Looking Back
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the second consecutive national championship victory by the OWU women’s soccer team. The following article celebrating the win ran in the Winter 2002 issue of OWU Magazine.
Junior forward Erika Howland scored midway through the first half and the Ohio Wesleyan defense made it stand up as the Battling Bishop women’s soccer team defeated Messiah, 1-0, in the NCAA Division III championship game on Nov. 30 at Artificial Turf Stadium on the campus of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y.
The national championship was the second in a row for Ohio Wesleyan, making the Bishops the first team to repeat as NCAA D-III champion since the University of California at San Diego in 1995-97. The win also extended the Battling Bishops’ NCAA D-III-record winning streak to 45 straight games. The shutout was Ohio Wesleyan’s 20th of the season. The Bishops did not allow a goal during their 5-game march to the national championship.
Howland put the Bishops on the scoreboard with 21:15 left in the first half. Ohio Wesleyan had earned a corner kick and sophomore defender Toni Frissora sent the ball into the box from the right side. The ball came down near the right post into a crowd where senior midfielder Lindsey Bland nudged it out to freshman midfielder Sarah Wall, who tapped the ball over to Howland near the left post. Howland buried the shot into the open net to put the Bishops ahead to stay.
“It was just kind of bouncing around, they didn’t clear it and then we didn’t get a shot off,” Howland said. “I have one run that I make and kind of clean up anything and it just happened to come by that way. I just had it right in front of me and I had an open goal.”…
Howland had a chance to give the Bishops a 2-0 lead on a crossing pass from senior forward Emily Bayer, but the ball skipped by before Howland could get a shot off with an open look at the goal. Later, Howland crossed the ball to Wall, but Messiah keeper Maggie Futato made the save on Wall’s shot. Wall had another good shot with 13:20 left in the half, but her shot from a crowd hit the crossbar and went over…
Benedict had the Falcons’ best chance to score in the second half, winding up from near the top of the box but seeing her shot go wide left with 16:13 left in regulation time.
With the time winding down, Messiah played forward and put more pressure on the Bishop defense, but Ohio Wesleyan kept the Falcons off the scoreboard…
Ohio Wesleyan threatened to put the game on ice when Wall made a run in from the left side, but her shot toward the left post was saved, as was a follow shot by Howland.
While Hammond was not credited with a save in the game, there was no denying the importance of her defensive play. She was named Defensive Most Valuable Player of the tournament by the NCAA D-III women’s soccer committee.
“Nothing really was a hard shot on goal, it was just being knocked into the 18 box and I just had to clean it up in there,” Hammond said…
“Our game plan was to keep control of the ball, and I think for the most part during the game we kept great control of the ball,” Howland said. “Liz (Sheehan) and Deb (Lochner) did a great job in the middle, and Mindy stepped it up huge in the goal.
After scoring the game-winning goal in the championship game and contributing a goal and an assist in Friday’s semifinal game, Howland was named the tournament’s Offensive Most Valuable Player.
Hammond and Howland were joined on the all-tournament team by junior forward Liz Sheehan and Wall…
Ohio Wesleyan finished the season with a 24-0 record.
“I think it’s just unbelievable what the (team has) accomplished, going through an undefeated season,” Barnes said. “Winning it twice in a row is just absolutely surreal. I feel great for the upperclassmen that have done incredible things from starting their career winning 19 games in a row and then they finish it off by winning 45 straight.”