TIFFIN, Ohio — Three unanswered goals in the second half gave the Marietta College men's soccer team a 4-1 win over Heidelberg University Saturday (Oct. 21) afternoon. With their third straight win, the Pioneers improve to 6-9-1 overall and 4-3 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Heidelberg slips to 3-12-1 on the season and 0-7 in the OAC.
""We definitely did not bring our best game in the first half and their effort and intensity smacked us the face," Marietta head coach
Joe Bergin said. "Christian's (Cora) goal woke us up and a good regroup at halftime allowed us to come out and put our stamp on the game."
Heidelberg grabbed the lead on a goal by Hussein Faraj in the 17th minute. Faraj dribbled into the box and placed a perfect shot inside the left post for the goal.
Christian Cora (North Olmsted, Ohio/Benedictine) leveled the match in the 31st minute. Cora gained possession of the ball along the left sideline and fired a bullet from 10-yards outside the box into the upper right corner of the net for the equalizer.
"Credit to the boys for getting it done on a tough day in Tiffin," Bergin said. "We still have work to do but we have put ourselves in a good spot. It feels good that we are still playing meaningful games this late in the season."
Marietta dominated the second half. The Pioneers got goals from
Reggie Grayek (Shavertown, Pa./Wyoming Seminary College Prep.) in the 59th minutes,
James Crossey (Belfast, North Ireland/Methodist College Belfast) in the 64th minute and
Gavin Heighberger (Lagrange, Ohio/Elyria) in the 84th minute.
Christopher Rodriguez (Northridge, Ca./Daniel Pearl Magnet) picked up the assist on Grayek's goal. He dribbled the ball down the left side of the 6-yard box and crossed the ball to the far post where Grayek was waiting to put the ball into the back of the net.
In the 64th minute, Grayek sent a pass into the 18-yard box that was deflected by Heidelberg defender right to Crossey at the top right corner of the box. Crossey went upper 90 inside the left post for the goal.
Heighberger put the match away when he gathered the ball just inside the 18-yard box and sent a rocket past the Heidelberg keeper for the final goal of the match.
Joey Backhaus (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield) went the distance in goal for the Pioneers recording a pair of saves. Bradshaw Uhlmann posted four saves in goal for the Student Princes.
Marietta travels to Westerville on Wednesday (Oct. 25) for a 7 p.m. match at OAC-leading Otterbein University.
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.
