COLUMBUS – Capital University's women's soccer team capped off its non-conference regular schedule on Wednesday evening, with a 2-0 victory over Kenyon College.

In the first half of play, both teams established a very physical style of play, as a combined 15 fouls were recorded in the opening frame.

Pacing the Crusaders attack in the first half was senior Hilary Ells who tallied two shots, both on goal, while freshman Monique Hanayik substituted in to help pressure the opposition on on the offensive side of the ball.

Heading into halftime, the game was scoreless despite Capital recording four of its six shots on goal, while the Ladies tallied seven of their nine shots on goal.

"Kenyon came at us hard and had us a bit unbalanced in the first half," said head coach Chris Kouns. "But, once we got our footing and began to keep possession and play it around on the ground, then we began to find the game and the attacking success that came with it."

Shortly into the second half, the Crusaders took a 1-0 advantage in the 54^th minute following a goal by Ells on a rebound that she corralled from her previous shot, striking the ball over the Kenyon goalkeeper.

Just eight minutes later, the Ladies committed a foul in the box, giving the Capital a penalty kick.

Sophomore Maura Fortino took the penalty kick, extending the Crusaders lead to 2-0 in the 62^nd minute.

"I was really pleased with the efforts of Allison (Mervau) and Maura (Fortino) in terms of helping us work the ball into the final third," Kouns said. "As a team we made better decisions with the ball and found ways to get it at our feet quicker than we had in some of our previous contests."

Both teams would see a few more opportunities on goal the remainder of the game, but none of them found the back of the net, as the Crusaders recorded their second consecutive shutout, fourth in their last five games, defeating Kenyon, 2-0.

Leading the way for Capital was Ells, who netted her team leading sixth goal of the season, while Fortino scored her second goal on the year.

Senior goalkeeper Maggie Donnellan anchored the Crusaders defense, saving all nine shots on goal that she faced.

"On the defensive side of midfield, I thought Katie (Freshour) did a great job of keeping the ball," Kouns said. "Also, Claire (Quinn) did a terrific job of destroying most of Kenyon's attacks up the middle."

In total, the Crusaders recorded 11 of their 17 shots on goal in the victory.

"Hopefully we can take the lessons learned today and bring them to bear for a 90 minute effort against John Carroll," Kouns said. "To this point in the season, everything has been leading up to this weekend and finally the season is truly about to begin. That is something for our team to be excited about."

Next game for Capital (7-2-1) is against John Carroll on Oct. 5 at 4:30 p.m.