Oakland City, IN - The Lady Oaks were victorious 6-1 against Ohio Christian University on Saturday, October 1 making their record 3-0 in conference. This is the Lady Oaks fourth consecutive win.
With a promising attack, the ball got whipped in from the right hand side by
Alana Doherty to the edge of the box.
Madison Nicolas challenged for a 50-50 ball and got absolutely clattered in the box resulting in a penalty and a red card for Ohio Christian's #4.
Claudia Melgar stepped up to take the penalty. The keeper went the right way, but Melgar placed the shot into the bottom right to beat the keeper. This made the score 1-0 within three minutes.
On the left hand side of the pitch,
Molly Knox won the ball back and played the ball down the wing to Nicolas. She then passed the ball to Melgar at the edge of the box who one touch finished it into the top right corner of the goal, giving the keeper no chance. Melgar had a similar chance 10 minutes earlier which resulted in the ball hitting the crossbar, but fortunately, this attempt made it into the back of the net.
Maddie Myers retrieved the ball from a poor defensive clearance in the final third and passed the ball to
Rhiannon O'Looney on the right wing who delayed the attack and laid the ball back to Myers. Myers crossed the ball to the far post where the keeper got a hand to it, but Melgar followed it and headed it into the back of the net, making it 3-0 at halftime.
After halftime, the Lady Oaks were determined to add onto the lead. From the goalkeeper's punt,
Madison Ward got the ball in the backline and passed it forward to Doherty who passed out wide to Myers. She took a touch and played it forward to Melgar, leaving her 1v1 with the keeper. Melgar shot to the near post, taking a deflection off the keeper to go in the back of the net, making it 4-0.
On Ohio Christian's attack, ward blocked a through ball, making it fall to
Kayla Nunes' feet. Nunes quickly picked out a pass to
Rachael Poneskis in midfield. Poneskis saw O'Looney making an inward run from the left wing and played a penetrating pass into the box. O'Looney took a touch to control the ball, another to set up, and shot before the recovering defender could get a block in. Her shot lobbed the keeper and flew into the top right corner, making it 5-0.
Ohio Christian made it into the Lady Oaks attacking third and made a cross from the right hand side which was intercepted by Melgar who one touched it to Nunes. Nunes played it to
Kelsey Barrett and she took a touch to find O'Looney on the left hand wing. O'Looney beat the defender with her touch then ran with the ball from the halfway line to the edge of the box and shot bottom right before the keeper could set herself.
For Ohio Christian's only goal, the ball was lost in midfield, Ohio Christian was on the attack and due to a defensive error, the ball landed kindly into the path of the Ohio Christian striker who passed the ball into the back of the net.
The final score ended 6-1 with Melgar getting a super hattrick and O'Looney getting a brace.
Kassidy Elkin and
Annabelle Lansdale finished the game with one save each.
The Lady Oaks will look to continue their good form when they play away on Thursday, October 6 against West Virginia University and again on Saturday, October 8 against the University of Rio Grande. GO MIGHTY OAKS!!
