Box Score
WESTERVILLE, OHIO – The Otterbein University women’s soccer team, seeded second, ended its season Thursday afternoon by falling 1-0 to No. 3 seed Capital University in the semifinals of the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament.
The Cardinals, who had won the last three OAC postseason tournaments, end their season at 10-6-2 while the victory improves Capital to 11-7-2 overall. The Crusaders will host the championship match against No. 4 seed John Carroll University, which upset top-seeded Ohio Northern University 1-0.
The defeat ends the stellar four-year careers of seniors Adrienne Novak and Alyssa Hale, who will exit tied as the OAC’s all-time winningest class with 68 victories. The duo had won three-consecutive conference regular season and tournament championships prior to this season.
The teams traded possession early, and Otterbein attempted the first shot with a header from junior Rachel Denz sailing high in the third minute.
Capital tallied the eventual difference maker in the 13th minute when Tara Zimmer tracked down a long pass from teammate Kaylee Phillips and scored bottom-right on Otterbein goalkeeper Melissa Zang, who had decided not to come off her line.
Capital took the slim advantage into halftime with the Cards holding a 4-3 edge in shots.
The visiting Crusaders began to pack in their back line after halftime, keeping four or five players in the back unit at all times.
Otterbein, moving Novak up top in the second half, began to control nearly all of the possession and saw perhaps its best opportunity on a scrum in the box off a free kick in the 55th minute. However, Capital would find a way to clear the ball, and then breathed a sigh of relief after a header from Otterbein’s Molly Kroger went wide-left a few moments later.
Looking for an answer, the Cardinals moved freshman defender Ali Stone to forward late in the second half, but Capital would ultimately fight off a handful of Otterbein corner kicks and shots down the stretch to escape with the victory.
Otterbein held a 9-6 shot advantage for the match while also holding a 6-2 edge on corners.
Both Zang and Capital goalkeeper Maggie Donnellan notched one save in between the posts.
