Ohio Wesleyan University Athletics

Ohio Wesleyan 1, Messiah 0

GENEVA, N.Y. -- Junior forward Erika Howland (Terrace Park/Mariemont) 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 in the NCAA Division III championship game on Saturday at Artificial Turf Stadium on the campus of Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

The national championship was the second in a row for Ohio Wesleyan, making the Bishops the first team to repeat as NCAA Division III champion since the University of California at San Diego in 1995-97. The win also extended the Battling Bishops' NCAA Division 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 (Columbus/Westerville South) 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 (Columbus/Hilliard Darby) nudged it out to freshman midfielder Sarah Wall (Columbus/Upper Arlington), 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 front of me and I had an open goal."

Messiah's Erin Benedict had the first scoring chance of the game, but her shot at the 10:58 mark sailed high.

That was it for the Falcons in the first half, as the Bishops had the edge in midfield play for most of the rest of the period.

Howland had a chance to give the Bishops a 2-0 lead on a crossing pass from senior forward Emily Bayer (Medina), 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.

The first half ended with Ohio Wesleyan outshooting the Falcons, 6-1, but Bishop head coach Bob Barnes was not concerned. "I think with the talent we have up front and the midfield, we've only been held scoreless one game in the last two seasons, so I felt we could create some opportunities. I knew Messiah was an outstanding team and figured it was going to be a one-goal game, and we usually don't give up too many opportunities defensively, so as long as we could eke one out and stand tough on the defense, I felt we were in good shape."

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.

The Falcons had a restart with 14:05 left in the game, sending the ball into the box, but senior Mindy Hammond (Columbus/DeSales) smothered the ball on the right side. Messiah served the ball into the box again 2 minutes later, but was not able to get off a shot.

Hammond covered another entry pass with 10:57 left in regulation time, and Messiah had another restart from about 30 yards away with 9:03 to play, but the Falcons were not able to get off a shot.

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 the Defensive Most Valuable Player of the tournament by the NCAA Division 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.

"Mindy cleaned up a couple nice balls in the box, which is one of her strengths that don't appear in the stat book in the sense of cutting down crosses and coming out on the 1-on-1," said Barnes.

"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 (Westerville/South) and Wall.

Ohio Wesleyan outshot Messiah, 13-3. Futato finished with 8 saves in the Falcon goal.

The Falcons, who had won their first 23 games on the way to the national championship game for the first time, finished the season with a 23-1 record.

"I think the difference was Ohio Wesleyan had great speed up front and just very physically strong to the ball," said Messiah coach Scott Frey. "I thought (the game) was very evenly matched but as time went on, their strength and size started to wear us down a little bit. We're a bit banged up at this point, but everyone is this time of season, everybody has bumps and bruises and I'm not sure we could go as deep as we would have liked to. Overall, they're a good team and you can see why they are where they are."

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."