Season review: Men's Soccer records 9th consecutive OAC Tournament appearance in 2014
By Ashley Birchmeier
ADA — The 2014 Ohio Northern men's soccer team had another winning season under 17th year head coach Brent Ridenour.
The Polar Bears finished the season 12-8-1 overall, and fourth in the Ohio Athletic Conference with a 5-3-1 mark.
With Ridenour at the helm the Polar Bears have appeared in the OAC Tournament 14 times, and made seven appearances in the NCAA III Tournament.
ONU opened the 2014 season with the ONU Invitational where the Polar Bears defeated Muskegon (Mich.) in dominating fashion 9-0, and took down DePauw (Ind.) in double overtime 3-2.
Ohio Northern then took to the road as they traveled to Georgia for the Berry Invitational. The Polar Bears fell to Emory (Ga.) 3-0, but defeated the host Berry (Ga.) 5-0.
The Polar Bears split the remainder of its non-conference schedule picking up wins against Wittenberg, Kalamazoo (Mich.), Manchester (Ind.), and Case Western Reserve, but was defeated by Albion (Mich.), Anderson (Ind.) and top ranked Ohio Wesleyan.
ONU opened OAC play on the road dropping a game to John Carroll 2-0, before returning home to face Wilmington in a double over time thriller that ended in a 1-1 tie.
The Polar Bears then split a two game road stretch defeating Mount Union 3-1, but falling to Otterbein 2-1.
ONU then returned home to take on Capital and Heidelberg.
The Polar Bears defeated Capital in over time 2-1, as sophomore Austin Horton scored the game-winning goal as extra time expired.
Ohio Northern would go on to defeat Heidelberg in a 2-0 decision.
ONU closed out the road portion of the OAC regular season by defeating Muskingum 2-1, but falling to Baldwin Wallace 2-1.
On Senior Day, at Kerscher Stadium, the Polar Bears took care of business defeating Marietta 2-0 and clinching a fourth place finish in the OAC.
In Ridenour's 17 seasons at the helm Ohio Northern is 249-102-12 overall for a winning percentage of .714.
In the opening rounds of the OAC Tournament ONU hosted Capital, where the Polar Bears saw its season come to an end in a 1-0 defeat.
Off the field, ONU earned a handful of awards.
Junior Chase Muller was named First Team All-OAC, while senior Keegan Ross, sophomore David Janusz, and sophomore Austin Horton all earned Second Team All-OAC honors.
Sophomore Matt Kinkopf was named Honorable Mention All-OAC.
ONU also has its success in the classroom, with seven players earning Academic All-OAC honors.
These athletes included junior Chad Smith, sophomore Tommy Troy, sophomore Dustin Lorenzo, sophomore Aaron Smith, sophomore Brock Hersch, sophomore Grant Allbritten, and sophomore Patrick Sabol.