Ashland women's soccer stays undefeated in GMAC against Ohio Dominican

ASHLAND — Even near-whiteout conditions couldn’t put a damper on the No. 2-ranked Ashland University women’s soccer team’s regular season-ending match against Ohio Dominican at Ferguson Soccer Field on Tuesday night.

Ashland utilized an aggressive offensive attack and superb defensive play to earn a 2-0 win in Great Midwest Athletic Conference action.

With the win, AU is now 11-0-3 in the GMAC, and 15-0-3 overall. ODU falls to 4-6-4, and 5-7-6, respectively.

The Eagles played nearly the entire contest under a wintry weather mix and 25 mile per hour winds that made for interesting play at times.

“I don’t think we ever experienced anything like this kind of snow in October, and being in this environment,” offered third-year AU coach Cayleb Paulino. “I think it was cool for the group, they had never experienced it before but I think they managed the elements really well and found a way to get results.”

AU would score one goal in the first half and one in the second to earn the win.

With 31:23 to play in the first half, Eagle senior Allison King scored with an assist going to freshman Sydney Polen, her fourth of the season, who prepped at nearby Loudonville High School.

In the second half, AU senior Peyton Starner scored at the 55:39 mark with assists going to sophomore Dani Hicks and junior McKinlehy Mendenhall, the latter an Ashland High School alum.

Both Mendenhall and Polen talked about playing in the adverse weather conditions that eventually turned the pitch into an entire winter wonderland.

Mendenhall said she hadn’t played in the intense conditions since high school club ball.

“This was the first time in college I’ve experienced this,” Mendenhall said. “It was hard to see the ball and the ball was moving really slow because it was getting snow on it. But I think we did a good job of handling the conditions, and it still being dangerous.

“And we just started a new formation today so it took us a little bit to get into it but once we figured out the kinks of it we really got into a rhythm,” she added. “I think with our team we’re very diverse in who’s scoring and who’s assisting, and it’s just next man up, whoever’s there, and as long as we’re capitalizing, I’m just glad we’re winning.”

Polen said she also had never played in whiteout conditions before.

“It was actually really fun, and once we got the hang of it and we started getting more warm, it was really fun to play in it,” Polen noted, adding she was grateful for getting an assist to help the team. ”It’s great but just like McKinley said, we’re super diverse and we don’t have the same goal scorer’s game, and I think that’s what makes us special and unique from every other team in the country.”

The Eagles had 18 shots on goal to just a six for the Panthers. AU junior goalkeeper Maddie Dolenga had a trio of saves with sophomore Sarah Watson finishing up the last eight minutes to keep the shutout intact for the Eagles.

The Panthers split playing time for two goalkeepers, Jadelyn McNemey playing the first half and Kaitlin Grady playing the second half, each with three saves.

Defensively, the Eagles shined as well, something Paulino says they’ve been keying on.

“It’s one thing we’ve emphasized throughout the year, we’ve got to be the best defensive team in the country because I know there are going to be games we’re not going to produce enough chances offensively,” Paulino noted. “But if we keep clean sheets we always put ourselves in an opportunity to get a result, and I think that’s been the MO for us the entire year is being the best team in the conference defensively, one of the best teams in the country defensively, and we just found ways to continue to get clean sheets and get goals in the back of the net.”

AU's women’s soccer program will now await, hopefully, their Division II 13th postseason appearance.

“As soon as I took the program over, we talked about being in this position and being nationally recognized and I don’t think it’s overwhelming,” Paulino said. “We’ve talked about it since day one, and now we’re finally here and it’s just keeping the group uncomfortable and wanting more and we’ll figure out how that’s going to be in the knockout rounds of the conference tournament.”

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: College Soccer: Ashland improves to 11-0-3 in GMAC