MARIETTA, Ohio – Marietta College opens play in the Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Tournament on Tuesday (Oct. 30) when the Pioneers travel to the University of Mount Union for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
Marietta, seeded sixth, enters the postseason with a 10-8 overall record, while the No. 3 seeded Purple Raiders are 12-3-1 on the season. The Pioneers went 4-5 in the OAC and Mount Union finished 5-3-1 in conference matches.
The Pioneers posted a 1-0 win over Mount Union when the two teams played two weeks ago in Marietta during the regular season. Senior
Andy Rolfes (Cincinnati, Ohio/Princeton) scored on a set piece in the fifth minute for the only goal of the match.
Fans can access live stats and live video for the match
HERE.
Marietta is making a program-record fifth straight appearance in the OAC Tournament. It is the Pioneers' ninth overall appearance in the league tournament. MC's previous appearances include 1997, 2007-2009 and 2014-17.
Tuesday's other first round match features No. 5 Ohio Northern (4-5 OAC) at No. 4 Otterbein (5-4 OAC). Capital and John Carroll tied for the OAC regular season title with 8-1 conference records. Capital earned the No. 1 seed by virtue of their win against the Blue Streaks. John Carroll is the No. 2 seed.
The top two seeds will host Tuesday's winner in the semifinals on Thursday. Capital will play the lowest remaining see and John Carroll will host the second lowest remaining seed. The championship match is set for Saturday at the higher seed.
Leading the attack for Marietta is Rolfes and fellow senior
Tom Sloan (Stockport, England/Wilmslow). Both have scored seven goals and four assists for a total of 18 points. Each has notched a pair of game winning goals.
Sophomore
Robert Phillips (Elkins, W.Va./Aquinas Academy (Pa.)) is close behind with six goals and two assists for 14 total points. He has also accounted for two game winning goals.
Sophomore
Dakota Penquite (Blanchester, Ohio/Blanchester) has settled into the starting goalkeeper role. He currently ranks fourth in the OAC with a 1.18 goals against average and 77.2% save percentage.
Marietta's back line includes seniors Zacj Johnson and
Anthony D'Egidio (Canton, Ohio/Dover), junior
Sebastian Ziaja (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) and freshman
Colston Roades (Mount Orab, Ohio/). Junior
Cole Pappas (Pittsburgh, Pa./Avonworth) lends support from his defensive midfield position.
Junior midfielder Jon Schroeder leads the Purple raider attack with three goals and five assists for 11 total points. Senior midfielders Colton Harsh and Jesse Tinney and freshman midfielder Rylan Wikle each have eight points on the season.
Mount Union features the top defense in the OAC with a 0.42 goals against average and 11 shutouts on the season. The Purple Raiders opened the 2018 season with a streak of 879 minutes without allowing a goal. Mount Union surrendered its first goal of the season in its ninth match of the fall.
The heart of that defense is junior keeper Zach Hlas. Hlas leads the OAC with a 0.42 goals against average, 10 shutouts, an 84.1% save percentage and with the fewest goals allowed (7).
Single match tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for senior citizens (62 years and older) and $3 for non-OAC students. OAC students with a valid school ID are admitted free of charge.
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.
