No. 15 Men's Soccer tallies 10th shutout of the season with 2-0 win at John Carroll
By: Monique Bowman
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS — The Ohio Northern men's soccer team handed John Carroll its first conference loss following a 2-0 victory Saturday evening at Don Shula Stadium.
With the win, the Polar Bears move to 14-2-2 overall and remain unbeaten in the Ohio Athletic Conference with a 6-0-1 mark.
Northern also pushes its unbeaten streak to 10 games, as well as climbing to first place in the conference standings heading into the final week of the regular season.
The Blue Streaks fall to 10-6 overall and 6-1 in conference.
After a goal-less first half, the Polar Bears put up two quick goals early in the second half.
The first was a passed ball from senior Christian Huelsman from the right side to junior Nate Bascom awaiting in front of the goal in the 50th minute.
It was Bascom's 11th goal of the year.
In the 54th minute, Huelsman notched his fifth assist of the year, finding senior Greg Stawicki for the second goal of the game.
The Blue Streaks had several opportunities to get on the board, including a bullet of a shot by Alec Petro in the 74th minute that hit the crossbar.
Another chance was a straight-on shot by Kevin McKamish but a save by junior keeper Mac Church preserved the shutout.
Both teams took 17 shots, but the Blue Streaks had the advantage in shots-on-goal, 7-6.
Church and the Northern defense posted their OAC-leading 10th shutout of the season, just two shy of the program record.
"Picking up a win against a very strong John Carroll team is great, and picking up our second road win of the week feels good," head coach Brent Ridenour said. "Our defense keeps us in all of these games and is definitely running on all cylinders at this point."
Ohio Northern hosts Heidelberg on Tuesday against Heidelberg in the final week of the regular season. Game time is set for 4 p.m.