ONU Men's Soccer Under the Cosh!

The past week has been a roller coaster of emotions. This past Saturday, ONU took on John Carroll in the biggest game of the OAC. The energy was lively heading to the game for both sides considering we beat them on their home turf last year. It's safe to say that the Blue Streaks wanted some revenge after last year. It was a rainy day at Kerscher Stadium for the game and tensions were rising leading up to kick-off. The environment of the game was extremely lively, similar to an NCAA tournament game. We knew we had to have the mentality of win or go home. The beginning whistle sounded and both teams came out flying. John Carroll struck first with a goal in the first 15 minutes of the game. However, that did not stop ONU from trying to find an equalizer in the first half. The Polar Bears were knocking on the door for the entirety of the first half but were not able to find the goal. The second half started and the pressures were rising as John Carroll punched in another goal about halfway through the second half to take a commanding 2-0 lead. We knew that we needed to get a goal early to stay in the game. That goal came with 10 minutes left in the game from a penalty kick earned by Colin Gottron and put away by Will Shaffer. The boys continued to fight until the final whistle to potentially find a way to tie the game but the Blue Streaks defense held strong. The final whistle blew and the final score was 2-1. We knew it was going to take a full 90 minutes of strong play from us to beat them and we had a few lapses throughout the game that John Carroll was able to capitalize on. Although that puts us in a difficult position for the last few games of the OAC, that doesn't mean we should give up. There is still plenty of games and anything can happen in the OAC. 

Tonight the boys traveled to Wilmington to faceoff against the Quakers. Wilmington is on a little bit of a down year this year as they graduated 9 of their 11 starters from last year. However, this did not eliminate the fact that they are still a tough team with a very reputable program. We had some unfinished business to take care of due to the fact that they beat us in the OAC tournament last year in the semi-finals. The boys started the game strong with a goal by Will Shaffer in the first 3 minutes of the game. Our energy was soaring after the first goal and it didn't stop Ryan Sommerfeld from punching in another goal a few minutes later to take a comfortable 2-0 lead. Although we scored 2 goals relatively quickly, it's important that we keep the pedal down and not concede any cheap goals to put Wilmington back in the game. Unfortunately, the Quakers were able to cut the deficit in half by scoring a goal just before halftime to make the score 2-1 with 5 minutes left in the half. The Polar Bears showed great resiliency by scoring a minute later in the first half with a goal by Cade Winchester to further the lead back to 3-1. The second half was back and forth and no goals were able to be scored in the second half. Both sets of defenses held strong and the game ended 3-1 in favor of the Polar Bears. It was a hard fought match that was needed as we try to bounce back from the loss against John Carroll. 

The boys host Muskingum at home on Saturday 10/19 at 1:00 to continue their final stretch leading up to post-season play. 

Go Bears!