Season Preview: Women’s Soccer brings experienced roster into 2022

By Wes Mayberry

| 2022 Women's Soccer Schedule |

ADA — Coming off a 2021 season that ended with an Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament championship and NCAA Tournament berth, the Ohio Northern women's soccer team is hungry to repeat that success in 2022 under 19th-year head coach Mark Batman.

"I'm really excited about this season," Batman said. "We have a great balance of senior leadership, returning kids and exciting incoming kids. We ended last season with some disappointment, which is a great motivator for us. We're in a great place."

The Polar Bears enter the year having received votes in the United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division III Preseason Poll after finishing 14-5-3 and advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season before falling 2-0 to No. 10 Case Western Reserve.

Batman, who earned OAC Coach of the Year honors for the fifth time in his career last season, welcomes the return of seven seniors, eight juniors and eight sophomores for 2022 while bringing in one transfer, nine freshmen and a new assistant coach in Samantha Tiongson.

"Sam is fantastic," Batman said. "She has loads of playing and coaching experience and brings a different type of expertise to our team."

Northern returns seven of nine players who started 20-plus games in 2021 and all three of its leading point-scorers from a season ago.

"We're bringing back a ton of starters as well as kids who have played a lot of minutes in big games," Batman said. "Their responsibility is going to be to pass their experience on to the first-year players and allow them to have some of those experiences, and it should mesh pretty well together."

Junior Bri Straus (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern) and sophomore Alyssa Beckett (Monroe) highlight the long list of returnees as United Soccer Coaches All-Region 7 Team, Ohio Collegiate Soccer Association All-Ohio Team and All-OAC selections from a year ago.

Junior Jill Roberts (Bellbrook/Carroll) joined Straus and Beckett as an All-Ohio and All-OAC selection last season, and the Polar Bears return two other 2021 All-OAC picks in senior Lauren Naso (Grosse Ile, Mich.) and junior Kylie Cabana (Dexter, Mich.).

Here is a position-by-position overview of the 2022 Ohio Northern women's soccer team.

Forwards

Roberts leads Northern's group of forwards for 2022 after posting a team-high 15 points last season and tying for the team lead with six goals while adding three assists. She was named to the All-OAC Second Team and All-Ohio Third Team and was an Academic All-OAC selection. Now a two-time All-OAC honoree, Roberts has started all 33 matches of her career.

Seniors Cienna Kuhn (Elida) and Hailey McGuire (Lone Tree, Colo./Highlands Ranch) return as three-year letter winners and two-time Academic All-OAC honorees with a combined 88 games of playing experience. Kuhn has 11 points on five goals and one assists in 41 career games, and McGuire has nine points on four goals and one assist in 47 games played.

Sophomore Elizabeth Pierce (Liberty Township/Notre Dame) is also back after a promising freshman season when she recorded eight points on three goals and two assists.

The Polar Bears' forward rotation also includes junior Kylie Brown (Jamestown, N.Y./Southwestern Central) and sophomore Alexa Clampitt (Sterling Heights, Mich./Utica), who played in 19 and 21 games, respectively, last year.

The team has added sophomore Chandler Clark (Lima/Bath), a transfer from Grand Valley State, and freshmen Haley Cannon (Oregon/Clay) and Rileigh Glassburn (Delaware/Olentangy Berlin).

"We relied on a couple girls to try to win games for us last year, and we're still going to rely on those girls in big games, but I'm excited about the new forwards we have coming in," Batman said. "I expect our forwards to be a very competitive group."

Midfield

The Polar Bears return a lot of experience and production in the midfield with a group headlined by Beckett, senior Lauren Naso (Grosse Ile, Mich.), junior Alaina Casey (Beavercreek/Carroll) and sophomore Emma Bowman (Novi, Mich./Northville).

Beckett was named to the All-OAC First Team, All-Region 7 Second Team and All-Ohio Second Team last season after recording four goals and two assists in 21 games with 20 starts. She ranked third on the team in goals and points and recorded a hat trick in scoring all three of Northern's goals in a draw with Capital.

Naso, a three-year letter winner and two-time Academic All-OAC honoree, started all 22 matches a year ago and tallied three goals and two assists en route to earning All-OAC Second Team and Academic All-Ohio recognition. She scored both of ONU's goals, including the game-winner in double overtime, in a 2-1 win over Capital in last year's OAC Tournament semifinals and was named to the All-OAC Tournament Team. She has played in 49 career games with 23 starts.

