The Ashland women’s soccer team (7-1-3, 4-1-1 GLIAC) returned home to Ferguson Field and gained a solid Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference victory over the Ohio Dominican University (4-4-4, 3-1-2 GLIAC) on Sunday afternoon.

The matchup showcased the GLIAC’s second ranked ODU Panthers versus the third ranked Eagles.

The Eagles proved to be the dominant team to start out the first 10 minutes of the first half, but the Panthers turned the table on the Eagles as they spent a good majority of first half in the Eagle’s part of the field.  

Junior goalkeeper Courtney Barker saw plenty of action as the Panthers outshot the Eagles 6-4 in the first half.  

The Eagles turned things around in the middle of the first half as junior forward Kelsey McKernan found fellow junior forward Morgan Bittengle on a through pass that left Bittengle one on one with the Panther keeper resulting in an early 1-0 lead for the Eagles.

The Eagles found the back of the net eight minutes later as junior defender Bridget McEldowney whipped a pass in from the right wing of the box that perfectly found a charging Deijah Swihart as the sophomore forward put AU up 2-0 going into halftime.

Swihart would not be finished in the scoring book as a pass from freshman midfielder Korina Lakes found the sophomore forward for another effortless one timer to beat the ODU keeper making the score 3-0 in favor of AU.

Swihart’s two goals brings her goal total to seven, matching last year’s total in which she earned GLIAC freshman of the year honors, but Swihart is quick to point out that her success is a result of a total team effort.

“During practice we have been working a lot on attacking and getting in behind teams because we know we can, so we have been focusing on that and obviously it’s working for us with seven goals in two game,” said Swihart.  “It’s definitely a team win.  When we are out here we play all 90 minutes.”

The Eagles will be back in action at home as they take on Saginaw Valley Friday at 4:30 p.m.