Although many fall sports seasons have drawn to a close, the women’s soccer team is about to begin its run at the Division III title.
The Crusaders advanced to the tournament after winning their third straight Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) championship.
With first-year coach Matt Ogden at the helm, the women’s soccer team has achieved a 14-4-1 overall record for the 2015 season. For the first time in the school’s history, the Crusaders went 9-0 in the conference, defeating all of their OAC opponents.
Ogden said that the impressive record this season is continuing the past success of the women’s soccer program.
“I know that they are accustomed to being in the championship games, so … we’re hoping that we continue that trend,” Ogden said.
Ogden was the assistant men’s soccer coach for the last two years, before getting a chance to head the women’s program this season.
Despite being the OAC women’s soccer champions, the 2015 team got off to a rough start, with all four of its losses occurring early in the season.
“At that time in the season, we really weren’t good enough. I have a totally different style than the former coach … and it was a lot of adjustments,” Ogden said. “We made basic mistakes and left ourselves exposed.”
Ogden said that the team’s record displays its clear improvement throughout the season, and that they are a much better tournament team than in past years.
“We’ve addressed those issues over the course of the season … [and] … we’ve become a stronger outfit from those losses,” Ogden said.
The Crusaders clinched their third consecutive conference championship on Nov. 7, defeating the Ohio Northern University Polar Bears in a penalty kick shootout following a 2-2 draw. They had advanced to the championship after beating the Baldwin Wallace University Yellow Jackets during overtime on Nov. 4.
“Really, the entire season has been a highlight,” Ogden said. “We’ve just gotten better and better. Standards got higher, the level of play has got higher. I think the team as a whole, from Number 1 to Number 30 has done their part in putting us where we are.”
Ogden made it clear that the team is in no way finished with its impressive season.
The Crusaders will play in the first round of the NCAA Division III tournament on Nov. 14, when they take on the Hanover College Panthers (IN), whose overall record is 15-5-0. The game is set to kick-off at 1:30 p.m. at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky.
The Panthers, who compete in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference, also won their third straight conference championship this season.
The victor will go on to play either Centre College (17-1-1) or Penn State Behrend (13-7-0), who face off earlier in the day at 11:00 a.m.
