The No 1-ranked Ashland University's women's soccer team has worked its way into a first-place tie atop the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, following a 4-0 win over Tiffin at Ferguson Field on Wednesday (Oct. 11).
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Thanks to their sixth consecutive win, the Eagles are 11-0-1 overall and 7-0-1 in the league. The Dragons are 1-5-5, 1-4-3.
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As has been its custom so far in 2023, all four Ashland goals were scored by four different players.
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NOTABLES
- Ashland opened the scoring in the 17th minute when junior forward McKinley Mendenhall netted a goal in a scramble for her third tally of the season. Then, in the 19th minute, junior midfielder Merrik Mihalek scored her fifth goal of the fall in a similar fashion.
- In the 51st minute, senior forward Allison King turned a penalty kick into her fifth goal of the campaign – and a 3-0 Eagle advantage. Freshman forward Sydney Polen made it a 4-0 gap on her fifth goal of her rookie season on a header.
- The Eagles had a decided 21-5 shots advantage, and a decided 13-1 corner kicks advantage.
- Senior goalkeeper Mackenzie Simon made two saves for her eighth clean sheet of the season and the team's ninth overall.
- Ashland has won 11 consecutive games against Tiffin.
- Wednesday's game was Ashland's Breast Cancer Awareness Day.
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QUOTABLES
- "It was great to win the set-piece battle," said Ashland head coach Cayleb Paulino. "We won both halves, and it's the first time that's happened, I feel like, in a while. For us, we started out fast."
- "It's hard to figure out how we are going to get goals, as a scouting report," Paulino said of the spacing out of goals individually this season. "Our players are consistently creating chances, and it's good to see multiple players get on the scoresheet."
- Said Paulino, who played 27 players on Wednesday, "For us, it starts with training. It's the environment we create. Our depth is something that keeps us going."
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UP NEXT
Ashland will stay at home to take on Lake Erie (1-10-1, 0-8) on Saturday (Oct. 14) at 6:30 p.m.
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