For the opening minutes, ONU pressed and created a few good scoring chances. Otterbein broke the tie when a Cardinal forward was fouled in the ONU penalty area, giving Otterbein a penalty kick, which they converted. After the goal, ONU continued to press on, creating scoring chances and corners. Late in the first half, against the run of play, Otterbein got their second goal of the match off a well placed cross to an awaiting Otterbein forward.
ONU answered quickly after the half as Sophmore Kristina Klusek took a pass from Senior Tri Captain Tara Tokar and laced home a 25 yard shot past the Otterbein goal keeper. The bears would continue to fire shot after shot, and break down the Otterbein defense, but couldn't find the equalizer. With just a minute to go, Klusek crossed a ball to fellow Sophmore Sandra Thorarensen, but Thorarensen's shot hit the post and the match ended at 2-1. ONU outshot Otterbein 17-5, 10-1 in the second half.
ONU Head Coach Mark Batman had this to say about the game, "I felt the girls played extremely well today. The final score of the game doesn't tell the true story of the match. We gave up a foolish penalty early, and it's tough to come back against a very good and well organized team such as Otterbein. The girls did battle back and, in my opinion, dominated most of the match, creating quite a few dangerous opportunities to score and kept them from shooting in the second half. I really felt we were going to get the second goal, and if we did, we would get the third. That's the way soccer works sometimes. We are optimistic that our luck will turn around. Our focus is now on Wittenberg, and then finishing the week strong when we host Marietta on Saturday."
No comments:
Post a Comment