Wall Sparks Ohio Wesleyan Rally
Senior forward Travis Wall tallied a goal and an assist as sixth-ranked Ohio Wesleyan stormed back from a 2-0 halftime deficit to defeat eighth-ranked Ohio Northern in a third-round game of the NCAA Division III tournament on Friday at Roy Rike Field.
Ohio Wesleyan advances to the national quarterfinals to face Hope (Mich.), which outscored Luther (Iowa) on penalty kicks after a 1-1 tie in Friday's opener. Saturday's quarterfinal contest is set for a 6 p.m. kickoff at Roy Rike Field.
Ohio Northern had the edge in play for the majority of the first half, holding Ohio Wesleyan to 3 shots during the period, with 2 of those blocked by the Polar Bear defense.
The Polar Bears got the first dangerous chance of the game, earning 3 straight corner kicks during a stretch beginning in the 37th minute. On the third, Josh Green's header appeared bound for the left side of the goal, but senior defender Andrew Miller cleared the ball off the line to preserve the scoreless tie.
Two minutes later, junior goalkeeper Paul Hendricks made a diving save at the right post of a shot by Cameron Johnson.
The Bears would continue the pressure, and it paid off when Abrim Mueller centered the ball from the right end line to Johnson, who headed it home to give the visitors a 1-0 lead with 1:46 left in the first half.
It looked like the half would end that way, but Ohio Wesleyan was called for a foul inside the midfield stripe with less than 30 seconds to play, and the Polar Bears took advantage of the 15-mile-per-hour tailwind to launch the ball into the penalty area. The ball rattled around there before ONU's Greg Stawicki knocked it home with :13 left in the half, giving Ohio Northern a 2-0 lead.
Ohio Wesleyan turned up the offensive pressure in the second half, and it started to pay dividends with better looks than the Bishops got during the first period. In the 52nd minute, it was sophomore midfielder Matt Shadoan sending a laser over the crossbar that missed by about the width of the ball. Then, in the 61st minute, senior midfielder Dylan Stone saw his shot cleared off the line by a Polar Bear defender.
The Bishops finally found paydirt in the 71st minute, when senior forward Matt Bonfini dished the ball off to Wall, took the return pass, and blistered a shot past Polar Bear keeper Mac Church.
Wall put a shot on goal that Church stopped less than a minute later, but the Polar Bear netminder would not have as much success the next time, when freshman midfielder Colton Bloecher served the ball into the box to Shadoan, who got past Church and scored into the unprotected goal to even the game at 2-2 with 13:22 left in regulation time.
Wall rang up the game-winner with a run along the left end line, beating 3 Polar Bear defenders before burying a shot into the right side of the net with 4:09 left in the game.
Ohio Northern earned a corner kick in the closing seconds, but the Polar Bears were not able to get off a shot.
Ohio Wesleyan outshot Ohio Northern, 18-14, including a margin of 15-7 in the second half. Hendricks finished with 4 saves, while Church stopped 2 shots.
In Friday's opener, Hope and Luther played to a 1-1 tie, with Hope advancing on penalty kicks by a 6-5 count.
Luther had more scoring chances during the first half, eventually cashing in when J.W. Slauson sent a corner kick to the goal mouth, and Stephan Fernandes knocked it home in the 35th minute.
The Norse appeared to have the game in hand, but the tide turned in the 76th minute when a Luther defender was called for a hand ball in the box, and Hope's Shaun Groetsema converted the ensuing penalty kick to even the score.
Neither the remaining 23 minutes of regulation time nor a pair of 10-minute overtime sessions provided a resolution, turning the attention to the penalty spot. Hope took an early lead in the shootout when Jason Muller and Tarwo Konbloa converted their kicks, but Luther's Steve O'Meara answered with a couple of saves while Jonathan Lawson hit his kick to even the shootout at 2-2.
Hope's Justin Reamon converted his kick to give the Flying Dutchmen a 3-2 lead, and Luther's Michael Olson stepped up needing to make his kick to keep the Norse season alive. Olson hit his kick, sending the shootout to sudden-death.
After Hope's Maxwell DeBoef and Luther's Austin Walther traded successful kicks, Hope's Benjamin Lemmen hit the right post with his try, giving Luther's Micha Kust a chance to end matters with a successful kick. Hope keeper Logan Neil had other ideas, though, making the save to keep things going.
Hope's Luke Dishnow and Luther's Michael Kustra traded successful kicks, then Flying Dutchmen keeper Neil took over.
First, Neil stepped to the spot and converted his kick to give the Dutchmen a 6-5 lead, then Neil made a kick save of a kick by Luther's James Slauson, Jr. to send Hope on to the national quarterfinals.
