October 26, 2011 A second-half goal off a rain-slickened corner kick lifted Otterbein University to a 1-0 win over Wilmington College in an Ohio Athletic Conference battle at Charlie Gilhart Field Wednesday night. The Quakers are now 3-5-0 in the OAC, 5-10-3 overall. Otterbein improves to 6-1-1 in the conference, 9-5-2 for the season. “Otterbein was a Final Four team last year, and they lost a lot of seniors. But they are still a quality team, and I thought we defended them well tonight,” Wilmington head coach Steve Spirk said. “We had a good game plan and kept possession. I would like to see us a little more dangerous on offense. You just hate to lose on a corner that just kind of slid through.” Otterbein had its way in the first half, out-shooting Wilmington, 10-4, but Abbey Williamson (Grove City/Bishop Ready) made five saves — including a point-blank denial in the closing seconds — to keep the game scoreless at the break. The second half was a virtual standoff, until Adrienne Novak’s corner kick in the 79th minute skipped through traffic in the box and was sent home by Lindsay Henderson. Wilmington senior Amy Johnson (Wilmington) was a force from goal line to goal line. “We had Amy as a holding player, and I thought she had one of the best games of her career,” Spirk said. “She not only defended and won balls; she also created a lot, kept possession and moved the ball around. In fact, I thought our defense played well overall. Our midfield fought and won the ball and was a lot more physical tonight. We still need to work on attacking and putting the ball in the net.” With one regular-season game to play, Wilmington finds itself in a four-way with Baldwin-Wallace, Mount Union and Heidelberg for fifth place in the conference standings. The top six teams will advance to next week’s OAC Tournament. The Quakers will host Heidelberg 7 p.m. Saturday, with a berth in the conference tournament hanging in the balance. “We had a conference tournament atmosphere tonight and we need that kind of attitude Saturday,” Spirk said. “We need to come out fired up and ready to play like we want to keep playing.”