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Oaks Start Strong but Fade
Oakland City 1-3 Kentucky Wesleyan
The Lady Oaks of Oakland City University played a great first half going a goal up and having numerous chances to make it 2. They couldn't hold out though against a strong Wesleyan team who's conditioning and athleticism saw then claw there way back into the match in the second half.
Wesleyan started slightly the stronger in the bright sunshine at Aigner Field but the Oaks' defence stood strong and soon it was Oakland City making all the headway with some vibrant attacking play. The Lady Oaks sprung defence into attack to cause numerous problems for the visiting defence before Amber Kessler (Washington, IN) gave them a deserved lead on 16 and a half minutes.
Solid defence won the ball and good passing from midfield released Danielle Hinton (Jeffersonville, IN) down the left. Her mazy run saw her beat two defenders and break into the penalty area where she picked out Kessler who made no mistake from 8 yards.
This proved the pattern of the first half, strong at the back and creative and incisive going forward. All that was lacking was another finish to match Kessler's.
The second half saw a rejuvenated Wesleyan team take the field and the tieing goal just 2 and a half minutes in. Stephanie Pfirman scoring. The Oaks continued to play well but as the half wore on tiredness began to creep in and Wesleyan started to get the upper hand.
Two goals in the space of 30s from Jill Deibler sealed the game for Wesleyan one of which was a thunderous shot from the edge of the area which ricocheted off the underside of the bar on its way into the goal. Oakland City continued to create chances as they threw everything into offense but just couldn't find a way through.
"The first half was by far our best performance of the season," enthused Coach Botterill, "Lisa Seib (Evansville, IN) and Amber Kessler ran the middle of the field for us and we looked dangerous every time we won the ball. Sadly we just couldn't keep the work rate up for the full ninety minutes."