramatic fashion Saturday afternoon at Clements Field.

Junior midfielder Tara Smith, having not scored a goal all season, put a shot into the back of the net with 1:56 remaining in the second overtime to give the Cardinals their second straight regular season title and fourth in the last eight years.

Smith tallied four goals and three assists in 2008 en route to earning an All-OAC second-team selection.

The game opened up with the Crusaders firing heavily at OC freshman keeper Erin Hartzell, who was filling in for junior Tara Carter. Hartzell, making just her second career start, was forced to make two saves and face a myriad of other shots in the opening ten minutes.

Otterbein responded with some attacking of its own, but no opportunities were able to be converted.

The Crusaders got on the board first, taking a 1-0 lead in the 39^th minute when Tara Zimmer found a loose ball in the box off a corner kick and slipped it into the net. The score was the first allowed by Otterbein in 789 minutes.

OC saw a chance a few minutes before halftime, but a shot from junior forward Lindsey Rudibaugh hit the cross-bar and deflected out of bounds.

Capital would take a 1-0 lead into the break.

The Purple and White extended its lead to 2-0 less than three minutes into the second frame as Katie Robinson shot a ball from 20 yards out and over the head of Hartzell.

The Cardinals responded just 21 seconds later when junior midfielder Rachel Degen ran down a ball that was heading out of bounds. Degen stretched to keep the ball in play and found Rudibaugh near the left post. Rudibaugh controlled the pass and put her shot over the head of Capital goalie Linley Vermillion to cut the deficit to 2-1.

With time winding down in the second half and the Cardinals needing a goal, the team found its opportunity on a corner kick with two minutes left.

A Capital defender tried to clear the ball after it had landed in a clustered box, but Rudibaugh was there to cut off the clear attempt. The Dublin native lofted her shot over a group of players and over the head of Vermillion into the right corner of the goal to even the game at 2-2.

Dating back to last season, Rudibaugh has notched four goals in three matchups with Capital.

Otterbein controlled the majority of action in the first overtime session, but was not able to score.

With two minutes remaining in the second overtime period, sophomore Adrienne Novak found her way to the ball and slipped a pass up the middle to a streaking Smith, who beat Vermillion for the game-winner.

“This is a great feeling,” said Smith on scoring the game-winner, “and it couldn’t have happened at a better time. This wouldn’t have been possible without my great teammates and coaches.”

Otterbein held a 19-13 edge in shots as well as a 9-4 corner kick advantage.

With the regular season title, the team will have home-field advantage throughout the OAC Tournament, scheduled to begin next week.

Head Coach Brandon Koons had nothing but praise for his junior midfielder.

“We always say we don’t care who scores because we know somebody will when we need them to,” Koons explained.  “Tara has been wonderful all season and has sacrificed stats to do what we need in other parts of the field.  We threw her up top today for the second time in her career, and she did just what we needed.  I couldn’t be happier for her and the entire team.”

Being faced with adversity and having their backs against the wall for one of the few times all season, Koons reflected on the response of his group.

“Everything great that we say about our team was shown today,” he said.  "We needed to call on our depth…. freshmen Erin Hartzell and Rachel Denz were outstanding. We had people playing all out of position just to get a result.

“We got knocked down and were trailing 2-0 at one point,” continued Kooons, “but always believed we could come back.  It shows a lot of character to come from behind, especially from two goals."

As the top seed, the Cardinals will have a first-round bye and then host the winner of the #5 Capital at #4 Wilmington matchup Wednesday at Clements Field. Starting time for that contest is scheduled for 2 p.m.

Capital and Wilmington will play Monday at 7 p.m.