Box Score Photo GalleryWESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein women's soccer team was edged 1-0 by John Carroll in an Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament quarterfinal match on Monday night at Memorial Stadium.
The Cardinals conclude their season sporting a 10-7-1 overall record, bowing out as the third-seed to the No. 6-seeded Blue Streaks. John Carroll, snapping a 16-match winless streak against Otterbein dating back to 2001, advances to the semifinals at second-seeded Ohio Northern on Wednesday.
Otterbein easily outshot its opposition 16-5, compiling a 9-4 advantage in shots on goal. Solid goalkeeping on both ends of the field kept the score from getting away from either team, as both keepers combined for 12 saves on the night.
A scoreless opening period saw the Cards register seven shots, while limiting the Blue Streaks to a pair of shots. Otterbein also earned six corner kicks in the first half, all part of a 12-0 advantage in corner kicks throughout the night.
John Carroll's Andrea Regrut tallied the lone goal of the game less than four minutes into the second half, scoring from 30 yards out on a shot that initially hit the post and then bounced into the back of the Cardinal net.
The Cardinals forced the ball out-of-bounds off a Blue Streak defender two minutes later, setting senior
Alex Ancona up for a corner. Ancona curved the ball into the John Carroll box to which Blue Streak goalkeeper Rhianna Guarnera initially mishandled, nearly allowing the ball past the goal line. Unfortunately, it was an opportunity that came up just short for the Cards as Ancona was only credited with a shot on goal.
Multiple Otterbein players had opportunities to even the score down the stretch, as eight of the Cards' final nine shots were either saved or struck just high of the Blue Streak goal. Included in the comeback attempt was an up-close look from
Polly Sellers that sailed high and, with just 2:18 to play, a rocket from
Jillian Strimbu, off a nice through-ball, that was saved by a diving Guarnera.
Strimbu led the team with five total shots, four of them coming on goal.
Madison Burchfield followed with two of three shots on goal, while five additional Cardinal players posted at least one shot attempt on the night.
Cardinal goalkeeper
Dana Strimbu posted three saves in 90 minutes of action, finishing with a loss in goal for the first time in nearly four weeks. Guarnera stopped nine shots for the Blue Streaks in their victory.
The game was also the final one played in the careers of the Strimbu sisters, and classmates Megan McCabe and Morgan Feeney. Ancona and Ali Stone, both fifth-year senior defenders, also concluded their respective campaigns.
