MARIETTA, Ohio — The Marietta College women's soccer continued to struggle offensively but put together a resilient defensive performance to battle Ohio Wesleyan University to a 0-0-draw on Sunday (Sept. 20) afternoon. The Pioneers move to 1-4-1 on the season and the Battling Bishops move to 2-3-3 on the campaign.
"We're starting to see some things we've been working on in training come to fruition," said Marietta head coach
Zack Votra. "That's a great team that we just played and we've shown great progress over the last couple of weeks!"
Marietta jumped into the attack immediately after kickoff, testing Ohio Wesleyan goalkeeper Payton Beard in the first 20 seconds.
Jaylyn Thornton (Pataskala, Ohio/Watkins Memorial) hit a low strike toward the bottom-right corner, forcing Beard into an early save. The Pioneers kept up pressure with additional off-target efforts from
Emma Slusser (Cabot, Pa./Knoch),
Madelyn Call (Letart, W.Va./Point Pleasant), and
Claire Warren (Logan, Ohio/Logan).
Ohio Wesleyan settled in midway through the half and found their own chances. Beatrice Douglas-Arnold put two shots on target, one in the 10th minute and another in the 38th minute, but Marietta keeper
Francesca Agliolo (San Gabriel, Calif./Mayfield Senior) turned both away to keep the match at 0-0 heading into intermission.
The Battling Bishops pressed early in the second period, mounting a heavy attack around the 56th minute. OWU forward Jordyn Adams generated back-to-back shots on goal in under a minute, testing Agliolo at the top-left and bottom-center of the net. Agliolo made saves on both attempts to preserve the tie.
Marietta pushed back in the final 25 minutes. In the 66th minute, Thornton put another shot on frame, but Beard again made the stop.
Delilah Vazquez (Pasadena, Calif./Marshall Fundamental) followed with a central effort in the 75th minute that was secured by Beard. Marietta's final opportunity came with four seconds remaining when
Shelby Carr (Pataskala, Ohio/Liberty Christian Academy) launched a shot that sailed high over the crossbar as time expired.
Agilolo worked the full 90 minutes for the Pioneers and finished with four saves to earn the clean sheet.
The Pioneers will next be in action on Wednesday (Sept. 23) evening as they will travel to battle with Adrian College, with a scheduled start time of 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.
