TIFFIN, Ohio — No. 3 seed Heidelberg University defeated No. 6 seed Marietta College by the score of 2-1 Monday (Nov. 3) afternoon in the first round of the Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Tournament. The Pioneers finish the season with a 6-12 overall record. Heidelberg improves to 11-6-3 on the season and will play at Baldwin Wallace University in the semifinals on Wednesday.
The two teams battled to a scoreless tie heading into halftime. The Student Princes controlled the ball for most of the first period outshooting the Pioneers 14-1. However, only three of Heidelberg's shots were on goal.
Heidelberg broke the scoreless tie in the 53rd minute. Ryan Homoki sent a cross into the middle of the box to Hamid Shariff, who fired it into the back of the net giving the Student Princes a 1-0 lead.
Marietta answered in the 67th minute when freshman
Jake Hannahs (Irwin, Pa./Norwin) scored his first career goal to draw the Pioneers level with Heidelberg, 1-1. Senior
Wesley Riley (Marietta/Marietta) took a shot that was knocked down by HU keeper Matthew Stevens but Hannahs was there to punch the follow up shot into the back of the net for the equalizer.
The match remained deadlocked until Heidelberg received a little good luck in the 83rd minute. Shariff sent a cross into the box at the left post where Alexis Mendoza headed the ball down. Unfortunately for the Pioneers, the ball deflected off a Marietta defender and into the net for a 2-1 Heidelberg lead.
With less than eight minutes left on the clock, Marietta was desperate to score and hopefully send the match into overtime. The Pioneers' best scoring opportunity came with just over two minutes remaining when
Luke Saunders (Groveport/Groveport Madison) rifled a shot from the top of the 18-yard box only to see Stevens make the save.
Stevens went the distance in goal for the Student Princes and finished with two saves. Sophomore
Sebastian Parra (Bexley/Bexley) made four saves in net for the Pioneers.
For the match, Heidelberg outshot the Pioneers 22-6. However the shots on goal were much closer with the Student Princes posting a 6-3 advantage. Heidelberg also held a slim 4-2 edge in corner kicks.
Fans can follow all the Pioneer teams all year long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.
