ADA, Ohio — Ohio Northern University scored four second half goals to beat Marietta College 4-0 Tuesday (Nov. 2) evening in the quarterfinal round of the Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Tournament. The Pioneers finish with a 7-7-4 overall record, while Ohio Northern improves to 11-6-3 on the season.
"This certainly was not the way we wanted it to play out tonight," Marietta head coach
Joe Bergin said. "Northern played well and we didn't. There is no debating that."
Bergin added, "What doesn't show up in the score line is the effort this team has put up since all the injuries started. If you would tell me at the start of the season that we would lose our top two leading scorers and another very creative player to injuries and that we would still make the playoffs and finish a point out of hosting a playoff game. I would have told you that this was not possible. Credit to the players and my coaching staff for finding a way to get it done."
The first 45 minutes was dominated by the defenses as neither team was able to mount much of an attack. The Polar Bears managed three shots on goal in the first half and Marietta had just one.
Ohio Northern wasted little time after the intermission grabbing the lead less than two minutes into the second half. Seth Gundlach tallied the game winner with an unassisted goal in the 47th minute.
The Polar Bears doubled their lead 10 minutes later when Ryan Sommerfield scored the first of two goals on the night with an assist from Bryan Kern.
Trailing by two goals, Marietta's woes continued when the Navy Blue and White had a player red-carded in the 67th minute and was forced to play the remainder of the match down a man. ONU was able to capitalize on the advantage and tacked on a pair of insurance goals.
Kern scored an unassisted goal in the 81st minute and then Sommerfield notched his second goal of the match with just 40 seconds left on the clock.
Polar Bear keeper John Lombardo posted the shutout with two saves on the night.
Ryan Riccillo (Canton, Ohio/GlenOak) had six saves in goal for the Pioneers and was charged with two goals allowed in 68 minutes.
Joey Backhaus (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield) gave up two goals and had one save in 22 minutes.
"We hurt tonight with this loss, but I know that for me personally it will drive me to work that much harder this off season," Bergin said. "If I know my players, and I think I do, it will do the same for them."
Ohio Northern advances to the semifinals on Thursday and will play at No.2 seed Otterbein. Top-seeded John Carroll will host Capital in the semifinals.
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.
