No. 15 Women's Soccer clinches share of OAC title, wins school record 12th straight contest in 8-1 decision over Muskingum
By Caleb Scott
ADA — The No. 15-ranked Ohio Northern women's soccer team clinched at least a share of the Ohio Athletic Conference Regular Season title and set a school record with its 12th straight victory on Saturday afternoon as it celebrated Senior Day and its annual Friends of Jaclyn contest with a 8-1 victory over Muskingum.
The Polar Bears improve to 14-1-1 overall and remain unbeaten in the Ohio Athletic Conference at 7-0-0, while the Muskies drop to 3-13-0, 0-7-0.
Northern clinched at least a share of the OAC crown and will be the No. 1 seed in the OAC Tournament, which will be Oct. 30-Nov. 5.
ONU is 7-0-0 in league play with 21 points and Capital is 5-2-0 with 15 points after its 2-1 loss to John Carroll Saturday night. The Polar Bears can do no worse than tie for first and they win the tiebreaker by virtue of a 1-0 victory over the Crusaders on Oct. 7.
The Polar Bears recognized seniors Maggie Goeller (Dayton/Oakwood High), Ashley Grisnik (Bay Village), Hailey Martin (Cincinnati/Princeton), Mary Kate Munz (Gahanna/Lincoln), Abbey Oswald (Lambertville, Mich./Bedford), Hannah Reich (Howell, Mich.), Erika Simpson (Columbus/Worthington Kilbourne) and Anna Niemeyer (Loveland) prior to the contest
Freshman Jenna Fuller (Countryside, Ill./Lyons Township) scored the first goal of the afternoon as she gathered a ball in the eighth minute and found the back of the net from 10 yards out to give ONU a 1-0 lead.
Fuller would add to the Polar Bear lead in the 20th minute, gathering a loose ball and finishing from five yards out to push the lead to 2-0.
Five minutes later, Martin scored her first goal of the season as Fuller played a pass over the MU defense and found Martin for the one touch score.
In the 51st minute, Niemeyer connected with Oswald to push the lead to 4-0 early in the second half.
Minutes later, sophomore Rose Nienaber (Cincinnati/Oak Hills) scored back-to-back goals, as Niemeyer tallied assists on both goals and freshman Courtney Favazzo (Mayfield Heights/Mayfield) added an assist on the second goal to push the lead to 6-0.
In the 61st minute, freshman Anne Major (Okemos, Mich.) scored her first career goal using a pass from Favazzo to move the lead to 7-0.
Just over a minute later, freshman Siena Ward (Newport Beach, Cal./Newport Harbor) added to the lead after collecting a loose ball in traffic and scoring from just outside the net.
Muskingum was able to tack on a late goal to close the gap before ONU went on to win 8-1.
Sophomore Meagan Grierson (Miamisburg) earned the victory in the goal and improved her record to 14-1-1 overall.
Northern outshot Muskingum by a 41-4 margin and won the corner kick battle by a 13-1 mark.
The Polar Bears return to action on Tuesday evening as they welcome Baldwin Wallace to Kerscher Stadium for the regular season home finale at 7 pm.
