Season Review: Men's Soccer posts 12th consecutive winning season and upper-division OAC finish in 2017
By Caleb Scott
ADA — The Ohio Northern men's soccer team continued to be a force in the Ohio Athletic Conference as it posted its 12th consecutive winning season and upper-division OAC finish in 2017 under the guidance of 20th-year head coach Brent Ridenour.
Ridenour guided the Polar Bears to a 12-6-2 record and a 5-3-1 record in the OAC. Northern finished in the top-3 in the OAC for the third straight season.
The Polar Bears saw four members garner All-OAC honors in 2017, as seniors Grant Cayot (Roanoke, Ind./Blackhawk Christian), J.J. Fortner (Maumee/Anthony Wayne), and Chris Garbig (Wilder, Ky./Highlands) all were named First Team All-OAC, and senior Cory Lains (Zionsville, Ind.) was dubbed a Second Team All-OAC honoree.
Cayot earned All-OAC honors for the second consecutive season after being named First Team All-OAC in 2017.
A year after earning his first All-Conference nod, Cayot tied for first on the team with five assists and appeared in and started all 20 contests for ONU this season. Of the 85 games he has appeared in during his career, Cayot was a starter in 78 of those contests.
Cayot was also named to the OAC All-Tournament team.
Fortner made his first career appearance on the All-OAC teams after being named First Team All-OAC as a midfielder.
The senior led the team and ranked second in the OAC with 14 goals this season and also led the team and ranked third in the conference with 30 points. Fortner started in all 20 contests this season, and played in 59 games in his career, making 40 starts.
He was also tabbed a Second Team All-Great Lakes Region member, earning his first career All-Region honor.
Garbig earned his second career All-OAC honor after he was named First Team All-OAC for the second consecutive season.
The senior midfielder scored two goals and added two assists this season for ONU and started in all 20 contests. Garbig has appeared in 83 career games, making starts in 81 of those contests.
Lains earned his first career All-OAC nod after being named Second Team All-OAC in 2017.
The senior ranked third on the team with five goals this season and was tied for first on the team with five assists. Lains appeared in all 20 contests, making starts in 19 of those games.
Seven members of the Ohio Northern men's soccer team were dubbed Academic All-OAC honorees for the 2017 season.
Garbig, Lains, seniors Ben Conkin (Maumee/Anthony Wayne) and Mac Tompkins (Fairview, Pa.), and sophomores Luke Fickenworth (Cincinnati/Anderson), Jimmy Walkinshaw (Plymouth, Mich./Canton), and Noah Bachwitz (Buffalo, N.Y./Williamsville North) all earned the honor.
Fortner, Tompkins and Garbig would all move on to be named CoSIDA Academic All-District honorees before Garbig was named a CoSIDA Second Team Academic All-American for his efforts on the field and in the classroom.
The trio and Lains also garnered Ohio Collegiate Soccer Association Academic All-Ohio honors.
Cayot, Fortner, Garbig and Lains were also all tabbed OCSA All-Ohio honorees for the 2017 season.
Cayot and Fortner were both dubbed First Team All-Ohio, while Garbig was named Second Team All-Ohio and Lains was named Third Team All-Ohio.
After opening the season with a 0-1-1 record at the Geneva (Pa.) Tournament, Northern would close out the remainder of September with an 8-1-0 record, including an OAC-opening 1-0 victory over Mount Union.
After posting a 1-3-0 record over their next three contests, Northern closed the season out with victories over Wilmington, Muskingum and Baldwin Wallace, before playing Marietta to a 1-1 tie in the regular season finale.
Northern would meet Marietta in the quarterfinal round of the OAC Tournament, where it would drop a 1-0 decision and bow out of the tournament to conclude its 2017 campaign.
"I was happy with the way we competed this season," said head coach Brent Ridenour. "It was not the ending that we had hoped for, but we were in every game and had chances to win each game."