MARIETTA, Ohio — Despite a strong defensive effort, the Marietta College men's soccer team dropped a heartbreaking contest to #25 Ohio Northern University, 1-0, on Saturday (Oct. 5) evening. The Pioneers drop to 3-6-1 overall and 0-1-0 in OAC play. ONU improves to 7-2-2 on the season, 1-0-0 in the conference.
"I am so proud of the effort we put in. We had a game plan to concede possession and defend like our lives depended on it. We did that. It took a banger of a goal to beat us," Marietta head coach
Joe Bergin said. "At the end of a day it's a loss but I believe we saw some things from the boys that will help us. No rest for us as we head to Otterbein on Wednesday."
Scoring opportunities were limited in the first half as both teams played stellar defense. Ohio Northern took four shots, but only two were on target. The Pioneers managed just one shot on goal for the first 45 minutes and both teams headed into halftime with the score tied at 0-0
Both Marietta and Ohio Northern turned up the intensity in the second half, trying desperately to create more scoring chances. Marietta's defense became the priority, though, and they did well shielding Pioneer goalkeeper
Joey Backhaus (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield), blocking several shots before they ever got to the goalie box. Finally, with less than six minutes to play, ONU's Stephen Duggin got just a slight amount of separation and powered a shot from 25 yards out. The shot got by Backhaus' outstretched hands and settled in the top right corner of the net to break the scoreless tie. Marietta could not return the favor and the Polar Bears squeaked out a 1-0 conference victory.
Lucas Hickey recorded the shutout in goal for ONU making four saves. Backhaus posted six saves in the 90 minutes of action for the Pioneers.
For the match, Ohio Northern outshot the Pioneers 17-7, but only managed a slim 7-4 advantage in shots on goal. The Polar Bears took 10 corners to Marietta's two.
The Pioneers hit the road for a pair of matches next week. Marietta travels to Otterbein on Wednesday (Oct. 9) for a 7:00 p.m. match and then play at Heidelberg on Saturday (Oct. 12) at 2 p.m.
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.