Casey tied for the team lead with six goals and ranked second with 14 points last season when she earned Academic All-OAC recognition. She scored ONU's lone goal in its OAC Tournament championship victory over Otterbein and has 31 games of playing experience.

Bowman started all 20 games she played in as a freshman, tallying a team-high four assists and one goal and earning a spot on the All-OAC Tournament Team.

Senior Allison Contenza (Rocky River) is a two-time Academic-All-OAC honoree and joins senior Autumn Riedel (Lancaster, N.Y.) as returning three-year letter winners. Junior Madeline Hall (Lewis Center/Olentangy) also returns as an Academic All-OAC honoree.

Junior Emma Cook (Marysville/Fairbanks), sophomores Julia Flanagan (Dublin/Watterson) and Libby Johnson (Fairfield) and freshmen Karsten Bucci (Lewis Center/Olentangy), Alli Macbeth (Fishers, Ind.), Nora Metcalf (Herndon, Va.) and Kiera Kaeser (Ashland) round out ONU's rotation for 2022.

"We're excited to bring everybody back to our midfield group, which is very deep," Batman said.

Defense

The Polar Bears rode a strong defense to much success last season, posting 14 shutouts, including all seven of their conference wins, en route to outscoring their opponents by a cumulative score of 31-15. Carissa Beckham, an anchor of that defense as a 2021 United Soccer Coaches All-American, departed via graduation following the season, but Straus, Cabana, senior Jane Reiring (Cincinnati/Country Day) and sophomore Jess Gast (Perrysburg) are back after starting double-digit games a year ago.

Straus has started all 32 matches in her career and is coming off a sophomore season in which she was named to the All-Region Third Team and All-OAC Second Team in addition to earning Academic All-OAC recognition.

Cabana has started 21 of her 23 career games and has three goals and five assists to her credit. She was named to the All-OAC Third Team and earned Academic All-OAC honors as a sophomore.

Reiring, a three-year letter winner, has 46 matches of playing experience with 41 starts in her career, and Gast appeared in 20 matches with 11 starts as a freshman.

Junior Kate Helton (Beavercreek) also provides experience to the ONU defense having played in 29 games in her career.

Sophomore Annalise Jansen (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Northern) and freshmen Claire Wiseman (Cincinnati/Saint Ursula Academy) and Lindsey Pawlawski (Baden, Pa./North Catholic) round out Northern's lineup of defenders.

"We saw a lot of positive things from our defenders in the spring, and we are bringing back several kids with significant experience," Batman said.

Goalkeepers

ONU will turn to a new goalkeeper this season after losing former starter Kristy Catrine to graduation following what was a highly decorated career. Catrine was a two-time All-OAC First Team selection as the conference's Goalkeeper of the Year and was named to the All-Ohio First Team in 2021 after starting all 22 games and posting 13 shutouts, which is tied for second-most in a season in program history. She graduated with a career record of 22-6-5 with 105 saves, a 0.47 GAA and an .868 save percentage and was ONU's female Clyde Lamb Award winner for 2021-22.

Next in line is a three-year letter winner in senior Becky Moss (Lebanon/Mount Notre Dame) and a freshman in Whitney Ho (Hilliard/Davidson). Moss transferred to ONU after playing two years at Bowling Green and has seen just under 28 minutes of action in goal spanning two games for Northern.

"Becky had a fantastic spring, and Whitney comes in as a very capable goalkeeper, so that will be a fun competition to watch unfold," Batman said. "Both of those girls are very good."

Schedule

The Polar Bears' 2022 schedule runs from Sept. 1 through Oct. 29 and includes 17 games.

Northern opens the season at Wittenberg before playing its home opener against Hanover (Ind.) on Sept. 3.

ONU will play a two-game set in the Wheaton (Ill.) Invitational against Pacific Lutheran (Wash.) on Sept. 9 and against host Wheaton on Sept. 10.

The Polar Bears' remaining non-conference slate includes home games against Kalamazoo (Mich.) and DePauw (Ind.) and road contests at No. 12 Case Western Reserve and Denison.

Northern opens conference play at home against Mount Union on Oct. 1 and will also host OAC foes Otterbein, John Carroll, Muskingum and Baldwin Wallace.

ONU will play road conference games at Capital, Heidelberg, Wilmington and Marietta.

"Our schedule is tough," Batman said. "We play eight non-conference games, and five are against NCAA Tournament teams from last year, and the conference is going to be really tough as well."

The 2022 OAC Tournament is scheduled for Nov. 1-5.

The NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship is set for Dec. 2-3 at Kerr Stadium in Salem, Va.