The Ashland University women’s soccer team has put the nation on notice at the Division II level after another successful week of Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) play.
With the team’s high-powered play continuing, the weekly United Soccer Coaches (USC) Top 25 NCAA D-II poll has once again placed the Eagles as the No. 1 ranked team in the nation.
On Tuesday, Sept. 26, the Eagles were voted as the top team for the third week in a row. The team’s high placement comes after another week of shutting out the opposition, this time on a road trip down south to take on the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers and Trevecca Nazarene Trojans.
The Eagles went up against the Trojans first, going up against them on Thursday, Sept. 21. In the outing, the Eagles dominated, outshooting the Trojans at an impressive 20-5 mark. However, only three of the Eagles’ shots were on goal in a contest marked by brick-wall defenses being displayed by either side.
Even with the relentless pressure from the Eagle offense, they were unable to find a goal, leaving the contest with a 0-0 scoreline and one point being awarded to both sides.
“I know the group was disappointed in not coming out with a win on Thursday, we kept a clean sheet but didn’t force the keeper to make too many tough saves,” said Eagle Head Coach Cayleb Paulino.
After being unsatisfied with the outing against the Trojans, the Eagles rallied and dominated the Panthers on Saturday, Sept. 23.
“We challenged the group before Saturday’s match to get back to the little things well,” said Paulino. “Get back to really focusing on what makes Ashland women’s soccer, Ashland women’s soccer.”
The team would see five different players score goals in the outing, with freshman Sydney Polen finding two herself. The Eagles would go on to outshoot the Panthers 31-1, marking the teams season-high in shots-in-a-half with 16 in the second.
The 6-0 win is now the teams largest victory of the 2023-24 fall campaign.
Now through seven outings, the team has allowed just one goal in total on the season. They have outscored opponents 17-1 on the season until this point.
The Eagles look to return to GMAC play on Wednesday, Sept. 27, where they look to take on the Walsh Cavaliers with kickoff set for 3:30 p.m.
Barry W Fortune • Sep 27, 2023 at 4:14 pm
Enjoy your sports writing. As someone who both taught and written sports for 30+ years, just stay away from beginning a story w an article of grammar- too easy.
“Ashland University’s Women’s Soccer remains…
I know this is 1 small item sports pubs look for.
#2 is “ing” leads – First word of story is a word ending in “ing’ as it shows movement or action
Entering. Battling. Focusing
Keep up the great work and good luck
Cade Cracas • Sep 27, 2023 at 5:44 pm
I appreciate the comment. This will be addressed and fixed in future articles.