On a rainy day in Granville, the Denison women's soccer team adjusted to the sloppy field conditions as they rattled off four second-half goals en route to a 4-0 victory over Kalamazoo College on Saturday afternoon.
The weather conditions didn't phase the DU offense as they out shot the Hornets 15-3 in the opening 45 minutes. Denison applied pressure throughout the entire half, which included five shots on goal. After manning scoring opportunities, the Big Red's best chance at a first-half lead came on a well executed tic-tac-toe play. Junior Kimmi Oshita (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore) one-touched a Julie Dean (Hamilton, Ohio/Mt. Notre Dame) pass to sophomore Clare Meernik (Redford, Mich./Marian) down the left sideline. Meernik touched the ball past a Kalamazoo defender and unloaded a shot that forced Hornets' netminder Courtney McCoy to make an outstanding diving save.
In the second half, Denison wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. At the 48:06 mark, senior captain Anna Rusch (Washington, D.C./Sidwell Friends School) scored the eventual game-winner off a corner kick. The Rusch corner bent towards the goal and bounced off the goalie's hands into the net.
At 51:30, Oshita added to the Big Red lead when she buried a header into the upper left 90 off a beautiful cross from classmate Jen Clemmer (Hixson, Tenn./The Baylor School). In the 65th minute, Oshita sent a ball into the attack zone for Maggie Hoskin (Chicago, Ill./Homewood-Flossmoor). Hoskin out ran her defensive counterpart to the ball and fired a shot past McCoy to give Denison a 3-0 lead.
Oshita closed the door on the Hornets in the 84th minute when she headed another ball into the back of net. The junior's second tally of the game was set up by a short cross by Rusch.
The Big Red finished the day with a 27-4 advantage in shots, after holding Kalamazoo to one second-half attempt. DU also attempted a season-high 13 corner kicks, including 11 in the second frame. McCoy made nine saves, while Denison goalie Courtney Cobb (Sylvania, Ohio/St. Ursula Academy) only needed to make one stop as she recorded her seventh shutout of the season.
DU is now 6-2-1 overall, while the Hornets fall to 2-4-2. The Big Red return to action on Wednesday (Sept. 30) when they travel to Ada, Ohio to take on the Ohio Northern University Polar Bears at 5 p.m.
