No. 25 Men's Soccer clinches share of OAC Regular Season title with 2-1 win over Wilmington

Cameron Johnson

By Patrick Massara

| Box Score |

ADA – On Senior Day, the No. 25-ranked Ohio Northern men’s soccer team clinched at least a share of the Ohio Athletic Conference regular season championship and the number one seed in next week's OAC Tournament with a 2-1 victory over Wilmington Wednesday afternoon at the ONU Soccer Field.

The Polar Bears improve to 13-3-2 overall and 7-0-1 in the OAC, while the Quakers move to 5-12-0 overall and 2-6-0 in conference play.

Wilmington scored first at the 37:21 mark in the first half as forward Michael Kiszkiel scored his fourth goal of the year. He got control of an ONU turnover and beat the goalkeeper for a 1-0 advantage.

Soon after, at the 39:55 mark, freshman Cameron Johnson headed the ball on to sophomore Christian Huelsman who proceeded to shoot it from outside of the box and into the net.

The goal was Huelsman’s team-leading 11th of the season.

Just 4:25 into the second half Johnson beat the goalkeeper far post from about 15 yards out for the game-winning goal at the 49:25 mark.

Senior Jimmy Matuszak and sophomore Abrim Mueller each added an assist on the play to give Johnson his fifth goal of the season.

“I want to congratulate the team on winning the conference championship,” Ohio Northern head coach Brent Ridenour said. “I am proud of the team for coming from behind to win the game. Everyone played hard today and the score reflected that. We look forward to Saturday’s game for the opportunity to win the conference outright.”

With a win or tie on Saturday, the polar Bears would be the first ONU men’s soccer team to go undefeated in OAC play and would be the first team in the conference to accomplish the feat since 1999.

The Polar Bears travel to Marietta on Saturday for a 2 pm match and the chance to win the conference outright with a win or tie, or a loss or tie by both Capital and Baldwin-Wallace.

Northern will be the No. 1 seed in next week's OAC Tournament. The Polar Bears will receive a first-round bye and will host a semifinal contest on Thursday at 2 pm at the ONU Soccer Field.