Wilmington Wins Women's Soccer Tournament Championship with Comeback Effort at Home

11/9/2025 4:15:00 PM

WILMINGTON, Ohio – Playing on their home field, the No. 3-seeded Wilmington College Quakers took home the 2025 Ohio Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Tournament Championship with a 3-2 victory over the No. 5-seeded Ohio Northern University Polar Bears at Williams Stadium on Sunday, November 9.

Wilmington's OAC Tournament title is the program's first since 2003 and fourth overall OAC Tournament Championship. The Quakers were tri-champions in the regular season, backing up their share of the regular-season OAC Championship by taking the long road to the tournament title. Despite finishing in a three-way tie atop the regular-season standings, the Quakers entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed after tiebreakers were applied, meaning Wilmington needed three wins to clinch the title after missing out on a first-round bye.

For their efforts, the Quakers earn the OAC's automatic bid to the 2025 NCAA Division III Women's Soccer tournament, marking the program's fourth NCAA berth and first since 2003. The entire 64-team field will be revealed on Monday, November 10, at 11 a.m. on NCAA.com via the selection show.

#3 Wilmington (12-5-4) 3, #5 Ohio Northern (7-9-4) 2

Ohio Northern struck first early after Haley Cannon's (Oregon, OH / Clay) second goal of the season put the defending OAC Tournament Champions ahead 1-0 in the game's sixth minute, with Ayva Moore (Cincinnati, OH / Oak Hills) dishing out the assist.
Wilmington answered a few minutes later when Jordan Snyder (Fallbrook, CA / Mission Vista) tucked in the tying goal, her season's 10th, off an assist from Olivia Roye (Sterling Heights, MI / Bishop Foley Catholic) in the 10th minute.
Moore was part of another ONU score later in the first half, this time doing the scoring while Karsten Bucci (Lewis Center, OH / Olentangy) handed out the helper on the go-ahead goal in the 24th minute.
With the half winding down, Wilmington's offense was knocking on the door when Mareen Johannesen (Warrenton, VA / Kettle Run) played a ball towards ONU's goal. The Polar Bears' defense was there, but a missed clearance resulted in an ONU own goal that tied the score at 2-2 in the 36th minute.
The scoring slowed in the second half, but Wilmington's MJ Little (Bellbrook, OH / Bellbrook) landed what would go down as the game-winning goal in the 64th minute. The score marked Little's sixth this season and came off an assist from Alex Wilson (Lebanon, OH / Lebanon).
Wilmington's Emma Storck (St. Louis, MO / Webster Groves) earned the win in goal, tallying five saves while playing the full 90 minutes.
Ohio Northern outshot Wilmington 22-8, including twice as many shots on goal (8-4), and earned 12 corner kicks while holding the Quakers to none.

The OAC All-Tournament team will be announced by Monday, November 10, as coaches submit their nominations. The All-Tournament team will be comprised of four players from the championship team (Wilmington), three from the runner-up (Ohio Northern), two from each of the non-advancing semifinalists (Capital University and Otterbein University), and one from each of the non-advancing quarterfinalists (Baldwin Wallace University and the University of Mount Union).

All-Tournament Team

TBA, Wilmington

TBA, Ohio Northern

TBA, Capital

TBA, Otterbein

TBA, Baldwin Wallace

TBA, Mount Union