MARIETTA, Ohio – The Marietta College women's soccer team got a crucial Ohio Athletic Conference victory as they defeated Mount Union, 2-0, on Wednesday (Oct. 11) evening. The win improves Marietta to 4-6-1 overall and 1-2-1 in the OAC. Mount Union falls to 4-6-1 overall and 1-3-0 in the OAC.
"We've focused heavily on putting in good performances and we've had a lot of them," said Head Coach
Zack Votra. "Today we went out with the goal of not just a performance, but a result. It starts with the clean sheet and ends with two well taken chances. Always proud of this group!"
Both teams fought to a scoreless first half. Mount's Jillian Pidgeon sent a shot in the direction of Marietta goalkeeper
Sarah Legg (Edgewood, Ky./Dixie Heights), who made the save.
Demi Mills (Batavia, Ohio/West Clermont) answered for the Pioneers, send a shot from outside the box that sailed high over the goal. Both Legg and Purple Raider goalkeeper Rylee Oldfield faced two shots on goal but the score still stood at 0-0 going into intermission.
The second half saw the Pioneers take the first lead in the game. In the 53rd minute, the Pioneers almost broke the tie as they sent a great pass into the box and
Angelene Kontul (Solon, Ohio/Solon) sent a shot high over the goal. Although they did not connect on that possession, two minutes later
Ryah Haidar (Sylvania, Ohio/Sylvania Southview) sent a great pass that
Taylor Sloan (Belpre, Ohio/Warren) was able to get a foot on. Sloan slid the ball past Oldfield and Marietta grabbed the lead, 1-0.
The Pioneers kept up the pressure and extended the lead to 2-0 in the 82nd minute. After checking back into the game,
Demi Mills (Batavia, Ohio/West Clermont) immediately got a couple good touches on the ball. She boomed a shot from 10 yards outside the box and found the upper right of the net, putting the Pioneers firmly in control. The Raiders could not overcome the difference and Marietta would go on to win with that same 2-0 score.
Legg played all 90 minutes in goal for the Pioneers to earn the clean sheet. She faced 16 shots, four of which were on goal, and made four saves in the match. Credit the back line for the Pioneers, most notably defender
Izzy Hank (North Olmsted, Ohio/Holy Name), as they protected Legg with some great defense.
Marietta will return to action Saturday (Oct. 14) when they travel to Wilmington College, with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m.
Fans can follow all the Pioneer teams all year long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on X and Instagram.
