BEREA, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University women's soccer team dropped an Ohio Athletic Conference game to Ohio Northern University by a final score of 7-1 on Tressel Field, inside the George Finnie Stadium.
Ohio Northern (8-2-2) exploded for four goals in the first half. In the 11th minute of the game, junior Megan Breier sent a cross in the box intended for her teammate, but her attempt ultimately ended up finding the back of the net. In the 23rd minute, the Polar Bears scored on a similar looking play produced by Junior Sydney Leshnak that hit the far post and cross the goal line. Senior Rose Nienaber was awarded an assist on the goal. Ohio Northern then netted two goals in less than two minutes to wrap up the first half. In the 41st minute, junior Sydney Leshnak chipped in a thru-ball from freshman Jersey Zito, then sophomore Emma Barney scored on a strike from 25 yards out to put the Polar Bears up 4-0 headed to the break.
Ohio Northern quickly added to their lead in the second half when junior Jenna Fuller scored on a great individual effort to increase the deficit to five. BW (7-6) got on the scoreboard in the 58th minute when junior defender Kortney Marzenski (Parma/Valley Forge) scored her first goal of the season from a tough angle on the right side of the net. That was as close as Yellow Jackets came to cutting the Polar Bears lead as Ohio Northern added two more goals in the 67th and 85th minutes, respectively. ONU's Ward scored her second goal of the game on a distanced strike from the right side of the goal, and freshman Hailey McGuire concluded the game's scoring at 7-1 by deflecting in junior Abigail Mathews' initial shot attempt from just outside the crease.
BW senior goalkeeper Emma Bruno (Pittsburgh, Pa./Bethel Park) allowed four goals on six shots faced, and saw her record drop to 7-4 on the year. She was substituted for sophomore goalkeeper Lyndsey Valentine (Springboro) at halftime. Valentine corralled five saves on eight shots on goal in 45 minutes of relief.
The Yellow Jackets return to the pitch on Saturday, October 12 when they travel to Westerville to compete against OAC opponent, and No. 21 nationally-ranked Otterbein University at 2:00 p.m. on Clements Field.
