Polar Bears Win the OAC!

The Ohio Northern Women's Soccer Team clinched the OAC regular season championship on Wednesday as they defeated Heidelberg 4-0 in Ada. This is the first regular season championship since 2007 for the Polar Bears! ONU has remained unbeaten in the OAC with an 8-0 record and improved their overall record to 14-1-2. With the win the bears locked in a first round bye for the OAC tournament. ONU will await the winner of the first quarterfinal match between team 4 and team 5 held on Tuesday. ONU will host the winner of the Tuesday match on Thursday at 2p for the first OAC Tournament Semi Final.

Knowing that a win solidified their place atop the the OAC, Northern wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard. In the 3rd minute Abbie Schauble received a throw in from Alyssa Merrick and sent her long driven shot past the Heidelberg GK. This would be Schauble's 3rd goal of the season. Shortly after, in the 6th minute, Merrick would score one of her own after placing a header neatly into the goal off of a great run and a cross from Sophomore Sami Atkinson. The duo would link up again with the roles reversed as Merrick would send in a bent ball in behind the Heidelberg back line for Atkinson to finish. Atkinson placed the ball into the far side netting to earn her 10th goal and Merricks 12th assist of the year. Just 10 minutes later, Merrick finished off the scoring for day after a solid build of play from Tara Tokar, Sami Atkinson and Lauren Brown. Merrick would finish the day with 2 goals and 2 assists. The second half was much like the first with Northern controlling the tempo of the game. Many Polar bears saw action in the second half but solid goal keeping from Heidelberg kept the scoreline at 4-0. The Northern defense would allow only 2 shots on goal as Erin Waehner and Kristen DeWees earned the shutout. This Saturday, ONU travels to Marietta for their final game of the OAC regular season at 1pm. The Bears are hoping to be the first team in the history of they program to tally a 9-0 conference record.