Defense has been one of the main keys for the Kenyon College Ladies field hockey team as of recent, and Tuesday night’s North Coast Athletic Conference matchup with Ohio Wesleyan University turned out to be no different. Kenyon opened its season with a 4-0 victory over the Battling Bishops.

The contest, which saw the Ladies and coach Jacque DeMarco take on their former assistant and current OWU head coach Brenda Semit, brought a trio of goals in the first half before one more in the second half for the team from Gambier.

Abbey Roswell got the first goal of the season at the 10:29 mark when she scored on a pass from Weezie Foster from the left side.

A little over seven minutes later, All-American midfielder Maddie Breschi added the Ladies’ second score as she fired from the top-right wing. Foster then delivered Kenyon’s third goal at the 19:10 mark of the opening half on an assist from Sam Grunder.

The Ladies out-shot the Battling Bishops 15-2 in the first 35 minutes.

In the second half, Ohio Wesleyan never was able to break the Kenyon defense as it added just four more shots. Sophomore goalkeeper Sarah Speroff started the season where she left off a year ago recording the shutout and notching two saves.

Kenyon’s final goal of the game came at the 57:53 mark as freshman Minke Verwej scored from the middle of the circle after a pass from Breschi.

Next up for the Ladies is a pair of games on the road this coming weekend. They will play at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore Sept. 5 followed the next day with a date against York College of Pennsylvania.