Box Score
WESTERVILLE, Ohio – Otterbein University women’s soccer topped visiting Marietta College, 2-0, Tuesday afternoon, helping secure the 2012 Ohio Athletic Conference regular-season championship.
Seniors Molly Newhouse and Jessica Yaney tallied second-half goals in the winning effort, giving the program its fourth OAC regular-season title in the past five seasons and seventh since 2002.
“I’m excited for this group of girls to experience a championship season, and especially proud of our seniors,” said head coach Brandon Koons. “These girls have earned every bit of success this year. We’ve played in some very tight games where we needed to grind out wins, and we’ll need to continue doing that moving forward.”
The Cardinals lock up the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout next week’s conference tournament, receiving a bye through the quarterfinal round before hosting a semifinal match on Wednesday, Oct. 31.
Otterbein, which now moves to 12-5 overall and 7-1 in league play, controlled the opening half with a 10-2 shot advantage and staggering 13-1 edge on corner kicks. However, the Cardinals would come up empty each time and headed to halftime locked in the scoreless tie.
“Everyone knew what was at stake today, so I think me maybe came out a little bit anxious,” Koons explained. “We had the halftime to refocus, and there’s nothing like a great goal to get everyone calmed down. It wasn’t just the timing of Molly’s goal, but the quality of it as well.”
“We came out a little slow, but I was encouraged by the way we were getting opportunities in the first half,” Newhouse added. “We adjusted at halftime and played the type of soccer we needed to in the second half.”
Newhouse broke the tie shortly after the intermission, finding a ball that surfaced out from a collision that involved classmate Rachel Denz and burying a shot, upper 90, from just beyond the top of the penalty box.
Freshman Jillian Strimbu started Otterbein’s second scoring play in the 61st minute, feeding a baseline pass to Yaney in the middle of the box before the senior finished lower right.
Otterbein outshot the Pioneers 19-3 for the match and held a 19-1 corner-kick advantage.
Kaitlyn Pearse recorded seven saves in the net for Marietta while Otterbein keeper Dana Strimbu was forced to make just one.
“We lost a large part of our team after that 2010 season and kind of struggled last year in finding ways to win,” Newhouse said. “I think our class almost needed that reality check, and it makes bouncing back this year that much sweeter.”
The Cardinals conclude their regular season Saturday afternoon, hosting cross-town rival Capital University at 1 p.m. Newhouse, Yaney, Denz, and fellow seniors Emily Bates, Molly Kroger and Sara Wolfe will be recognized during pregame as part of Senior Day.
