Men’s Soccer defeats Marietta, advances to OAC semifinals

By Wes Mayberry

ADA — The Ohio Northern men's soccer team's 2-1 loss to Marietta on Oct. 2 became a distant memory Tuesday night, as the Polar Bears came away with a dominant 4-0 win over the Pioneers in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinals at Kerscher Stadium.

The win improves ONU to 11-6-3 overall and advances the No. 4 seed Polar Bears to the OAC Tournament semifinals while ending No. 5 seed Marietta's season with an overall record of 7-7-4.

Freshman Ryan Sommerfeld (Dublin/Coffman) led the way for the Polar Bears with two goals while seniors Seth Gundlach (Wilmington) and Bryan Kern (Rocky River) added one goal each.

Kern also assisted on Sommerfeld's first goal of the game.

All of ONU's goals came in the second half after the Polar Bears had out-shot MC 8-3 in the first half.

That margin was 18-2 over the final 45 minutes, which translated to four goals.

Gundlach got the scoring started with a goal just 1:45 into the second half, giving him eight on the season, which is tied with freshman Trevor Tabb (Toledo/Springfield) for the team lead.

Sommerfeld tallied his first goal of the night just over 10 minutes later, putting ONU up 2-0.

Kern made it a 3-0 lead with his third goal of the season with just under 10 minutes remaining in the game.

Sommerfeld capped a big night for the Polar Bears with his second goal of the game and third of the season, finding the back of the net from close range with just 40 seconds remaining.

ONU senior goalkeeper John Lombardo (Solon) recorded his ninth shutout of the season and 25th of his career while tallying two saves.

ONU finished the game with a 26-5 edge in shots, including 13-2 in shots on goal, and a 6-4 advantage in corner kicks.

The Polar Bears return to the field on Thursday at No. 2 seed Otterbein in the OAC Tournament semifinals at 3 p.m.