Season Preview: Men's Soccer seeks 13th successive top-five OAC finish during 2018 campaign
By Blake Moore
ADA – The Ohio Northern men's soccer program enters the 2018 season with a deep roster and high expectations, hoping to claim its 13th consecutive winning season and upper-division finish in the Ohio Athletic Conference under the guidance of 21st-year head coach Brent Ridenour.
Last season, the Polar Bears posted a 12-6-2 overall record and a 5-3-1 mark in conference play to end the season tied for third in the OAC standings. The team would also qualify for the 2017 Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament where they fell to Marietta 1-0 in the quarterfinal round.
This season, Northern was tabbed for a fourth-place finish by the 10 conference coaches in the annual 2018 OAC Coaches Preseason Poll released on Tuesday, August 14.
Coach Ridenour and his staff welcome back 21 varsity lettermen to this season's squad, including three-time letter winners Anthony DeNoi (Powell/Olentangy Liberty) and Joseph Schulte (Copley).
"We are looking forward to the upcoming season," Ridenour stated. "We lost a talented and experienced group of seniors from last year's team, but I am confident that our returning players and newcomers will be able to step up and lead us this season. One of our strengths this season should be our depth. We have at least three quality varsity-level players at each position with the ability to start and play major minutes. That should help us as we move throughout the grueling non-conference and OAC seasons."
The following is a breakdown of the men's soccer team based upon position:
Forwards
The senior tandem of Schulte and DeNoi will return for their final seasons to guide the Ohio Northern offensive attack during the 2018 slate.
Schulte is the team's top returning goal scorer from 2017, having found the net on six occasions last fall. He would stand second overall on the team, only trailing graduated teammate J.J. Fortner (14) on an ONU roster that posted 46 total goals a season ago.
DeNoi has provided the Polar Bears with three goals and two assists in his career. He also accounted for 30 shots last season, which ranks third among returning players.
Sophomore Zachary Yoder (Goshen, Ind./Northridge) will return to the lineup. He stood second among returners in goals scored last season after registering four strikes in 2017.
"We have many talented forwards this season who are ready to score big goals for us," Ridenour remarked about his group of forwards. "Seniors Joseph Shulte and Anthony DeNoi will lead us at this position. They have worked very hard to be our go-to players, and I'm looking forward to seeing them step up."
Midfielders
The Polar Bears will boast an extremely deep and talented group of midfielders during the 2018 season. They will be led by returning letter winners Timothy Hoffman (Strongsville), Danny Sasak (Berea/Midpark), Joseph Jennings (Beavercreek), and James Walkinshaw (Plymouth, Mich./Canton).
The quartet will provide some experience for a young midfield unit on this season's roster as the four athletes have combined to appear in 64 career varsity matches.
Walkinshaw saw impressive success during his freshman campaign in 2016 when he scored a pair of goals and recorded six assists.
Meanwhile, Hoffman and Jennings have each recorded one assist in their careers.
Ridenour stated, "Our midfielder group this year will be a little younger, but we have players who have varsity experience led by Timothy Hoffman, Danny Sasak, Joseph Jennings, and James Walkinshaw. Midfield is our deepest position, but it is also the position that is most up in the air for us as we start the season. Our recruiting class in the midfield should be extremely talented as well, and we are looking forward to being able to interchange and move around our midfielders based on our strategy for each game."
Backs
Defensively, a Polar Bears' backline that held opponents to just 1.06 goals per contest last season will return several key athletes to aid them in 2018.
"In the back, we are led by senior Dakota Swisher, who is returning after taking last season off for an off-campus academic requirement. He will be joined by juniors Michael Bringard, Luke Fickenworth, John Sternasty, and several other talented sophomores and first-year players. Our back line will be expected to be a strength for us, and we will need them to help us shutout opponents throughout the season," Ridenour discussed.
Swisher rejoins the team after playing in 64 matches and recording 31 career starts over his first three seasons from 2014-16. He has compiled five career assists with one career goal.
John Sternasty (Akron/Revere) recorded three assists on the season in 2017, leading the statistical category for returning athletes along with Zachary Yoder.
Bringard and Fickenworth have appeared in 20 and 10 matches, respectively, and each recorded one goal last season.
Goalkeepers
Northern's roster will also include three former lettermen at the goalkeeper position in seniors Kyle Dunnavant (Mount Vernon) and William Velotta (Gates Mills/Gilmour Academy) and sophomore Dylan Plank (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim) during the 2018 season.
Plank is the top returner after starting 16 matches and logging over 1,400 minutes of action in 2017. During his freshman year, he would concede just 15 goals while making 58 saves for a 0.94 goals against average. The sophomore would also record five individual clean sheets while sporting an 11-4-1 record.
Dunnavant started four matches and made five appearances a season ago. He would play 387 minutes in net, making 18 saves during the campaign.
Velotta will also compete for time in the new season. He appeared in one match during his junior campaign after playing on the junior varsity squad his first two seasons with the program.
"The goalkeeper position is wide open again this season with seniors Will Velotta and Kyle Dunnavant and sophomore Dylan Plank competing for minutes," Ridenour said regarding the goalkeeper battle. "All three are very capable of helping us win games, and we are happy with the progress they all have made in the offseason."
Schedule
Northern will open the new season when they take a southern trek to Transylvania (Ky.) on September 1 for a 7:00 p.m. kickoff.
The Polar Bears then return to Kerscher Stadium for back-to-back home contests with Hope (Mich.) and No. 7-ranked Calvin (Mich.) on September 7 and 8, starting an eight-game home schedule.
The nonconference slate continues with trips to Ohio Wesleyan, Anderson (Ind.), Rose-Hulman (Ind.), and Adrian (Mich.) while Oberlin and Thomas More (Ky.) make stops in Ada during the month of September.
Northern will face off against Marietta September 29 for the home conference opener at 7:00 p.m.
Conference foes Wilmington, Heidelberg, and Capital will make trips to ONU during the regular season slate.
The OAC Tournament will be held October 30 and November 1 and 3 at various campus sites.
"We are going to have a lot of great opportunities this season to play against some of the best teams in the nation. Our schedule is full of NCAA Tournament-level teams, both in the Ohio Athletic Conference and out of it. Our goal is to give our self a chance to compete for an OAC title as well as a berth to the NCAA Tournament. We believe that our non-conference schedule is going to prepare us for the OAC regular season, and we want to be playing our best soccer at the end of the season during the OAC Tournament and NCAA Tournament," said Ridenour.