Coming into Wednesday's game, the Otterbein Women's soccer team scored 70 percent of their goals off of set-pieces. That's soccer talk for corner kicks and free kicks. Three run-of-play goals later and the Cardinals (4-0-1) defeated Denison University, (4-2-1) 3-1. Goals for the Cardinals came from sophomore midfielder Rachel Degen, freshman forward Sarah Sharbaugh and sophomore forward Lindsey Rudibaugh. "We had a huge test today," Otterbein Head Coach Brandon Koons said, "We were frustrated and you need to take the fact that someone is frustrating you, and enjoy that. We need to learn about ourselves and we are going to be a better team if we can calm down and relax, don't get frustrated and turn it around." The frustrated Cardinals went into halftime 0-0. That's when great coaching took over. Coach Koons' halftime speech worked to perfection, sparking the Cardinals to better play. "Coach always settles us down and sends us out fresh like the first half. We started out a little shaky but we played well and came together as a team. Not just one person scored everybody got into the act." Koons continued to work his magic, helping Sharbaugh to her second goal of the year and the second golf of the game. "Coach pulled me aside and told me that 'hey you need to win these.' So when the ball came, I just put my body in front of the ball and won it," said Sharbaugh. The Cardinals have struggled with their flow offensively and have really worked hard in practice on finishing. But good coaching and team camaraderie were the real contributing factors for the team's win. "We all get along really well and we work well off of each other," said Sharbaugh. "We've been here four weeks before anyone else was here so in that time we bonded and got to know each other." With the win, the Cardinals avenged last year's 2-1 overtime loss to Denison. The Cardinals are in action Saturday at home, versus Allegheny College. The match is part one of a two part soccer fest at Clements Field. t&c;
Cardinals run over Big Red
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