ONU Men's Soccer Battles for Top of the Table!

        It's OAC time! The wait is finally over. The conference started off with #9 Mount Union. The game had tons of anticipation before the kick-off. The Polar Bears knew they were going to be tested against Mount as they headed into conference play 9-0. Although this record after the non-conference is fairly impressive, the conference games are the main fixtures that matter when competing for a conference championship and a bid to the NCAA tournament. The boys remained calm and composed and knew that even though they are undefeated, there is still opportunity to steal points from the leaders. The first whistle blew and the boys came out with a lot of energy, eager to punch in the first goal. Unfortunately, that didn't come to fruition as the Polar Bears conceded a penalty kick halfway through the first half. The score was 1-0 in favor of Mount Union heading into the break. The halftime team talk really fired the boys up to want to win this game. It didn't take long after the break that the Polar Bears were able to equalize the scoring at 1-1. The boys were fired up. We believed that we were going to win this game. After the equalizer, the game opened up a lot and there were tons of scoring chances on both sides of the field. However, our defense held strong and were able to give our offense plenty of chances to steal three points. It wasn't until with 15 minutes left in the game that Junior winger Colby Stolph broke the deadlock and buried a shot within the six yard box to take the lead. The boys knew that they just needed to defend. The game ended up turning into a game of kick ball because we were trying to clear our lines and prevent Mount Union from getting any good scoring chances. The final whistle blew and Kerscher Stadium erupted. The boys believed that this year the OAC title was theirs. 

        A few hours ago the Polar Bears faced off against the Otterbein Cardinals on Kerscher Stadium underneath the lights. The boys came into this game extremely confident after taking down the undefeated Purple Raiders. In recent years, we haven't had the best record against the Cardinals, predominantly tying or losing. Otterbein didn't graduate many of their players so they had a similar team to last year. The game started and both teams came out flying. We were generating tons of scoring chances and our defense was holding strong having only conceded one shot throughout the whole first half. The first half ended 0-0 and there were plenty of chances to go around both teams. Halfway through the second half Junior winger Ryan Sommerfeld thumped the first goal of the game and the atmosphere around Kerscher lit up. The confidence was brimming throughout the whole team. However, being overly confident can lead to mistakes. Unfortunately, in the last 15 minutes of the game, Otterbein tied the game up from a long ball played in the box and a strong header from the back post. The final whistle blew and we were gutted. However, we were not worried. We realized that we still had control and we still have a chance at the title if we win out. We still have goals that we set at the beginning of the season and want to keep those goals alive by playing for one another.

Go Bears!