MARIETTA, Ohio – The Marietta College men's soccer team opened its 2020-21 campaign with a 2-1 win over Ohio Northern University on Sunday (March 14) afternoon. With the win the Pioneers are 1-0 and with the loss the Polar Bears fall to 0-1.
The Marietta win is the 150th win for Head Coach
Joe Bergin in his career with the Pioneers.
"For the first game in 493 days we showed some expected rust, but at the end of the day it is a win and three points. We have lots to work on in training, but getting a win over a quality Ohio Northern side is something never to be taken for granted," said Coach Bergin. "We need to keep doing the smart things, health wise, to allow us to keep doing what we love to do, playing games in the OAC."
The game opened with the team feeling each other out for the first 21 minutes of play. In the 22nd minute Marietta broke down the Ohio Northern defense, and earned a penalty kick. The penalty kick was converted by
Jovonni Auddino (Columbus, Ohio/Westerville North), and put the Pioneers on top 1-0. Marietta held onto 1-0 at the intermission.
In the 75th minute of the match
Ben Teasdale (Yorkshire, United Kingdom/Lady Lumleys) scored his first career goal off of an assist from
Elliot Britton (High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire/John Hampden Grammar), to put the Pioneers on top 2-0. The Polar Bears cut the Marietta lead in half with a goal in the 82nd minute, but the Pioneers won the game 2-1.
"The game winner was pure quality. Great ball in from Elliot and a touch of class from Ben. I would like to have seen us doing a better job of managing the game at that point, but we will learn from that. Dakota Penquite came up with a big save towards the end and I was quite proud of the back line as they were on their game today," concluded Coach Bergin.
Dakota Penquite (Blanchester, Ohio/Blanchester) played all 90 minutes in net for Marietta, he faced 13 shots, five of which were on goal, and made four saves.
The Pioneers will return to the field Thursday (March 18) when they travel to take on Otterbein University, with the game scheduled to begin at. 7 p.m.
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.
