ADA, Ohio — Marietta College advanced to the semifinals of the Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Tournament with a thrilling 1-0 victory at Ohio Northern University Tuesday (Oct. 31) evening. The Pioneers improve to 11-5-3 on the season and will face top-seeded Otterbein on Thursday. Ohio Northern ends the year with a 12-6-2 record.
"This was probably our most complete game of the year. We had a plan and the boys executed it," Marietta head coach
Joe Bergin said. "We certainly learned from Saturday's game. ONU is a very good side and we knew that we needed to do a better job of seeing the game out. Tonight we did that. I'm very proud of the boys."
Playing for the second time in 72 hours, the Pioneers and Polar Bears may have had a case of déjà vu as tonight's match was eerily similar to Saturday's regular season finale.
On Saturday, Pioneer sophomore
Cole Pappas (Pittsburgh, Pa./Avonworth) scored in the 66th minute to give Marietta a 1-0 lead. Tonight, Pappas found the back of the net in the 69th minute giving MC a 1-0 lead.
Robert Phillips (Elkins, W.Va./Aquinas Academy (Pa.)) sent a cross from the left wing into the box. Pappas collected the ball and beat a defender and ONU keeper Dylan Plank for the only goal of the match. It was his fourth goal of the season.
Just like on Saturday, Marietta controlled the match. The Pioneers outshot Ohio Northern 15-9, including a 6-2 edge in shots on goal.
Marietta's defense was the difference this time around. Led by senior
Brent Huck (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta), the Pioneer back line completely shut down the Polar Bear attack. Along with Huck, defenders
Zach Johnson (Beckley, W.Va./Woodrow Wilson),
Noah Laliberty (Scott Depot, W.Va./Winfield) and
Sebastian Ziaja (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) frustrated the ONU strikers all evening.
Senior goalkeeper
Tyler Sholl (Johnstown, Ohio/Big Walnut) made the plays when needed recording a pair of saves in the match. The shutout was Sholl's seventh clean sheet of the season.
Marietta plays at OAC regular season champion Otterbein University on Thursday (Nov. 2). Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in Westerville. The No. 19 ranked Cardinals defeated Marietta, 3-0, during the regular season. Otterbein is 15-2 overall and went 9-0 in the OAC.
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.
