By Wes Mayberry

GAMBIER — The Ohio Northern men's soccer team opened its 2022 season with a 6-2 defeat to No. 17 Kenyon on Thursday evening at Mavec Field.

The Owls improve to 1-0-0 on the season while dropping the Polar Bears to 0-1-0.

Sophomore Ryan Sommerfeld (Dublin/Coffman) led the way for ONU with three points, netting one goal and assisting the other, which was scored by senior Aaron Shelton (Ortonville, Mich./Brandon).

Senior Josh Ellis (Whitehouse/Anthony Wayne) tallied a career-best seven saves in goal for ONU.

Senior Sebastian Gaese tallied five points with two goals and one assist, and senior Scott Upton added a pair of goals to lead the Owls.

The teams went into halftime tied at 1-1 after netting goals early in the game.

Shelton put the Polar Bears up 1-0 just over 10 minutes into the game, and Gaese answered with a goal of his own roughly one minute later.

Gaese gave the Owls their first lead of the game at 2-1 less than nine minutes into the second half, but Sommerfeld's goal, which was assisted by fifth-year senior Bryan Kern (Rocky River), knotted the score again with 30:33 left.

Kenyon regained the lead on a goal from sophomore Alem Duratovic with 15:34 remaining, kickstarting a 4-0 run to close the game.

Upton converted a penalty kick with 10:33 left, and senior Mac Nardiello-Smith made it 5-2 with 2:34 remaining.

Upton got himself one-on-one with Ellis with time winding down and found the back of the net as time expired to cap the scoring.

Kenyon out-shot ONU 19-6 in the game and held advantages of 14-4 in shots on goal and 9-3 in corner kicks.

The Polar Bears return to action on Saturday for their 2022 home opener against Oberlin at 12 p.m.