The Ashland Women’s soccer team went toe to toe with the top team in the GLIAC for 83 minutes. 

Unfortunately for AU, the GLIAC tournament semifinal match against Ohio Dominican was 90 minutes. 

Following an AU goal to knot the match up at one goal apiece, ODU scored two goals in a seven minute stretch right before the halftime whistle, that proved to be too much for Ashland to come back from. 

“We came up short, but we took the number one team in the conference all the way to the end and that is all you can ask for as a coach,” second year head coach Danny Krispinsky said. 

AU, who upset 4^th seeded Saginaw Valley State to reach the quarterfinals, finished the season with a 12-7 record overall and a 7-5 mark in GLIAC play. 

“We had a very young team this season, and it’s all about learning and growing for us. And you can definitely see that we grew throughout the year. We went from losing four out of five at one point to winning eight out of ten late in the year,” said Krispinsky

He added, “It’s our young core group laying a foundation and I liked what we saw from our girls the entire season.” 

A key part of that young core group was freshman striker Morgan Bittengle, who finished the season with a flurry.

Bittengle, who entered the match against ODU coming off a hat trick performance against Saginaw in the quarterfinals, scored her 16^th goal of the season against Ohio Dominican tying the match at one in the 31^st minute. 

Krispinsky praised Bittengle’s performance throughout the season.

“Morgan has been doing it since the first game of the season when she had a goal and assist in her collegiate debut,” he said. “She has been a constant threat for us the entire season and she is somebody we will look to build upon in the future.” 

Bittengle, who finished the season atop the points and goals categories in the GLIAC, was named second team all-GLIAC and a member of the conference tournament team.  

Following Bittengle’s goal that tied the match up at one in the 31^st minute, the Panthers broke things open. Allison Pavlik beat AU keeper Karly Bueck in the 39^th minute to give ODU a 2-1 lead. 

Pavlik then set up Madison Baldwin’s first goal of the season on a cross into the box, giving ODU a 3-1 lead just 50 seconds before halftime. 

AU did not back down in the second half. In the 78^th minute freshman Brittany Ehlert brought AU to within a goal, scoring off the corner kick from Kelsey McKernan to make the score 3-2 in favor of the top overall seed.

Ehlert leads a group of underclassmen that, when combined with Bittengle, form a dangerous team returning a lot of experience. 

“Not only do we have Morgan coming back next year, we have a ton of young players back next season. They are going to be the core of this team going forward,” Krispinsky said.

Ehlert’s goal was as close as AU got on the evening, as ODU held off the Eagles for the final 12 minutes of the match and advanced to the GLIAC tournament final.

For the Eagles it was the second consecutive season where the team saw their season end in the GLIAC semifinals.

Krispinsky said, “With back-to-back trips to the semifinals, we have proven ourselves to be one of the top teams in the league. Now we have to take it one step further, which is a much tougher thing to do. Let’s go to the conference tournament final and improve on the things we have done the past few years.” 

Overall though Krispinsky was very pleased with the 2014 campaign.

“I feel really good about where we are heading based on this season,” Krispinsky said. “We had excellent leadership from the upperclassmen this season that showed our younger players the way. Now we just want to continue building this program with excellent people and players.” 

AU will be without five senior leaders next season, who will graduate in May. 

The team will be faced with replacing GLIAC honorable mention keeper Karly Bueck, forwards Kathleen Demaree, Kelsey Dropsey and Megan Zealer and defender Lexi Gruich. 

Krispinsky praised the seniors, saying they made a positive impact on the program moving forward, “It was great for our younger players to get to work with the older players and watch how they handled themselves. They got to see how these seniors trained, prepared and played every day. Now it’s the younger players turn to do the same.”

Heading into the long offseason Krispinsky wants his team to keep working.

“We talked right after the loss to ODU about getting better for next season,” he said. “And with the girls we have coming back they know that. They are ready to get back at it. We just have to keep working hard, keep improving and continue to buy into our system.”

Krispinsky added, “I really believe that it’s going to happen, and I believe it is going to happen quickly.”