MARIETTA, Ohio – The Marietta College men's soccer team was defeated by Wilmington College 1-0 on Sunday (March 28) afternoon on Marietta Field. With the win the Quakers improve to 4-1 overall and 4-1 in the Ohio Athletic Conference and with the loss the Pioneers fall to 4-1 overall and 4-1 in OAC action.
"Its tough to lose for the first time in a season after starting so strong. Of course I'm disappointed that the result didn't go our way, but if I am being honest Wilmington executed their game plan to perfection," said Head Coach
Joe Bergin. "Our guys need to regroup and focus on the things that we do well. We will learn from this and we will be fine."
The teams played to a first half draw and the teams entered the intermission deadlocked at 0-0. Marietta out shot Wilmington, 5-1. The Pioneers won the corner kick battle as well, 2-1. The back line of
Colston Roades (Mount Orab, Ohio/Western Brown),
Dave Beattie (Russell, Ohio/West Geauga),
Blake Holtman (Milford, Ohio/Milford), and
Thadd Graham (Sunbury, Ohio/Olentangy), helped goalie
Dakota Penquite (Blanchester, Ohio/Blanchester) pitch a first half shutout.
The Quakers broke the scoring drought in the 58th minute of the match. Penquite made a fantastic save on the first shot of the sequence, but a rebound header put Wilmington on top 1-0. Marietta took eight second half shots, two of which were on goal. The Pioneers tallied five corner kicks in the half, but were unable to find the game tying goal, and fell 1-0.
Penquite played all 90 minutes in net, he faced eight shots, seven of which were on goal, and made six saves.
The Pioneers will return to the field Thursday (April 1) when they travel to take on the University of Mount Union, with kickoff scheduled for 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.
