Polar Bear Preview: September 1-3

August 31, 2023

Friday, Sept. 1, 2023

Women's Soccer
Wittenberg at Ohio Northern, 5 pm, Kerscher Stadium, Ada, Ohio | Live Stats | Live Video | Game Program (.pdf) |

Men's Soccer
#5 Kenyon at #13 Ohio Northern, 7:30 pm, Kerscher Stadium, Ada, Ohio | Live Stats | Live Video | Game Program (.pdf) |

Men's and Women's Cross Country
Ohio Northern at Bluffton Beaver Dam Invitational, 6 pm, Bluffton University Nature Preserve, Bluffton, Ohio | Live Results |

Men's Golf
Ohio Northern at Olivet (Mich.) Lou Collins Memorial Tournament - Day 1, 9:30 am, Bedford Valley Country Club, Battle Creek, Mich. | Tournament Site |

Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023

Football
Ohio Northern at #24 Alma (Mich.), Noon, Bahlke Field, Alma, Mich. | Live Stats | Live Video |

Men's Golf
Ohio Northern at Olivet (Mich.) Lou Collins Memorial Tournament - Day 2, 9 am, Bedford Valley Country Club, Battle Creek, Mich. | Tournament Site |

Men's and Women's Tennis
Ohio Northern v Adrian (Mich.) and at Ohio Wesleyan, 2 pm/5 pm, Luttinger Family Tennis Center, Delaware, Ohio

Sunday, Sept. 3, 2023

Men's Soccer
#13 Ohio Northern at Oberlin, 1 pm, Shults Field, Oberlin, Ohio | Live Stats | Live Video |

Women's Soccer
#2 Case Western Reserve at Ohio Northern, 2 pm, Kerscher Stadium, Ada, Ohio | Live Stats | Live Video | Game Program (.pdf) |

Men's and Women's Golf
Ohio Northern hosts ONU Kick Off Classic - Colonial Golfers Club, Harrod, Ohio

Ohio Northern provides live stats for most home matches and live audio/video for select contests.

Things to Know:

Volleyball

• Head coach Sophie Windover begins her first season at Ohio Northern.

• This marks ONU's first appearance in the Great Lakes Cross Over, which began in 2021. This year's event features 23 teams.

• The Polar Bears are a combined 19-2 all-time against their opponents in the Great Lakes Cross Over this year. They are 13-1 against Hiram, 5-1 against Allegheny (Pa.), 1-0 against Bethany (W.Va.) and have never faced Carroll (Wis.).

• This year's team is led by a pair of two-time All-OAC honorees in juniors Erin Wagner and Rachel Jennings. In 47 career games, Wagner has a .286 hitting percentage with 439 kills and 99 blocks. Jennings has 991 digs, 129 assists and 83 aces in 53 career games.

Women's Soccer

• Head coach Ben Tierney begins his first season at Ohio Northern.

• The Polar Bears open the season with a pair of home games highlighted by Sunday's matchup against defending national runner-up and No. 2-ranked Case Western Reserve, which posted a 20-1-1 record in 2022. Wittenberg finished 2-10-6 last season.

• ONU is 8-14-3 all-time against Wittenberg and 5-6-1 all-time against CWRU.

• Northern is looking to hand Case Western a rare regular season non-conference loss. The Spartans have won 33 straight regular season non-conference games with their last loss coming on Sept. 25, 2018.

• The 2023 Polar Bear roster is headlined by the return of five All-OAC honorees from a year ago, including the conference's Midfielder of the Year in junior Alyssa Beckett and Defender of the Year in senior Kylie Cabana as well as seniors Jill Roberts and Bri Straus and junior Emma Bowman. That group has a combined 37 goals and 37 assists for 111 career points.

Men's Soccer

• Reigning OAC Coach of the Year Chris Matejka enters his fifth season after leading the Polar Bears to a 13-4-5 overall record last year, which ended with a berth in the third round of the NCAA Division III Tournament.

