Box Score
WILMINGTON, OHIO – Freshman Lindsay Henderson scored her first-career goal as the Otterbein University women’s soccer team escaped from Wilmington College with a 1-0 win Wednesday evening.
The victory moves Otterbein to 9-5-2 this season and 6-1-1 in Ohio Athletic Conference play. The loss drops Wilmington to 5-10-3 overall and 3-5 in the league.
Otterbein can clinch the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in the upcoming conference tournament with a victory over the University of Mount Union Saturday at Clements Field. The Cardinals hold the tie-breaker with Capital University.
"It was such a great feeling to have finally scored, especially in a game that we needed to win," Henderson said. "We were working hard but just couldn't seem to get the ball in the back of the net. It was a great ball by Adrienne and I was in the right place at the right time."
Both teams traded possession early, and Otterbein held a slim 5-4 edge on shots 25 minutes in. The Cardinals settled in and rattled off the game’s next five shots, but none found their way past Wilmington keeper Abbey Williamson as the match went to halftime scoreless.
Freshman goalkeeper Melissa Zang came up with a save for Otterbein in the 77th minute, and the Cardinals went on the attack to win a corner kick less than two minutes later.
Henderson would find her way to the incoming corner kick from senior Adrienne Novak and finish the shot home at the 78:15 mark.
The Cardinal defense was able to hold strong the remainder of the contest to preserve the shutout.
"I'm excited because I think that this kind of effort from our entire team tonight is leading us in the right direction to do well come tournament time," said Henderson of the team moving forward.
Otterbein held the corner-kick advantage as usual, this time at 6-2 while outshooting the Quakers 14-8 for the contest.
Zang finished with three saves in net for Otterbein while Williamson totaled six.
Novak and fellow senior Alyssa Hale will be honored prior to starting time (1 p.m.) against Mount Union Saturday afternoon as part of Senior Day. The pair needs just one more victory to tie the OAC record for most wins by a single class.
