MARIETTA, Ohio — History was made this afternoon at Marietta Field as the Men's Soccer team notched an important conference victory over Wilmington College, 2-1, on Saturday (Oct. 14). The win not only improved the Pioneers to 4-9-1 overall and 2-3 in the OAC, it also was Head Men's Soccer coach
Joe Bergin's 84th career victory at Marietta College, making him the winningest coach in program history. He passed Patrick Holquin who had 83 wins.
The game itself was a tough, physical matchup with both teams battling at a high level. The Pioneers broke through first as
Payton Maynard (Middletown, Ohio/Lebanon) scored in the 11th minute off of an assist from
Mason Landis (Stow, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary).
The Quakers out shot Marietta 4-2 for the remainder of the period, but stayed off the board until the closing seconds of the half. With time ticking off the clock, Peyton Tennis was awarded a free kick and sent a high, arching shot in the box. Eli Eyrich was able to head the ball into the goal to tie the score with three second left, and both teams took the 1-1 tie into the intermission.
"We got the opening score against the run of play as they were all over us," said Coach Bergin on the first half. "Thought we were out of the half and could regroup at halftime, but we give up the tying goal with seconds left in the half and that frustrated me."
It took 12 seconds into the second half for the Pioneers to get the advantage back.
Gavin Heighberger (Lagrange, Ohio/Elyria) was sent a perfect pass from Reggie Grayak off of the opening kickoff and the freshman sent the shot passed Quaker goalkeeper Thomas Grimes for the go-ahead goal.
"Full credit to the boys for getting after it at the start of the second half," said Coach Bergin. "Reggie's ball to Gavin was inch perfect. Great timing on the run and that got us the lead back."
The Quakers attempted four more shots for the half but none could find its mark and the Pioneers would go on to collect the historic victory.
Joey Backhaus (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield) had two saves in net for the Pioneers.
"Our defense held strong as we were able to deal with the pressure," concluded Coach Bergin. "Time to get ready for Wednesday."
Marietta will host Capital University on Wednesday (Oct. 18) for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
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 X and Instagram.
