Women’s Soccer ties with Stevens (N.J.) in final day of Engineering Cup

By: Monique Bowman

HOBOKEN, N.J. — The Polar Bear women's soccer team battled hard to a 2-2 tie Sunday afternoon against Stevens (N.J.) in the eighth annual Engineering Cup, hosted by the Ducks.

Northern finishes the weekend with a 0-1-1 tournament record and move to 2-1-1 overall this season. The Ducks finish their tournament 1-0-1 and move to 2-2-1 overall.

"Our players played really well and deserved better results on both days of the tournament," head coach Mark Batman said. "But I am really happy with our progress from this weekend."

Stevens scored first with an unassisted goal in the 12th minute by Lindsay Stoll to give the team a 1-0 advantage. ONU had several opportunities in the first half to tie the game but could not get the ball into the net.

It wasn't until the 47th minute when sophomore Lauren Brown found freshman Kristina Klusek, who knocked the ball in and tied the game at 1-1.

The goal was Klusek's fourth of the season and Brown's first assist.

A little over 10 minutes later in the 58th minute, senior Alyssa Merrick took a pass from fellow senior Chelsea Chadwick and put it in the goal to give Northern the 2-1 lead.

Stevens would tie the game in the 79th minute when Kathleen Schuckers found a streaking Brittany Odgers for the game tying goal.

Like the first half, ONU would get several more looks at the goal but couldn't connect the ball with the back of the net.

Both teams would battle through regulation and two overtime periods for the official tie. However, the teams did go into a shootout to determine the Cup winner based on the outcome of the final game of the tournament (NYU/Ursinus).

Northern won the shootout 5-3 on successful kicks by Merrick, senior Christina Spinaris, junior Tara Tokar, and sophomores Abbie Schauble and Sami Atkinson.

Ohio Northern is back on the field Wednesday when it travels to Wittenberg for a 7 p.m. game.