GAMBIER, Ohio – Striving for the best possible postseason position, the Kenyon College women's soccer team suffered a setback Saturday at Mavec Field. An own goal, late in the second overtime of an important North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) game with Allegheny College, resulted in a 2-1 loss for Ladies.

With one conference game left on their regular-season schedule, the Ladies trail first-place Denison University, a team that defeated DePauw University on Saturday and now sits in the driver's seat for the stretch run. Denison is 5-0-1 and has 16 points with two conference games left to play. Kenyon currently sits in second place, now with a 4-2-1 record and 13 points, but third-place Wittenberg (4-1-0), which has 12 points, still has three conference games left, including a home game against Hiram College later Saturday evening. Fourth-place DePauw (4-3-0) also has 12 points, but just one NCAC game left.

Although things didn't end the way they wanted, the Ladies did start out Saturday's game on the right foot. In the game's 26th minute, senior forward Maggie Smith beat a defender in the right side of the Allegheny box. She dribbled toward the right goal post and used her left foot to beat Allegheny keeper Colleen Fleming on the short side. The goal was the tenth of the season for Smith, marking a personal, single-season high. She previously scored nine goals in each of her last two seasons and now possesses a total of 35 goals in her Kenyon career.

That lead held up until the ninth minute of the second half. At that time, Allegheny's Jessie Thiessen drove the left side of the Kenyon zone and dished to Isabella Martinez, who buried her shot into the Kenyon net and knotted things up at one.

Kenyon dominated possession for most of the game, but the Ladies could not boot home the game-winner despite outshooting the Gators, 21-7, and building an 8-1 margin in corner kicks.

The only corner kick that Allegheny was awarded came in the second overtime after Kenyon goalkeeper Jillian Countey punched a save back over the crossbar and out of play. Following the corner, Allegheny's Kayla Redner popped the ball up high toward Kenyon's far post. As the ball came down, Countey and another Kenyon player both tried to clear it, but the ball ended up being deflected back over the Ladies' goal line.

Countey ended the game with three saves for the Ladies (6-7-2 overall), while Fleming had to make a dozen saves for Allegheny (6-8-1), which has won three of its last four games.

Kenyon, which is 2-2 in its last four games, will next play Ohio Wesleyan University on the road Wednesday at 7p.m.