Oct. 16, 2007

By Zach Stipe

ADA — Led by excellent team defense the Ohio Northern men’s soccer team battled Wilmington to a 0-0 tie in two overtimes on Tuesday at the ONU Soccer Field.

The tie was the first of the year for the Polar Bears and moved their record to 12-4-1 overall and 4-1-1 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. The Quakers record now stands at 7-7-1 and 3-2-1 in the OAC.

“Our team defense is playing excellent soccer,” ONU head coach Brent Ridenour said. “They kept us in the game. We just didn’t have any breaks go our way.

Northern had plenty of chances to score as it held a 33-11 edge in shots and a 14-5 advantage in corner kicks.

Wilmington had four shots on goal, while ONU took three shots on goal.

With 5:30 left in the second half, junior Adam Ross had a great shot from 15 yards out, but Quakers’ keeper Aaron Slusher made a diving save.

Wilmington’s Anthony Montgomery nearly scored with 1:10 left in the second half, but ONU freshman keeper Ben Huntley made a save.

Northern senior Nick Farmwald tried desperately to score as the last seconds of regulation counted down, but his shot sailed wide with 2 seconds left on the clock.

Six minutes into the first overtime, ONU sophomore Dan Otanicar nearly scored as he found himself one on one with Slusher, but his kick went high.

Huntley had four saves and remains undefeated at 7-0-1 on the season. The game was the third straight shutout for Huntley and the ONU defense.

The Polar Bears haven’t given up a goal since Marietta’s Sergio Fajardo converted a penalty kick at the 56:50 mark during Northern’s 7-1 victory on Oct. 6.

Juniors Ben Jackson and Ryan Smith led ONU’s back line defense and played the entire 110 minutes.

Ohio Northern returns to action this Saturday when it travels to Alliance to play Mount Union at 2 p.m.