by Alan Babbitt

The Hope College women's soccer team faced an unusual attack from an opponent and responded to the challenge.

The Flying Dutch beat Capital University (Ohio), 1-0, on Saturday at Van Andel Soccer Stadium as forward Madison Holloway scored the winning goal early in the second half.

The shutout was the fourth of the season for Hope (5-2).

"We played great on defense," head coach Leigh Sears said. "Capital played two up top, which is something teams in our conference don't typically do. It was a function of good communication, passing playoffs off. They played a different style, but I think we handled it well."

Goalie Parker Hutchinson faced only seven shots. The sophomore from Ada, Michigan (Forest Hills Northern HS) made three saves.

Hutchinson, pictured at right, received strong help from her defenders, including starters Anneliese Lockner (Geneva, Illinois / Geneva Community), Tally Martinez (Zeeland, Michigan / Zeeland West), Jenna Mustapha (Ada, Michigan / Forest Hills Northern), Erin Powers (Norton Shores, Michigan / Mona Shores), and Kealeigh Usiak (Dimondale, Michigan / Lansing Christian).

Watch interview with Jenna Mustapha

Offensively, the Flying Dutchmen kept the pressure on Capital (0-6-1) with 21 shots.

Freshman forward Margaret Oswiany (Westerville, Ohio / Westerville Central) fed Holloway (Macatawa, Michigan / Holland Christian), pictured right, for a breakaway goal 1 minute, 15 seconds into the second half.

The goal was Holloway's team-leading seventh of the season. It was Oswiany's first career assist.

"Capital is a very good team, and they haven't won yet. They're struggling as we did a few years ago getting a ton of shots and not being able to put them in,"  To get our goal was big. We hit the crossbar three or four times. They left three or four in the center of the box, too. If this game would have been 5-4, I wouldn't have been surprised.

"It was a good battle for us."

Hope's next game is Wednesday, Sept. 29, at 4:30 p.m. against North Central College (Illinois) at Van Andel Soccer Stadium.