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Ohio Northern University

No. 9 Men’s Soccer takes 2011 OAC Tournament Title with 5-0 win over John Carroll

No. 9 Men’s Soccer takes 2011 OAC Tournament Title with 5-0 win over John Carroll
Box Score
November 5, 2011
By: Monique Bowman

ADA — For the second consecutive season, the Polar Bear men's soccer team earned the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament title following a dominating 5-0 win over John Carroll, Saturday afternoon at the ONU Soccer Field.

It is the first time since the OAC moved to a six-team tournament in 2007 that a program has earned both the regular season and tournament trophies.

"John Carroll has been good in this conference for a long time, so to come out and win against them is great for us," head coach Brent Ridenour said. "Getting the regular season and tournament titles in the same season is not done a lot. I'm very happy four our guys, especially our seniors."

After several missed opportunities by both teams early in the contest, junior Nate Bascom knocked in his own shot rebound in the 25th minute for an unassisted goal.

Scoring continued in the 32nd when senior Greg Stawicki took passes from classmate Christian Huelsman and junior Cameron Johnson to beat the keeper for the second goal of the game.

Four minutes later, the Polar Bears would go up 3-0 when Bascom knocked in his team-leading 16th goal of the year when he connected a loose ball for a score.

Into halftime, ONU already had a 14-3 shot advantage over the Blue Streaks, 10 of which were on-goal.

Northern would score two more times in the second half. The first was another Stawicki goal when passes from seniors Abrim Mueller and Cory Dobkins set him up just inside the penalty area. Stawicki then knocked the ball into the upper left corner.

Senior Robert Sellers also go in on scoring action, hitting a slow ball past the keeper for an unassisted goal.

ONU dominated the shots category, 20-8, with a 13-2 on-goal advantage.

Junior keeper Mac Church made just two saves and notched his 12th shutout of the season. The Polar Bear defense has earned 13 shutouts on the season, setting a new program record.

"I challenged our guys on Monday to two shutouts this week, focusing on playing good team defense," Ridenour recalled. "We did that and set a new school record. And now our offense is coming around which is setting us up very well."

Northern earns the OAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Tournament. The team will find out its next opponent on Monday at 1 p.m. when the field is announced.

Visit www.ONUsports.com for more information.