Story by Blake Bernier, Staff writer

Monday night featured Alpha Omicron Pi had a quick start over Kappa Delta.

AOPi scored all 21 points in the first half via starting running back Kathryn Goetz, junior from St. Louis. Goetz racked up three touchdowns on the ground and caught a pass for a successful three-point conversion.

Goetz said this is her third year as running back for AOPi and the team typically runs the ball.

On the first drive of the game Goetz broke free for a touchdown run and tacked on three more points with the catch on the conversion to put AOPi up 9-0.

Kappa Delta struggled to gain any yards on their first possession and failed to convert on fourth down, giving AOPi good field position.

It took two plays for AOPi to reach the end zone again on the legs of Goetz, and after a failed one point conversion try the score stood 15-0.

“It was a little bit rough,” said Kappa Delta sophomore Nicole Schulenburg. “Right off the bat they got a couple of touchdowns.”

Again the defense for AOPi kept Kappa Delta from advancing into scoring position and caused a turnover on downs.

Goetz played a role in the defensive stop with a deflected pass on third down and a tackle on fourth.

AOPi took possession with under two minutes left in the half and scored their third touchdown on another long run by Goetz.

In the second half momentum took a swing and defensive adjustments by Kappa Delta put a stop to the AOPi offense.

“I think they caught on to who was doing most of the running and what most of our run plays were,” Goetz said. “I always get in the habit of going to the outside and I think they caught on to that.”

On the first possession of the second half Kappa Delta forced a punt and started with good field position, however Goetz made her presence felt one last time when she intercepted a pass on the sideline and ran it back into Kappa Delta territory.

“I stayed back on my girl a little bit and I saw the pass,” Goetz said. “So I just stepped forward and took the interception and made a run.”

The Kappa Delta defense stood strong again using the halftime adjustments and turned away the AOPi offense.

“We pushed toward the outside so it made them run the ball down the center, which we weren’t really doing in the beginning,” Schulenburg said.

With the defense playing better, the offense started to gain some momentum and on the next offensive series Kappa Delta drove down the field behind a long catch and run followed by a quarterback sweep for touchdown on fourth down.

After a failed one-point conversion, the Kappa Delta defense went back to field and made a stop on fourth and goal to retake possession down 21-6.

Kappa Delta moved the ball through the air with back-to-back completions and on first and goal Kappa Delta struck again with a touchdown catch.

With under a minute left to play AOPi took over possession and ran the clock out.

Despite the loss, Schulenburg said she is proud of the way they came back and said that she thought they had a good chance at winning at the end.

“This is the first year that probably 95 percent of these girls have played,” Schulenburg said. “I think we are doing pretty well for the circumstances.”