POST-MATCH PRESS CONFERENCE
FULL NCAA BRACKET
PHOTO GALLERY

WESTERVILLE, Ohio – Sports can provide a unique stage for theatre unlike many other aspects in life, and Saturday night was no different as the Otterbein women's soccer team delivered a memorable battle with No. 18-ranked Hope College in second-round action of the NCAA Division III Championships.

In the end, unfortunately, the No. 24-ranked Cardinals were forced to endure a narrow 2-1 loss and suffer eliminated from the Round of 32. Otterbein, seeing an unbeaten streak of more than two months snapped, ends its impressive season with a 17-2-1 overall record.

Hope, meanwhile, improves to 16-2-2 on the year and makes the NCAA Sweet 16 for the first time in program history.

On a frigid night in front of an energetic Memorial Stadium crowd, it was the visitors who found the scoreboard first by taking advantage of a foul whistled in the box at the 10:18 mark. Hope's Rylie Dalton promptly stepped up and drilled the ensuing penalty kick to give her team an early advantage.

A very physical Hope team continued to press and doubled up its lead to 2-0 in the 26th minute, as Rachael Braginton flicked a pass with her head in the box and over toward the right post. Dalton was in the right spot to quickly beat Cardinal goalie Erin Gordon.

Otterbein appeared to have sliced that deficit in half prior to intermission, when leading scorer Bella Shivley roped in a free kick upper 90 from the left side after drawing a foul. However, in an odd twist, the play was whistled dead as Shivley was called for going too early. Her retry sailed just high over the crossbar.

The Cardinals, facing a second-half deficit for the second night in a row, regrouped in the locker room and came out pushing forward in what became an intense and physical 45 minutes. Otterbein eventually found a goal on a corner-kick sequence taken by Shivley, with Annie Mosca playing the ball toward the net and Delaney Earl using a back-heel kick to slip the ball past the end line.

Both sides traded possession as Otetrbein searched for an equalizer, and the Flying Ducth nearly put the game away on two occasions. One shot hit the crossbar and then another attempt, from Grace Bubin in the closing minutes, just missed wide left as she went into a challenge with Gordon.

Otterbein would unfortunately come up empty down the stretch and take its first loss at home this fall. The Cardinals held slight edges in shots (14-13) and corner kicks (4-3) on the night while Gordon made three saves.

Hope goalkeeper Jordanne Ellingboe made five saves on her end during a match that featured 26 total foul calls. The Flying Dutch will face either Christopher Newport or Scranton in the Sweet 16.