BW Men's Soccer Suffers First OAC Defeat Against Ohio Northern
ADA, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University men's soccer team suffered its first Ohio Atheltic Conference loss of 2019 to Ohio Northern University by a narrow final score of 1-0 in Kerscher Stadium.
Yesterday, the United Soccer Coaches announced that BW (8-5) was ranked 10th in the Great Lakes Region in their weekly instalments of NCAA Division III regional rankings. It marked the first time that the Yellow Jackets have been regionally ranked this season.
With tonight's defeat against Ohio Northern (10-2-1), BW saw their season-high three-game win streak halted by the conference foe. The Yellow Jackets also succumbed their first OAC loss of the season.
The Polar Bears managed to grab an early lead in the first half. In the 10th minute of the game, Ohio Northern sophomore Levi King made a move around a BW defender to create space and took a shot that found the low left corner of the net to put his team up 1-0. The Yellow Jackets struggled to generate any offensive opportunities in the first half as they failed to record a shot on goal for the entire frame.
BW managed to narrow the shots on goal battle in the second half as they equalled the Polar Bears' period tally at 2-2. The Yellow Jackets relied on stellar defense to keep the goal deficit at one, by blocking or interrupting six adversary shot attempts and by clearing out three defensive zone corner kicks. Nevertheless, BW could not find the equalizer as time expired.
Yellow Jackets senior goalkeeper Patrick Mehal (Richfield/Revere) made three saves on four shots faced, and saw his season record fall to 8-5.
BW returns to the pitch for its first home OAC match on Saturday, October 12 when it hosts Otterbein University at 7:00 p.m. on Tressel Field in George Finnie Stadium.
