BEREA, OHIO -- The sixth-seeded Baldwin-Wallace College men's soccer team was defeated by second-seeded Ohio Northern University, 2-1, today (Thursday, November 4, 2010) in the semifinals of the OAC Tournament at the ONU Soccer Field in Ada, Ohio.  

With the loss, B-W falls in the OAC Semifinals for the second straight year, had its four game winning streak snapped and ends its season with a  record of 12-6-4 overall.  With the victory, Ohio Northern improves to 16-4-1 overall and advances to its third straight OAC Championship match.  The Polar Bears will play the winner of tonight's match between fifth-seeded John Carroll University and top seed Heidelberg University on Saturday, November 6th with automatic berth to the  NCAA Division III Tournament at stake.

Despite the loss,  the Yellow Jackets  appeared in a school record 22 games and will return five of its top seven scorers next fall.  With that said, B-W will have to replace its leading scorer in senior forward Tyler Leister (Stow/Stow-Munroe Falls) who led the team with career-highs in goals (11), assists (7) and points (29).  Leister ends his illustrious career among the all-time leaders in school history as he is second in goals scored with 33, third in scoring with 80 points, fifth in single season points scored with 29, tied for sixth in games played with 75 and tied for sixth in goals scored in a season with 11.

In the first half, the Yellow Jackets got on the board at 15:10 when sophomore and ESPN Academic All-District IV midfielder Pat Brennan (Akron/Walsh Jesuit) nailed a low liner into the left corner for his career-best eighth goal of the season.

In the second half,  Ohio Northern tied the game (1-1) when Greg Stawicki scored off the rebound shot from Nathan Bascom which he took off the free kick from Austin Windsor at 55:20.  The Polar Bears took their first lead of the game (2-1) when Stawicki connected on his second goal of the game off the cross from Christian Huelsman at 73:48.

Overall, Ohio Northern outshot BW, 29-11 and also won the corner battle, 9-0.

In goal, sophomore goalie Ryan Hulings (Centerville) faced 29 Polar Bear shots and made nine saves.

On offense, Brennan will lead the group of returning scorers as he finished second on the team with a career-best seven goals and three assists for a career-high 19 points. Junior and All-OAC forward Carlin Vandendriessche (Medina/Senior) and sophomore midfielder Justin Peterson (Rochester Hills, Mich./Adams) tied for third with 16 points.  Vandendriessche tallied eight goals while Peterson netted career-bests in goals with seven and assists with two.  Junior midfielder Andy Thompson (Huron) tied for fifth with graduating midfielder Jeff Bonnezi (Medina/Senior) with eight points. Thompson recorded one goal and finished second on the team with a career-high six assists.  Junior forward Noah Eubanks (West Bloomfield, Mich.) rounds out the top returners as he finished  seventh  in scoring with a career-high tying two goals and a career-best three assists for seven points.

On defense, Hulings will return in net and will anchor the defense that returns all four starters.  He ends his first season as the starting net minder with a record of 11-6-4 with six shutouts.  Hulings tallied 85 saves, including a career-best 10 at Mount Union on October 19 and allowed 1.10 goals per contest.  Ryan was named the OAC Men's Soccer Player of the Week  for the week of September 20-26.

FOR MORE BW SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu or Asst. SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu Fans can access BW athletics information at www.BWyellowjackets.com and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.