Men’s Soccer: #21 Ohio Northern (10-2-3 Overall, 5-0-1 OAC) at Muskingum (2-11-0 Overall, 1-5-0 OAC)

Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022, 7 p.m. — North Athletic Turf Field, New Concord, Ohio

Saturday's Preview: Ohio Northern continues Ohio Athletic Conference play on Saturday at Muskingum … Northern is ranked No. 21 nationally in this week's United Soccer Coaches Top 25 poll and leads the OAC standings, one point ahead of second-place John Carroll … ONU is ranked No. 2 in this week's United Soccer Coaches Region VII poll behind Kenyon, which is ranked No. 3 nationally … Northern also received 56 voting points in this week's D3soccer.com Top 25 poll, putting it at No. 30 in that poll … Fifth-year senior Levi King is the reigning OAC Offensive Player of the Week … The Polar Bears are coming off Wednesday's 2-1 home win over Wilmington that extended their current unbeaten streak to 12 games … ONU is 9-0-3 since falling to then-No. 7 North Park (Ill.) on Sept. 4 and has won four straight games … Junior Cade Winchester and sophomore Ashton Ochsner scored ONU's goals in the win over WC … Ochsner's goal, which came in the 67th minute, was the first of his career and proved to be the game-winner … Sophomore Lucas Hickey tallied four saves in goal for ONU, improving his record to 4-0-1 on the season … Through 15 games, 14 different players have scored goals for ONU this season, and 21 different players have recorded at least one point … King, Winchester, fifth-year senior Bryan Kern and senior Aaron Shelton are tied for the team lead with four goals each … Kern has a team-best six assists and 14 points, which ranks second and seventh, respectively, in the OAC … King and Shelton have 12 and 11 points, respectively … Senior goalkeeper Josh Ellis has 31 saves on the season along with a 1.35 GAA and a .705 save percentage … Ellis is tied for 10th all-time at ONU with six career shutouts … Hickey has 21 saves on the season with a 1.49 GAA and .724 save percentage … King has 36 career goals, which ranks seventh on the program's all-time list … King is tied for sixth in program history with 97 career points, and his 25 assists are tied for seventh all-time … Muskingum is coming off Wednesday's 2-0 loss at Mount Union, marking its fifth straight defeat and fourth straight by shutout … The Muskies have scored nine goals in their 13 games played this season … Senior Edwin Palou has a team-best seven points and three assists and is tied for the team lead with two goals … Juniors Morgan McKenna and Mahfuz Yakubu also have two goals each … Freshman Evan Laraba has nine starts in goal for MU this season, posting 44 saves, a 3.13 GAA and .638 save percentage … Freshman Caden Groff has started the other four games in goal, posting 45 saves, a 2.60 GAA and .776 save percentage … Groff and Laraba rank fourth and fifth, respectively, in the OAC in saves.

ONU Statistical Leaders: 

Series Record: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series with Muskingum by a 31-6-2 margin, including a 13-5-0 mark in New Concord … ONU has won 17 straight meetings dating back to 2006 … That stretch includes 11 shutouts … In the teams' last meeting, in 2021, ONU came away with a 4-0 road win.

Head Coach Chris Matejka: Matejka is in his fourth season with the ONU men's soccer program … He has an overall coaching record of 40-19-10 for a winning percentage of .628 and is 20-9-4 in OAC games for a winning percentage of .646.