COLUMBUS, Ohio – The 2022 season will be another opportunity for the Capital University women's soccer program to get over the hill in their quest for an OAC Championship. Since 2015, Capital has finished the OAC in the top-four, but has ultimately come up short each year.
In fact, the past two seasons have had pretty similar conclusions – an OAC Tournament semifinal loss on the road at Ohio Northern University.
With that in mind, Coach
Matt Ogden will be hoping his team is ready to get over the bump this season. The team will be focused on entering OAC play with more momentum than they did a year ago. In 2021, Capital entered the OAC portion of their season with a 1-6-1 record. Furthermore, the team scored just two goals over that time period. Both are kinks they would like to work out much sooner this season to better prepare for the postseason and get them over the hill when the hardware is at stake.
PRESS REWIND ON 2021
In 2021, as mentioned, the women's soccer program had a difficult non-conference schedule, and played well in many areas on the field, but found one fatal flaw – a lack of an ability to score goals. Through the first eight games of the year, the Comets managed just two goals and were shutout six times enroute to a 1-6-1 start to the year. Now during that stretch, Capital played two nationally ranked opponents in the form of Case Western Reserve and Carnegie Mellon, while also competing against several regionally competitive teams as well. Despite the difficult start to the season, Capital got the ship straight in OAC play, going 7-1-1 over that stretch of the season with a dramatic 3-3 tie with Ohio Northern and a narrow 1-0 loss at Otterbein being the two blemishes.
Nonetheless, Capital qualified as the No. 3 seed to the OAC Tournament and quickly knocked off Heidelberg to book a rematch with Ohio Northern in the semifinals. There, in a rematch of the same 2020 fixture, Capital fell in double overtime to end their season.
WELCOME BACK
Returning for her senior season is a proven goal scorer,
Avery Hart. Hart has scored 20 career goals through her first three seasons with the team, including nine one year ago. Coming back to support Hart on the offensive side of the ball are
Grace Estes,
Lexi Snider, and
Aaliyah Brletic. Estes had a breakout freshman season, scoring five goals and dishing out three assists. Snider scored four times, while Brletic netted twice.
Other returners in 2022 who scored goals last season include
Mia Gambaccini,
Olivia Rotolo,
Sophia Leonetti,
Francesca Longano, and
Nicole Ogden.
Defenders returning this season include Gambaccini,
Haley Moore, and
Abby English. All three started at least seven contests last season and worked with two seniors who have since graduated.
Returning in goal is
Lauren White for her senior year. White started all 19 games last season and played every minute in between the pipes. She allowed just a 0.91 goals-against-average by conceding 18 times through 19 games. She amassed 80 saves while shutting out opponents eight times.
LOOKING AT THE SCHEDULE
The Comets will open up their season with two road games, opening at nationally ranked Case Western Reserve on September 1st before playing at Mt. St. Joseph on September 9th. Cap will then open up their home slate on September 11th at 12 p.m. against a new-look opponent Dickinson. Coach Ogden then scheduled Ohio Wesleyan, Hanover, Hope and Wittenberg to finish out the non-conference slate.
After the non-conference season is over, Capital will open the OAC portion of the schedule at Otterbein on October 1st. Then they will play Wilmington and ONU at home on October 5th and 8th, respectively. Trips to Muskingum, Marietta, and John Carroll combined with home matches against Mount Union, Heidelberg, and BW will round out the regular season.
