Women's Soccer Preview
Sun: #5 Drury vs #1 Ashland, 2pm, Ashland, Ohio, Ferguson Field
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Game Information
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Regional Tournament Guide
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Ashland host Drury with a bid to the Midwest Regional Championship on the line
Drury meets Ashland in the NCAA-II Midwest Regional Semifinals on Sunday, November 24, in Ashland at 2 p.m. (CST) with a spot in the regional championship on the line.
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The Panthers are coming off a dominant performance against Northern Michigan. Drury took the first-round game 4-1. In that game, Drury's keeper,
Katy Fitzler recorded a career-high six saves against a Northern Michigan team that was top ten in the country in scoring. Audrey and
Andrea Camargo both found net in the first half, along with
Keira Love who scored her first career goal.
Mel Schneider scored in the second half to lock in the win for the Panthers.
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Drury's bench in their win against Northern Michigan performed the best it had in the previous two games. The Panthers' bench was able to get seven shots off, two of them falling for scores.
Elsa Gonzalez also picked up an assist after not making the start. In Drury's last two games against McKendree and Indianapolis the Panthers' reserves combined for five shots, one assist, and no goals.
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Katy Fitzler still leads the nation in shutouts with 13, despite not recording one in the last two matches. Of the remaining teams in the Midwest Regional (Ashland, Maryville, Grand Valley State, and Drury)
Holland Hawkins ranks third in total goals scored with 11, only behind two Ashland players.
Elena Perez is second in assists with nine within those same four teams. Perez added another assist to her total against Northern Michigan. A win for Drury would give
Justin Olson his 100th career win and put the Panthers in a spot that only the 2007 Drury team has been in; the regional championship.
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This is Ashland's first game in over a week with their last game being on November 16 against Northwood in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Championship. The nationally ranked third Eagles win over Northwood secured them the top seed in the region and a first-round bye.
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Ashland is 17-1-2 on the season with their one loss coming in the first game of the season against another regional semifinalist in Grand Valley State. The Eagles are riding a four-game winning streak. During that streak, Ashland is outscoring their opponents 13-2, with the only two goals coming from Northwood, one in the regular season finale and one in the G-MAC Championship. Ashland had seven players named to the G-MAC all-conference teams including the league's offensive player of the year, Dani Hicks, and defensive player of the year, Merrik Mihalek. Hicks has 36 points on the season, which is second on her team behind McKinley Mendenhall, another all-G-MAC selection. Mendenhall and Hicks rank third and fourth respectively in the region in points. Mihalek's selection of the Great Midwest's best defender was her second in a row. From the back row, Mihalek has 11 points. Ashland's keeper, Mackenzie Simon was a second-team all-conference selection. The fifth-year has split time in the net with Maddie Dolenga. Simon got the start in the conference championship game but was sat at halftime for Dolenga. That has been the story of the season for the both of them with Simon starting nine games playing 20, Dolenga has started 11 games and appeared in 19. Simon is second in the nation in goals against average with a .190. The Eagles' head coach, Cayleb Paulino, was the league's coach of the year for the first time in his career.
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Ashland has held their opponents to six goals this season while scoring 53. Drury has put 47 balls in this season, allowing 11 to find way. The Panthers (19.9 Sh/G) are putting up nearly three more shots per game than the Eagles (17.1 Sh/G). However, the shots the Eagles take are more accurate putting two percent more on goal. The difference is on the defensive end, Ashland has forced the opponent's shots to be 59% off target, and Drury is only at 46%. The Ashland goalkeepers have not been tested much this season with the most saves they have had in a game is four, most recently in the G-MAC Semifinals against Cedarville. Out of the 251 NCAA-II women's soccer teams, Ashland ranks 236th in saves per game.
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The Panthers and Eagles have faced off against each other twice in each other's program history, most recently in 2021. That 2021 edition of Drury v. Ashland was in the NCAA-II First Round on the same field that the game will be played on Sunday. Drury played six girls in that game that are on the 2024 roster most notably,
Kourtney Tucker,
Tara Simon, and
Andrea Camargo. Ashland also had six girls who played in that game still on their roster. Drury ended up winning that game 1-0 in overtime behind a goal from Chloe Cash in the 104th minute. The first game that Ashland played on Ferguson Field was in 2010, the matchup for that game was Drury at Ashland. The Eagles came out with the win 2-1 with a 98th-minute winner.
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The winner of this game will advance to the regional championship against the winner of the Grand Valley State and Maryville game on Sunday. The game will be played at the highest remaining seed left in the Central region on the first weekend of December.
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QUICK FACTS
Stat Leaders
Drury: #00
Katy Fitzler (15-2-4, 46 saves, .52 GAA, .807 sv pct), #14
Holland Hawkins (11g-22p)
Ashland: #1 Maddie Dolenga (4-0-2, 23 saves, .42 GAA, .862 sv pct), #21 McKinley Mendenhall (14g-10a-38p)
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Head Coaches
Drury:
Justin Olson (5
th season, 55-20-19)
Ashland: Cayleb Paulino (4
th season, 66-7-12)
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Streak:
Drury: Won 1
Ashland: Won 4
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Last Game in NCAA Tournament:
Drury: Won vs Northern Michigan 4-1, Nov. 22, 2024, regional 1
st round, game played in Ashland, Ohio
Ashland: Lost vs Grand Valley State 1-0, Dec. 1, 2023, regional championship, game played in Ashland, Ohio
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Last Meeting
Drury won 1-0 at Ashland, November 18, 2021 (NCAA-II Midwest Regional First Round)
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All-time series
Drury is 1-1 vs Ashland
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#OneDrury