BEREA,Ohio—Sophomore All-Ohio Athletic Conference Rachel Bender (Massillon/Jackson) recorded her first career hat trick and led the women's soccer team to a, 6-1, victory over Marietta College in its OAC opener on Tressel Field inside of George Finnie Stadium.
Bender led BW (7-4-1, 1-0 OAC) with three of the Yellow Jackets six goals and junior forward Courtney Schutz (Mentor) tallied up two assists.
Freshman forward Raeli Barnes scored the only goal for Marietta (6-4-1, 0-1 OAC).
BW jumped out to a 1-0 lead when senior defender Kelly Gough (Hudson)scored off a free kick in the third minute. The Pioneers evened the score as freshman forward Raeli Barnes netted her sixth goal of the season at the 14:24 mark. The Yellow Jackets scored two unanswered to close out the scoring in the first half when Bender netted her first goal of the game in the 33rd minute and junior Alex Elliott (Blacklick/IMG Academy) scored off an cross from Schutz with five minutes to give BW a 3-1.
BW scored the only three goals of the second half. Bender was assisted by Elliott and Schutz in the 48th minute and was assisted by sophomore midfielder Cassandra Waickman (Stow/Stow Munroe-Falls) in the 56th minute to complete the hat trick. Freshman midfielder Hope Martin (Menomonee Falls, Wis./Hamilton) scored her first goal of her career at the 83:23 mark to close out the scoring.
Freshman goalkeeper Sophia Weidner (Medina) improved to 3-2-1 on the season.
The Yellow Jackets are back in action on Tuesday, October when they travel to the University of Mount Union for an OAC game inside Mount Union Stadium at 7 p.m.
