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WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Cardinal women's soccer team upset No. 21-ranked Ohio Northern, 2-0, on Tuesday evening at Memorial Stadium.

Otterbein (6-3-1 overall) improves to 1-1 in Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) play and will host Muskingum on Saturday afternoon. First kick is set for 1 p.m.

It was a tightly-contested affair throughout the opening half, as both teams were deadlocked at five shots apiece with the Cardinals holding a slim lead in shots on goal at 3-1.

"Our team is significantly different than last year," said head coach Brandon Koons. "They're contributing in different ways. We were wondering how they would respond tonight and are very happy with the outcome. I don't remember one bad thing."

The highlight of the half came in the 39th minute as freshman Katie Exline tapped in her third goal of the season on a well-distributed lead pass off the foot of senior Madison Burchfield. A total of 11 fouls combined were issued in the frame, as an aggressive style of play was displayed.

The Cards controlled the tempo in the second half and managed to unload five additional shots, adding to their lead in the 73rd minute.

The play unfolded as Burchfield dribbled the ball down the far sideline and crossed it into the box righti in stride to junior Alyssa Spencer for a score from 15 yards out.

"Both of the scoring sequences were prototype goals for those players," Koons explained. "Katie was the perfect person to have in that spot on the first goal, and Alyssa is so dangerous with getting of the back and making surprise runs. She can come out of nowhere when forwards are doing work in front of her."

Ohio Northern fired off six shots over the remaining 18 minutes of action, but to no avail, as a stingy Cardinal defense, headlined by seven saves from goalkeeper Andrea Pohlman, kept the Polar Bear offense at-bay.

"We got the lead, dug our heals in, and held on," Koons added. "We asked a couple of players to work a little harder at times tonight and they translated some things from practice. This effort makes it exciting to see what's to come over the next few weeks."

The Polar Bears ended the game with a 14-11 advantage in shots, with the shots on goal margin proving to be even closer at 7-6 in favor of ONU. Otterbein also took advantage of ball possession after drawing ONU offside five times.