Strong second half leads ONU to 3-0 OAC Tournament Quarterfinal win over Muskingum

Aaron Collins

By Steven Wright

| Box Score | Tournament Site |

ADA — The third-seeded ONU Men’s Soccer team scored three second half goals to beat six-seeded Muskingum 3-0 Monday afternoon in an Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinals match at the ONU Soccer Field.

ONU betters its record to 15-5-1 overall while Muskingum moves to 7-11-1 overall.

Junior goalkeeper Aaron Collins recorded five saves to record the shutout, to give him an ONU single-season record and OAC-leading eleventh shutout on the season.

Eleven shutouts also ties the number of team season shutouts as well for the Polar Bears.

After a scoreless first half, freshman forward Nate Bascom scored the game-winning goal for the Polar Bears as junior Dan Shade centered the ball to freshman Christian Huelsman who had his shot saved, allowing Bascom to finish the play right in front of the goal at the 56:53 mark.

The goal is Bascom’s tenth on the season while the assist gives Shade his second this year.

About 12 minutes later at the 68:57 mark, sophomore Chet Gapczynski passed to Huelsman who had his shot blocked yet again only to have sophomore Chaz McCullah put in the rebound to put ONU ahead 2-0.

McCullah now has two goals on the year while the assist gives Gapczynski two on the year while Huelsman has six.

At 84:43, Bascom dribbled down the left side of the field to the center of the box where he passed off to fellow freshman Greg Stawicki on the right side of the box who then proceeded to score his fourth goal of the season.

The assist gives Bascom five on the season.

“I give a lot of credit to Muskingum,” ONU coach Brent Ridenour said. “They played very well today. The game was much closer than the score indicated. Our defense played well and it deserves a lot of the credit for our win this afternoon.”

The Polar Bears will travel to University Heights on Wednesday where they will face #2 seeded John Carroll at 2 pm.