Junior captain Andrea Witte's goal in the 70th minute broke a scoreless tie and propelled the Denison women's soccer team to a 1-0 victory over Ohio Northern University on Wednesday night in Granville. With the win, the Big Red improves 5-2 on the year, including a perfect 4-0 record at home.

In a defensive-minded opening half, each team attempted five shots with two finding their way on frame. Freshman Meg Wozniak hit the crossbar with a shot in the 11th minute, while ONU's Kristina Klusek saw one of her shots strike the left post in the 22nd minute.

Denison picked up the offensive intensity in the second half, unloading eight shots in the first 22:13 of the period. The Big Red finally found the back of the net at 69:02 when Witte scored her third goal of the season. The scoring play was set into motion by an Anne Denz attempted cross that deflected off an ONU defender and out of the 18-yard box.  After settling the deflection, Witte stepped up and rifled a shot into the upper right 90 from just outside the box.

The Polar Bears came close to answering off the ensuing faceoff, but the Big Red defense blocked down the shot attempt by Abbey Oswald. Holding on to a one-goal lead, the DU attack applied more pressure to the ONU backline. Denison fired seven more shots over the final 20+ minutes of play. On the other side of the field, the DU defense held Ohio Northern to just four attempts during that span, and just one over the final 18 minutes. The Polar Bears' final attempt was a rocket off the foot of Anna Niemeyer that just went left of the goal with 29 seconds to play.

Denison outshot Ohio Northern 21-11, including a 16-6 advantage in the second half. Both teams committed 12 fouls, while DU won the corners battle, 5-3.

Witte and Wozniak paced the offense with four shots each, while Maddy Regan and Grace Murray had three apiece.  Freshman goalie Jenny Herold posted her second shutout of the season after making five stops.

Klusek and Shelby Stephens paced ONU with four and three shots, respectively. Emily Brodict made four stops and allowed the game's only goal in 90 minutes between the pipes.

Denison is now 10-1-2 all time against Ohio Northern, which includes a 6-0-1 record at Barclay-Thomsen Field. The Big Red returns to the pitch on Saturday when they host Centre College at 1 p.m.