Men's Soccer earns eighth OAC Tournament title with 3-1 win at No. 25 Otterbein

Men's Soccer earns eighth OAC Tournament title with 3-1 win at No. 25 Otterbein
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Team Stats

November 4, 2023

WESTERVILLE — The second-seeded Ohio Northern men's soccer team defeated top-seeded and 25th-ranked Otterbein 3-1 in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament finals on Saturday afternoon to clinch the program's eighth OAC Tournament championship and first since 2015. The victory earned the Polar Bears an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

| OAC Tournament site |

The Basics

  • Records: Ohio Northern (12-5-3 overall), Otterbein (12-3-4 overall)
  • Venue: Memorial Stadium — Westerville, Ohio

The Match

  • The Polar Bears opened the scoring just 12:38 into the game on a goal from senior Will Shaffer (Galena/St. Francis DeSales) assisted by freshman Colin Gottron (Dayton/Centerville).
  • Junior Noah Zebrak (Cleveland/St. Ignatius) put ONU up 2-0 with a goal in the 36th minute assisted by juniors Nolan Schirmer (Amelia/West Clermont) and Stephen Duggan (Saginaw, Mich./Freeland).
  • The Polar Bears led 2-0 at halftime and made it a 3-0 edge in the 75th minute with a goal from senior Cade Winchester (Knoxville, Tenn./Alcoa) assisted by sophomore Alex Shaffer (Galena/St. Francis DeSales).
  • The Cardinals denied ONU a shutout with a goal from Carter Ely in the 83rd minute.
  • Junior Lucas Hickey (Conroe, Tex./Oak Ridge) played all 90 minutes in goal for ONU and recorded four saves in the victory.
  • The Polar Bears out-shot the Cardinals 12-9 and finished with a 3-2 edge in corner kicks.

Notables

  • Shaffer's goal was his ninth of the season. He has 34 career points on 12 goals and 10 assists.
  • Zebrak's goal was his first of the season and the fourth of his career.
  • Winchester's goal was his fifth of the season and the 11th of his career.
  • The Polar Bears will be playing in their second straight NCAA Tournament after earning an at-large bid and advancing to the Sweet 16 in 2022.
  • Ohio Northern played to a 1-1 tie with Otterbein in Ada in the teams' regular-season meeting.
  • ONU is now 23-13-6 all-time in 24 OAC Tournament appearances.
  • Fifth-year head coach Chris Matejka is now 55-26-15 at ONU.

Up Next

  • The Polar Bears return to action next week in the NCAA Tournament.
  • The first and second rounds will be played Nov. 10-12. 
  • The NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Selection Show will air Monday at 2 p.m. on NCAA.com.
  • A link to the show will be on the front page of NCAA.com.