Thanks to a third consecutive clean sheet and a goal in the first minute of the game, the No. 8-ranked Ashland University women's soccer team topped Thomas More on the road, 4-0, on Thursday (Oct. 3) night.
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The Eagles are in first place alone in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference table at 6-1-1 overall and 4-0-1 in the league, and the Saints are 3-3-2, 0-3-2.
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Junior forward
Dani Hicks scored 31 seconds into the contest, and her team-high sixth goal of the season, unassisted, put AU up early. In the 13
th minute, sophomore midfielder
Haley Hightower's first goal of the campaign, on a feed from senior forward
McKinley Mendenhall, made it a 2-0 game.
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Mendenhall's helper was her 30
th as an Eagle, now alone in third place on the program's all-time list.
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In the 18
th minute, Mendenhall's third tally of the season with help from Hicks on her second assist of the season, made it a 3-0 game. Then, in the 76
th minute, another unassisted goal, from sophomore midfielder
Ella Schneider – her first of 2024 – ended the scoring.
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MORE AND MORE CORNER KICKS…AND THE REST OF THE STORY
- Coming into the contest tied for the most corner kicks per game in NCAA Division II (10.43), Ashland took all eight corner kicks on Thursday night.
- Senior goalkeeper Maddie Dolenga (first half, two saves) and fifth-year keeper Mackenzie Simon (second half, one save) combined for the shutout – AU's sixth of the fall.
- Ashland out-shot Thomas More, 11-5.
- The Eagles are 4-0 all-time vs. the Saints, and have yet to yield a goal in the series.
UP NEXT
Ashland returns to Ferguson Field on Saturday (Oct. 5) at 6:30 p.m. to take on Cedarville (4-3-2, 3-1-1) – in a game featuring the top two teams in the conference.
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