Box Score
WESTERVILLE, Ohio – Otterbein University women’s soccer came up short in Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament action Wednesday afternoon, falling 2-1 to Ohio Northern University in the semifinal round at Clements Field.
Otterbein (13-5), the OAC regular-season champion and tournament’s top seed, suffers a loss in the semifinal round for a second-consecutive season. Ohio Northern, the No. 4 seed, moves to 12-4-4 this season and will now host sixth-seeded John Carroll University in the title game Saturday in Ada, Ohio.
John Carroll advanced to the tournament championship after Baldwin Wallace University recently removed itself from postseason play due to NCAA infractions.
Both teams played back and forth during the opening 30 minutes of action, until ONU’s Sami Atkinson broke the scoreless battle with a header goal in the 38th minute. The score, coming during a scrum in the box off a corner kick, was assisted by Kristina Klusek.
The Cardinals wasted no time striking back, scoring just 71 seconds later after sophomore Lindsay Henderson roped a shot from nearly 30 yards away that deflected off the cross bar. Freshman Jillian Strimbu ran in to clean the shot up, slipping a follow-up attempt past Polar Bear goalkeeper Erin Waehner.
The two sides went into halftime tied at 1-1, with both sides attempting six shots over the initial 45 minutes.
Klusek tallied the eventual difference maker less than three minutes into the second half, dribbling through a pair of Otterbein defenders and firing a shot past keeper Dana Strimbu into the right side of the net.
Otterbein began to move forward as the second half progressed, including a few runs up the left side from senior Jessica Yaney coupled with a handful of corner kicks.
The Cardinals looked for an opportunity with two minutes remaining when senior captain Rachel Denz sent a ball back into the box, but classmate Molly Kroger’s apparent header attempt went wide right.
Both teams took nine shots throughout the match, while Otterbein held a 9-3 edge on corner kicks. Both Strimbu and Waehner had one save each in goal for their respective teams.
The team will now wait until Monday morning to see if it receives an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
