LYNDHURST, Ohio – Top seeded Notre Dame College defeated fourth seeded Cedarville 2-1 as the Falcons played host in the Ohio Independent Championship Semifinal at Korb Field on Friday evening. (Box)

Coming into the semifinal No. 1 Notre Dame shutout Urbana 2-0, blanked Malone 1-0, defeated Cedarville 2-1 in double overtime. The Falcons concluded their OIC play with a 1-1 draw with Ursuline. The Falcons finished in the AMC Semifinals after finishing third a year ago.


No. 4 Cedarville earned their seeding with a 2-3-0 record against OIC opponents. They started OIC play with a 2-1 overtime loss to Walsh before a 2-1 double-overtime loss to Notre Dame. The Lady Jackets followed the two losses with a 2-1 in double-overtime win over Malone. The Yellow Jackets were shutout 1-0 to Ursuline then blanked Urbana 2-0. Just eight days after defeating the Blue Knights, Cedarville hosted Urbana in the quarterfinals of the OIC. Senior midfielder Sarah Brownfield's first career goal helped the Lady Jackets defended Yellow Jacket Field with a 1-0 win advancing them to play Notre Dame in the semifinals.

Notre Dame College was victorious in their lone match-up against Cedarville this year. The Falcons defeated the Yellow Jackets 2-1 in double-overtime on October 12^th at Korb Field.

The Blue and White struck first when captain and junior forward Lauren Acker scored – her eighth of the season – in the 17^th minute of the match. For the Westlake, Ohio, native it marked just her second goal in the last 10 matches.

After Notre Dame scored, the Yellow Jacket's attack picked up. Cedarville started to control the ball and as a result, junior midfielder Morgan Zeigler scored – her second goal of the season – in the 32^nd minute of the match to draw the game level.

Play was sluggish from that point on, with neither team able to control the ball. Lauren Kobylik crossed the ball to senior captain Katie Christianson in the 49^th minute of the match. Unfortunately for the Falcons, the play was called offsides.

The Falcons offense kept coming, and midway through the second-half, coach Shiels took out senior captain Katie Christenson and put in freshman forward Raffaela Infante. Infante got involved right away and scored – her third goal of the season – in the 63^rd minute of the match.

When asked about the substitution, Notre Dame Head Coach, Mike Sheils said, “Honestly we just wanted to get some fresh legs into the game. Raffaella has done a great job coming off the bench for us and I guess just everything lined up for us tonight.”

“We did a pretty good job of limiting their opportunities and were able to hold on at the end," Shiels said.

The Falcons never looked back and now will move onto the championship game against Ursuline at 5 p.m. on Korb Field on Saturday.

The women's final will be followed by the men's OIC Championship with top seeded Notre Dame taking on No. 2 Walsh at 7 p.m.