HIRAM, Ohio – Since its first meeting with Hiram College in the 1992 soccer season, the Kenyon College Ladies have never lost a game to the Terriers. On Saturday that streak continued, as Kenyon claimed at 2-1 win over Hiram and extended its all-time record against the Terriers to 24-0-1.
In the 2013 season, Kenyon and Hiram tied, 1-1. Since then, the Ladies reeled off six straight wins in the all-time series. The latest victory got the Ladies' season record over the .500 mark at 7-6-1. It also kept the team on solid ground in North Coast Athletic Conference play with a 4-1-1 mark.
Although the Ladies dominated play on the turf at Charles A. Henry Field, the win didn't come easy. The Ladies outshot the Terriers, 19-9, and earned an 11-2 advantage in corner kicks. However, it took a goal with just 3:40 left on the clock to seal the deal.
With Kenyon junior defender
Caroline McNeer sending in a corner kick from the left, classmate
Maddie Ladd walked out to the top of the box. McNeer fed her a pass and Ladd launched a low shot that went right through the middle of traffic and into the net. It was her fourth goal of the season and her third-game winner. McNeer's assist was her team-best sixth of the season.
Back in first-half action, the Ladies scored first on a 20-yard shot ripped by junior
Samantha Hayes. It was the game's 31st minute and McNeer played a ball to the top of the Hiram box. The ball squirted free between a Kenyon and a Hiram player and skipped out to Hayes, who played it off one bounce and into the right corner of the Hiram net for her second score of the season.
Kenyon maintained that lead until Hiram tied things up off a corner kick in the game's 64th minute. The Terriers got an initial shot off the corner from Courtney Wendel. Kenyon goalkeeper
Jillian Countey made a diving save on that. When Countey hit the turf, however, the ball popped out of her grasp. Hiram's Jaycee Ward was in place to fire off a shot that deflected of Countey's body and right back to Ward, who did not miss on her second attempt.
The Ladies, vying for one of four spots in the NCAC postseason tournament, have two regular-season games remaining. They'll go to Oberlin College on Tuesday and then return home for a Saturday game against DePauw University.
