NEW CONCORD, Ohio — The Marietta College men's soccer team kept its postseason hopes alive with a 4-0 win over Muskingum University Wednesday (Oct. 24) evening. The Pioneers improve to 9-8 overall and 3-5 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Muskingum falls to 5-12 on the season and 0-8 in league play.
Marietta is currently in seventh place in the OAC standings with one match to play. The top six teams qualify for the OAC Tournament. The Pioneers travel to Baldwin Wallace (7-9-2 overall, 2-5-1 OAC) on Saturday (Oct. 27) for a 2 p.m. match.
"We knew it would be important in this derby match to come out quickly and I felt that we did that. Getting the early lead allowed us to get some guys out and give other guys some looks," Marietta head coach
Joe Bergin said. "While this win is nice, we still have so much work to do and we do not control our own destiny. It's back to work tomorrow."
The Pioneers dominated Muskingum in every facet of the match firing off 25 shots to just six for the Muskies. Marietta took a 1-0 lead before the fans could find their seats.
Zach Johnson (Beckley, W.Va./Woodrow Wilson) found the back of the net at the 1:42 mark for his first goal of the season.
Gavin Long (Surrey, United Kingdom/) picked up the assist on what would prove to be the game winner.
Tom Sloan (Stockport, England/Wilmslow) made it 2-0 with a goal seven minutes later.
Cole Pappas (Pittsburgh, Pa./Avonworth) was credited with the assist on Sloan's sixth goal of the fall.
Marietta extended the lead to three with another first half goal.
Luke Maher (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) tallied his fourth goal of the season in the 17th minute with an assist from
Andy Rolfes (Cincinnati, Ohio/Princeton).
The Pioneers added an insurance goal in the 52nd minute. Long and Sloan assisted
Austin Fligor (Middletown, Ohio/Madison) on his first goal of the year for a 4-0 Marietta lead.
Dakota Penquite (Blanchester, Ohio/Blanchester) went the distance in goal for the Pioneers. He recorded two saves and his third clean sheet of the season.
Fans can follow all of 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.
