By Tim Glon
ADA — Wilmington scored with 4:26 left in the second overtime period and held on for a 2-1 victory over No. 11-ranked Ohio Northern in the semifinals of the Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Tournament on a beautiful Thursday afternoon at Kerscher Stadium.
The top-seeded Polar Bears move to 13-3-3 on the season, while the fourth-seeded Quakers improve to 12-5-3.
ONU won the OAC Regular Season title with an undefeated 8-0-1 record.
Northern quickly took the lead with senior Bryan Kern (Rocky River) scored just 5:15 into the match off assists from senior Levi King (Indianapolis/North Central) and sophomore Ryan Parker (Lexington).
Wilmington tied it at 1-all with a goal in the 69th minute.
The score remained even until WC scored 5:34 into the second overtime period.
ONU had two shots in the final four minutes, but were unable to get the equalizer.
Sophomore Lucas Hickey () had two saves in goal for ONU, while Thomas Grimes had three saves in goal for Wilmington.
WC out-shot ONU 15-11 and each team finished with five corner kicks.
The Polar Bears will now wait until Monday afternoon to see if they receive a bid to the NCAA III Tournament, which will begin next weekend.
