No. 16 Men's Soccer clinches OAC regular season title with 5-0 win over Muskingum on Senior Day
By: Andrew Korba
ADA -- The No. 16 Ohio Northern men's soccer team clinched the OAC regular season title by defeating Muskingum 5-0 on Senior Day at Kerscher Stadium.
The Polar Bears improve to 16-3-0 and 8-1-0 in the OAC, while the Fighting Muskies conclude their season at 5-13-1, 0-8-1.
Due to a tie by John Carroll against Wilmington, Northern clinches the OAC title.
ONU will also be the top seed in the OAC Tournament and will host either Baldwin Wallace or Capital in the OAC Tournament Semifinals on Wednesday afternoon at 2 pm at Kerscher Stadium.
"This was a nice way for our seniors to go out," said head coach Brent Ridenour. "Our seniors have led us through the whole season and to where we are today."
The Polar Bears jumped on the board at the 18:13 mark, when freshman Austin Horton took a pass from senior Jeremy Barnes and fired a shot into the lower left corner of the net.
Horton then made it 2-0 in the 65th minute, when he controlled a loose ball and fired a shot from just outside of the box.
Horton now has six goals this season.
Freshman Ryan Prescott controlled a ball in the box and found freshman Matt Kinkopf, who blasted home him team leading 14th goal of the season in the 76th minute.
Barnes made it 4-0 in favor of Northern, taking a pass from freshman Tommy Troy and beating the keeper.
Troy would score his first career goal at the 85:02 mark, taking a pass from senior Brett Bomba and beating the keeper to lower left.
Freshman goalkeeper Evan Bader (16-3-0) made one save for his second consecutive and OAC leading ninth shutout of the season.
ONU outshot the Fighting Muskies 28-9, including 13-1 in shots on goal.
The Polar Bears also owned a 10-2 advantage in corner kicks.
"We had a high turnover from last season," added Ridenour. "Our seniors showed the first year players how tough the OAC really is. We got through the OAC portion of our schedule and getting the 1-seed shows how much the seniors led this group."