Robert Nelson
rjn001@marietta.edu
Marietta College’s men’s soccer team will advance to the OAC Semifinals after their 2-0 shutout victory over Ohio Northern. In the season opener, the Pios were defeated by ONU, which eventually turned out to be an excellent season for ONU. The Polar Bears went 13-5-2, which got them the third seed in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament. Marietta was 9-8-1, which got them the sixth seed in the tournament.
Senior Sebastian Ziaja and junior keeper Dakota Penquite led the defensive effort, as Ohio Northern was limited to one shot on goal; sophomore Blake Holtman and freshman Dave Beattie and Elliot Britton added their tremendous effort to force the shut out. Four yellow cards were placed on ONU in the second half.
Senior Luke Maher scored a big-time goal in the 13th minute assisted by freshman Jovonni Auddino. Maher was injured on the play and was sidelined for the rest of the match. Later in the game, junior Robert Phillips found sophomore Gavin Long for the open-field one-on-one goal to serve as his ninth on the season. Ohio Northern outshot the Pioneers 11-8, but Marietta had a bigtime advantage with 5-1 shots on goal.
Marietta will advance to the semifinals on Thursday when facing top-seeded opponent John Carroll University. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m., as MC is making its third semi-final appearance under Coach Joe Bergin.
For more information visit https://pioneers.marietta.edu/news/2019/11/5/mens-soccer-advances-to-oac-semifinals-with-2-0-shutout-at-ohio-northern.aspx