• Northern is ranked No. 13 nationally in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 Preseason Poll.

• The Polar Bears' two-game weekend is highlighted by Friday's home and season opener against No. 5 Kenyon, which advanced to the Elite Eight of the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Northern is looking to avenge last season's 6-2 loss to the Owls in Gambier.

• Northern is 2-11-2 all-time against Kenyon and 14-9-3 all-time against Oberlin, which finished 5-7-3 in 2022.

• ONU's 2023 roster is headlined by the return of three 2022 All-OAC selections in juniors Noah Zebrak, William Shaffer and Lucas Hickey.

Football

• Head coach Dean Paul begins his 20th season at Ohio Northern.

• The team returns 45 lettermen from a year ago, including a trio of 2022 All-OAC selections in fifth-year senior defensive lineman Josh Bever, junior defensive back Dalton Tjong and senior defensive back Ed Manning. Bever has 208 career tackles and ranks second in program history in career sacks (30) and fourth in tackles for loss (43). Tjong led ONU in total tackles (110), interceptions (4) and pass breaksup (7) in 2022.

• The Polar Bears face a stiff test to open the season on Saturday with a road game at No. 24 Alma (Mich.), which is coming off an 11-1 campaign that ended in the second round of the 2022 NCAA playoffs.

• Northern is looking to avenge last season's 16-13 overtime loss to Alma in Ada and is 3-6 all-time against the Scots.

Men's and Women's Cross Country

• Head coach Jason Maus begins his 15th season at the helm of the Ohio Northern men's and women's cross country teams.

• The ONU men finished 111-37 in 2022 and were fifth at the OAC Championships and ninth at the NCAA Great Lakes Regionals. The ONU women were 119-23 last year and placed second at the OACs and fifth at the NCAA Regionals.

• The women's team enters the season ranked No. 7 in the Great Lakes Region by the USTFCCCA.

• Top returners for the men's team include senior Kyle Roth and juniors Ryan Massie and Trey Masterson.

• Top returners for the women's team include seniors Megan Vapenik and Olesya Mertz, junior Ashley Hockstok and sophomores Kennedy Rader and Samantha Roth.

Men's and Women's Golf

• Head coach Chad Bucci begins his 11th season at the helm of the Ohio Northern men's and women's golf teams.

• The ONU men open the season with two tournaments in three days after finished 44-40 in 2022, which was capped by fourth-place showing at the OAC Championships.

• The ONU women play on Sunday only and are coming off a 2022 season that saw them finish 78-12 overall and second at the OACs.

• Golfers to watch this season include senior Grace Honigford, juniors Ameila Burger and Rhianna Firmstone and sophomore Marisa Alfes for the women and juniors Andrew Briars and Adam Trigg-Holdman and sophomores Anthony Naso and Bennet Christy for the men.

Men's and Women's Tennis

• Head coach Sean Swisher begins his second season at the helm of the Ohio Northern men's and women's tennis teams. He is the reigning OAC Coach of the Year in men's tennis.

• The Polar Bears open the season with a doubleheader on Saturday hosted by Ohio Wesleyan.

• The ONU men are 21-5 all-time against Adrian (Mich.) and 12-28 against Ohio Wesleyan. The ONU women are 12-0 all-time against Adrian and 7-17 against OWU.

• The ONU men return eight letter winners, including four All-OAC selections, from 2022-23, when they finished 13-8 overall and won the OAC Tournament title to earn a berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament. This year's roster is headlined by senior Kavya Desai, juniors Peyton Specht, Sam Sran and Drew Swisher and sophomore Nico Rogel.

• The ONU women return six All-OAC honorees from 2022-23, when they finished 16-5 overall. The 2023 roster is led by fifth-year senior Regan Landis, juniors Katie O'Connell and Julianne Sheldon and sophomores Jenna Bell, Jamie Hurst and Abby Cruser.