Oakland City, IN-- A historic season came to a close in the NAIA Opening Round of the National Tournament for the OCU Women's Soccer team. A truly historic season as Head Coach,
Jamie Bladen, in his first year, took the Mighty Oaks to an undefeated conference run.
Coach Bladen was hired in 2023 to lead the Mighty Oaks Women's Soccer team. Bladen had to build the team back up to the powerhouse it was before, and he did just that. Bladen brought in 24 new players to bring the roster to 30 women. The expectations were low, and other River States Conference teams didn't know what to expect as they were picked to finish ninth out of 10 teams in the league.
After a couple of games played, the league really started to see what Coach Bladen had put together and how strong this team was going to be. After a 4-4 start before opening conference play, the Mighty Oaks lead off the conference season with Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College. They were able to take a sneak a late goal past the keeper to accomplish a 2-1 victory over the Pomeroys, winning their first Conference game as a team together under Coach Bladen.
From that game forward, it took six games for another team to find the back of the net on the Mighty Oaks. In that stretch, they had shut-outs against Midway, Shawnee State, WVU-Tech, Brescia, IU Columbus, and IU Kokomo. Not only winning by a small margin, the Mighty Oaks were winning by an average of four goals per game ahead of their opponents. The Mighty Oaks clinched the regular season title, their first in school history, over the Red Wolves of IU East, winning 3-1. Following that game, they took down Rio Grande 4-2 in the regular season finale and took the top spot going into the Conference Tournament.
In the Conference Semi-finals, the Mighty Oaks took on the Golden Bears of West Virginia Tech, whom they had already defeated 5-0 in the first part of the season. This game was a little closer as the Mighty Oaks trailed for 41 minutes of the game after allowing an early goal in the 31st minute of play. In the 72nd minute,
Camilla Bedin found the back of the net to equal the game. Shortly after, Conference Player of the Year,
Macey Woolcock carved up the defense and scored the game winning goal.
The Mighty Oaks found themselves playing in their first Conference Championship Final against the Red Wolves of IU East. The game was played in horrible conditions as the rain was pelting down and winds in the upper 30 miles per hour range, but that didn't slow them down. Once again, it was
Macey Woolcock who found the net in the 25th minute, and that proved to be the game winner for the Oaks, claiming their first River States Conference title in school history!
After the game had concluded, the following Mighty Oaks players and Coaches were recognized for their achievements during the season,
1st Team All-RSC
Yazia Ramos
Paula Roldan
Lobna Bouchkir
Jana Mueller
Linn Adolfsson-Funk
Macey Woolcock
2nd Team All-RSC
Libby Hyett
Alice Thoren
3rd Team All-RSC
Alejandra Ortiz
River States Conference Newcomer of the Year
Jana Mueller
River States Conference Offensive Player of the Year
Macey Woolcock
River States Conference Player of the Year
Macey Woolcock
River States Conference Coach of the Year
Jamie Bladen
The Mighty Oaks look to return just as strong, if not stronger in Coach Bladen's second year. Continue to follow the Mighty Oaks Women's Soccer program at Gomightyoaks.com or on Instagram @ocu_wsoc
