MARIETTA, Ohio – Marietta College scored three first half goals to beat Baldwin Wallace University by the core of 3-1 Sunday (April 11) afternoon in Ohio Athletic Conference men's soccer action. The Pioneers finish the regular season with a 7-2 overall and OAC record. Baldwin Wallace falls to 3-4-2 on the season and in conference play.
"On Senior Day we wanted to come out with a purpose and give the seniors a game to remember in their last regular season game on the Blue Turf. I thought for 45 minutes we did that. It was probably our best half of the season," Marietta head coach
Joe Bergin said. "But for the second game in a row we challenged ourselves with a red card. For the first 10 minutes after the red card it was frantic, but after that I felt that we settled into playing down a man and were able to weather BW's attacks. I credit our guys, every one of them, as their team effort enabled us to see the game out."
The win was a historic one for Marietta as the Pioneers set a new school record for conference wins in a season. The old mark of six was held by the 1984 OAC Championship team and the 2002 squad.
"Setting the school record for wins was not something that was on the team's radar at the start of the season," Bergin said. "But the credit must go to all of my players and coaches at Marietta, past and present, as they all have had a part of this rebuild that allowed us to enjoy this season's success."
The Pioneers finish the regular season in second place in the OAC standings and will receive a bye in the first round of next week's OAC Tournament. John Carroll University won the OAC Regular Season Championship and No. 1 seed in the tournament with an 8-0 record.
"Earning the second seed, and the first round bye, certainly required a little help today, but it was a goal set by the team before we started the season," Bergin said. "In the history of the OAC tournament, we have never been seeded this high so that is something special for the boys. But as any coach will tell you we are all 0-0 now and the season begins anew."
No. 3 seed Wilmington (6-3) will host No. 6 seed Capital (4-5), while No. 4 seed Ohio Northern (5-3-1) hosts No. 5 seed Mount Union (4-4) in Tuesday's quarterfinals. John Carroll and Marietta will host the winners in the semifinals on Thursday and the championship is set for Saturday at the highest remaining seed.
Marietta opened the scoring in the 19th minute of match.
Reggie Grayek (Shavertown, Pa./Wyoming Seminary College Prep.) dribbled past a couple of Baldwin Wallace defenders and took a shot from the right side of the box from 12 yards out, the forward placed the ball in the lower left corner of the net to put the Pioneers on top 1-0.
Marietta increased its lead when
Robert Phillips (Elkins, W.Va./Aquinas Academy (Pa.)) converted a penalty kick in the 25th minute. The penalty was awarded for a hand ball in the box.
The Pioneers went up 3-0 in the 32nd minute when
Evan Taylor (Bay Village, Ohio/Bay) scored off a rebound shot. Grayek took the first shot that was saved by the Yellow Jacket keeper. Taylor collected the ball on the left side of the box and put the ball away in the upper left part of the goal.
Baldwin Wallace converted an early second half penalty kick to trim the Marietta edge to 3-1 in the 48th minute of the match. The Pioneers were whistled for a foul and issued a red card on a tackle in the box giving BW the penalty kick.
Forced to play down a man for 40-plus minutes in the second half, the Pioneer defense tightened up and limited Baldwin Wallace to just one shot on goal the rest of the match.
Senior
Dakota Penquite (Blanchester, Ohio/Blanchester) went the distance in goal for the Pioneers and recorded one save. JT Brenneman played all 90 minutes in goal for the Yellow Jackets and posted six saves.
In addition to Penquite, the Pioneers honored three other seniors prior to the start of the match.
Jake Dinan (Nashport, Ohio/Tri-Valley),
Stephen Harris (Pittsburgh, Pa./Trinity Christian) and
Robert Phillips (Elkins, W.Va./Aquinas Academy (Pa.)) were all playing in their final regular season match for the Navy Blue and White.
"I am so proud of our seniors. For four years they have bought into the culture and done things the right way on the field, in the locker room and in the classroom," Bergin said. "They have provided incredible leadership to this team thru a crazy Covid year. I am particularly excited that we can keep on playing in the playoffs."
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.
