Season Preview: Ohio Northern Women's Soccer team will look to have continued success during the 2015 season
ADA — The ONU women's soccer team is excited about the upcoming season. The program is returning nine starters from the 2014 team as well as a lot of upperclassmen who have all gained valuable experience from previous seasons.
The Polar Bear family has added nine new faces to the 2015 roster. Leading the team this year will be a small, but very experienced senior class. Seniors Alex Weirich, Emily Brodict and Hannah Moloney will look to get the team back to the NCAA National Tournament.
Moloney had the game tying goal as a freshmen in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Rochester Institute of Technology, N.Y. The team went on to beat Rochester Institute of Technology that year in penalty kicks, only to lose a tough 1-0 battle to Carnegie Mellon who went to the round of eight that year.
The returning juniors and sophomores bring loads of experience from last fall. Last season those players were all in tight games against nationally ranked competition.
"We are hopeful that our big group of returning players will use the knowledge they gained last fall and apply it this year", said head coach Mark Batman. "We were in a lot of tight games in 2014 and starting 4-6 freshmen per game last year. Those kids gained valuable experience on how to manage those games. We are hopeful that those tight losses and ties turn into wins this fall."
The incoming players will bring a wealth of high level club soccer experience to this hungry Polar Bear team.
"If we don't have freshmen contributing each season, we are taking steps back" says Coach Batman. "We expect first year players to contribute each season, pushing our upperclassmen and challenging for starting roles. That keeps everyone sharp and hungry."
The 2015 schedule is a tough as it has ever been. "We don't have any easy non-conference games. Our schedule is tough for a reason, to prepare us for October and hopefully November. We want to play the best teams who will play us in September. We are playing several 2014 NCAA Tournament teams, other conference champions as well as rival conference tournament champions. The first week of September will be a great test for us as two of our three opponents were 2014 NCAA tournament teams."
The OAC has become one of the most competitive conferences in the Great Lakes Region.
"We feel if we can compete well in September, learn about ourselves, and apply that knowledge heading into October, we will put ourselves in a great position to compete and get back to the national tournament."
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