Season Review: Men’s Soccer logs ‘successful’ season in 2019
By Bud Denega
ADA — The Ohio Northern men's soccer accomplished its most essential goal during the 2019 season.
"It was a success. We always have the goal of competing for a national championship, and you can't win a national championship without getting to the national tournament," head coach Chris Matejka said. "That was a benchmark that we got back to. Overall, I think the season was a success. We built on a lot of positive moments, and we learned a lot as a group."
The Polar Bears ended the season with a 13-6-3 overall record. Northern closed the season, falling to St. Norbert (Wis.) in penalty kicks in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The regular season included a win over then-No. 7 Ohio Wesleyan and a streak of five straight shut outs, which was the longest such streak since 2012.
Several individuals were honored for their efforts in 2019. The Polar Bears had a pair of players earn first-team All-Ohio Athletic Conference recognition.
Sophomore Levi King (Indianapolis, Ind./North Central) was named first-team All-OAC and first-team All-Great Lakes Region after he paced Northern with nine goals and five assists. This comes off a season that saw King win OAC Freshman of the Year, which provides further proof of the bright future still ahead of him.
"He's an outstanding midfielder both offensively and defensively," Matejka said. "He brings a lot of energy, and a lot of guys rely on him. He's the type of player that can change the game in any instance. He possesses a lot of the qualities we look for in a player."
Junior Beelal Hasan (Worthington) joined King on being named first-team All-OAC. While Hasan didn't have as fruitful a scoring effort, logging seven goals and four assists, as he did in 2018, when he netted a team-high 15 goals, his presence and the attention he drew opened things up for his teammates.
"He was under a great deal of pressure to keep up with his pace of scoring 15 goals per year," Matejka said. "Some teams took away his strengths, but he continued his hunger throughout the year. He led us in shots, and he was constantly knocking on the door, which is good to have for a forward. We needed some game-changing moments and game-changing plays, and he rose to that."
Sophomore goaltender John Lombardo (Solon) built on his solid freshman year to become one of the best goaltenders in the entire conference. He led the league with nine shut outs, to go alongside 71 saves, en route to being named second-team All-OAC.
"He's another one of those players that possesses those qualities we look for," Matejka said. "He's a dominant force. He's hard to beat one-versus-one. He's a presence back there not only vocally but physically. He's a calming force. He's a hard keeper to beat, and we're glad to have him on our side."
Sophomore Seth Gundlach (Wilmington) also garnered second-team All-OAC recognition after registering seven goals and two assists. Senior Luke Fickenworth (Cincinnati/Anderson) was named second-team Academic All-American by CoSIDA, while also earning honorable mention All-OAC with junior teammate Jimmy Walkinshaw (Plymouth, Mich. Canton). Twelve other Polar Bears were named Academic All-OAC.
Many of the aforementioned players are either underclassmen or have one year of eligibility remaining. Those are the ingredients for a successful 2020 season.
"We want build off the success this year, and we want to get back to the NCAA Tournament," Matejka said. "Our goal is to win a national championship. We want to raise our stock in the OAC and finish in first place. We'll add some talent in the offseason and build off of that core group and really start to hone in on things we can improve this offseason."