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SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tiger women's soccer team played what is arguably it's best defense of the season Wednesday night, taking down Kenyon in a North Coast Athletic Conference semifinal showdown. A host of Tigers came through in the win, including senior forward Stephanie Sharp (West Chester, Ohio/Lakota East), who scored the game's only goal.
The Red & White ladies have always been strong on defense, but the level of play from that side of the field on Wednesday night was unbelievable. Kenyon was not able to even take a shot throughout the entire game. Poor senior goalkeeper Meghan O'Rourke (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) did not face any shots, and more importantly was forced into no saves, as the entire defensive unit played an almost perfect game. But O'Rourke probably isn't complaining, as she picks up another shutout.
The defense peaked in what is so far the most crucial game of the season, and oh what a time to peak. Junior midfielder Lauren Johnson (Huntsville, Ala./Hilliard Davidson) guarded the sidelines with skill, freshman defender Margaret Amorello (Sutton, Mass./Worcester Academy) put up a brick wall in the middle, senior midfielder Amanda Farrell (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland) played a great game around the middle circle, freshman back Kelly Foley (Dublin, Ohio/Scioto) stopped everything that came to her, and the list goes on. Senior defender Lindsey Rusch (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) was as key as ever and junior back Suzanne Medwid (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) added a matching performance.
Following the same schematic as many of their games, the Tigers kept the first half scoreless and struck early in the second. They went on to hold a 1-0 lead, delivered by Sharp, who scored off a rebound near the goal. After the goal it was a defensive stalemate as the Tigers got close to the net but never converted, and Kenyon continued to fail to penetrate.
On the starting roster was Lindsey Rusch, who made it 81 straight starts to take over the "Iron Woman" title from last year's lone senior Jamie McIntyre, who started 80 straight games in her career. With the win, the Tigers gave Rusch the chance to pad that record with at least one more start.
The Tigers will host two-seed Denison on Saturday in the conference final, to be held at 7:00 p.m.
Written by: John Strawn