OTTAWA, Kan. - After searching for goals over the first three games of the season, Ottawa University found them in bunches on Saturday afternoon in a 12-0 win over Mission University.
Charlotte Gatehouse was one of eight different Braves to score in the romp, picking up a hat trick within the opening half.
Ottawa opened the scoring in the sixth minute, as Cennet Donohue chased down a long entry pass and dribbled past her defender on the right side. After finding space on the end line to cut it back for a cross, she found Gatehouse on the near post where the junior put it past Mission's goalkeeper.
Although the Braves held the momentum, the match was quiet for the next several minutes as Mission was able to manage the chances for Ottawa, with the next eight shots by the Black-and-Gold going well off target or easily saved by Emma Vance.
The floodgates burst open in the 26th minute, however, as Ottawa racked three goals in the space of 2:02 on the clock. Gatehouse played creator on the first goal, finding
Ellie Fitzpatrick, with Fitzpatrick following suit in the 27th minute by assisting
Emma Stillings. Then just 35 seconds later, Gatehouse found her brace courtesy of an assist by
Rylee Ringer.
Mission was barely able to muster any sustained pressure, with a corner kick in the 34th minute the only serious threat in the first half.
The Braves again clustered a trio of goals in a short time frame to close out the half, this time with
Laura Quijada in the 42nd minute and Gatehouse in the 44th scoring nearly identical goals as both collected breakaway passes over the top and dribbled past Mission defenders to slot the ball out of reach of a diving Vance. Ringer collected her second of the match in the 45th minute to send Ottawa into halftime with a 7-0 lead.
Mission's status as a debut program began to show early in the second half as Ottawa was the beneficiary of a pair of goalkeeping blunders within the opening 10 minutes. Vance gifted the Braves a corner kick in the 49th minute as she appeared to stumble trying to collect a ball that was headed out for a goal kick.
Peyton Hack made the most of the inswinging corner, rocketing a shot at Vance then cleaning up as Vance wasn't able to hang on after the save. Then in the 52nd minute, a hard cross from the end line was poorly parried by Vance into her own net to put Ottawa up 9-0.
Hack added a second goal for Ottawa in the 62nd minute, albeit with a bit of internecine thievery from the corner.
Reece Young played a short corner long to the foot of Stillings, whose shot appeared to be on target and out of the reach of Vance, but Hack ensured it was as she leapt and got her head on the ball.
Ottawa opens its KCAC schedule on Wednesday, hosting University of Saint Mary at 1 p.m.
