Season Review: Men's Soccer makes ninth NCAA III Tournament appearance in 2016
By Caleb Scott
ADA — The Ohio Northern men's soccer team posted its 11th consecutive winning season in 2016, en route to its ninth NCAA III Tournament appearance in school history.
The Polar Bears went undefeated in non-conference play for the first time in school history and finished the season 17-2-4 overall, while climbing as high as No. 3 nationally in the NSCAA poll.
Northern saw seven athletes named All-Ohio Athletic Conference in 2016.
Seniors Matt Kinkopf (Hamilton/Cincinnati Christian), David Janusz (Oregonia/Lebanon), Grant Allbritten (Warsaw, Ind./Warsaw Community), and junior Chris Garbig (Wilder, Ky./Highland) were named First Team All-OAC.
Juniors Dean McNeil (Medina/Medina) and Grant Cayot (Roanoke, Ind./Blackhawk Christian) earned Second Team All-OAC honors, while senior Austin Horton (Lewis Center/Olentangy) was named Honorable Mention All-OAC.
Kinkopf led the list as he was named OAC Forward of the Year for the second consecutive year.
The senior also earned his second consecutive First Team All-Great Lakes Region honor in 2016.
Kinkopf ended his career as the all-time goals leader at Ohio Northern with 57 career goals, ranks tied for second all-time with 33 assists, and ranks second all-time at ONU with 147 career points.
Kinkopf also capped off his career as he was named an NSCAA First Team All-American and was only the second player in school history to earn the honor for the men's soccer team.
Janusz was also named First Team All-OAC as a forward after ranking second on the team and in the OAC with 12 goals, eight assists, and 32 points.
The senior also garnered Third Team All-Great Lakes Region honors and OCSA Second Team All-Ohio honors in 2016 for his efforts.
Allbritten was also named First Team All-OAC as a defender for the Polar Bears.
Allbritten also garnered Third Team All-Great Lakes Region honors and was named OCSA Second Team All-Ohio as a defender.
The senior appeared in and started 19 games for ONU and scored two goals and added three assists on the season.
Garbig was the only other player for Northern who was named First Team All-OAC, First Team All-Great Lakes Region, and OCSA First Team All-Ohio.
Garbig started in 22 of Northern's 23 games and scored two goals and added four assists as a midfielder.
McNeil was named Second Team All-OAC as a goalie and earned his second all-conference honor as a Polar Bear.
He was also named OCSA Second Team All-Ohio for the second time in his career.
The junior led the team and OAC with 12 shutouts, a .854 save percentage, a 0.56 goals against average and only 13 goals allowed all season. He also ranks second all-time at ONU with 27 career shutouts.
Cayot was named Second Team All-OAC as a defender and collected his first all-conference accolade.
The junior made starts in all 23 games this season for Northern and scored one goal.
Horton earned Honorable Mention All-OAC honors as a midfielder and earned his third all-conference honor.
The senior started all 23 games for Northern and scored five goals and added three assists.
Northern also saw 10 players named Academic All-OAC and six players named OCSA Academic All-Ohio.
Seniors Brandon Homan (Napoleon/Napoleon), Tommy Troy (Toledo/Central Catholic), Aaron Smith (Westerville/Central), Dustin Lorenzo (Sidney/Sidney) and Allbritten, and juniors Mac Tompkins (Fairview, Pa./Fairview), Cory Lains (Zionsville, Ind./Zionsville Community) and J.J. Fortner (Maumee/Anthony Wayne), Garbig and McNeil all earned the honor for the Polar Bears.
Allbritten, Janusz, and Garbig all earned OCSA First Team Academic All-Ohio honors, while Lorenzo, seniors Nathan Libertowski (Medina) and Patrick Sabol (Lancaster) each earned OCSA Second Team Academic All-Ohio honors.
Garbig was also named NSCAA Second Team Scholar All-America for the Polar Bears for his efforts on the field and in the classroom in 2016.
The Polar Bears opened the season with six straight victories, before playing No. 13-ranked Ohio Wesleyan to a 0-0 tie.
Northern would then finish its non-conference schedule with four straight victories, while outscoring its opponents 19-1 in that span.
ONU opened the OAC-portion of the the schedule with home victories over Mount Union and Otterbein, before tying No. 23-ranked Capital 2-2.
From there, Northern finished the regular season 4-1-1 and advanced to the OAC Tournament semifinals, where they defeated Capital 4-0.
Northern tied JCU 2-2 in the OAC Tournament Finals, but were edged in penalty kicks in the tournament final.
ONU would earn an at large bid to the NCAA III Tournament before its season came to an end as they fell 1-0 to No. 6-ranked Calvin (Mich.).
"It was a successful season for us, and we are happy with being selected to participate in the NCAA Tournament," said head coach Brent Ridenour. "Our goal is always to win the Ohio Athletic Conference and we are disappointed that it didn't happen, but the conference was very strong from top to bottom and getting the OAC Championship game was a good accomplishment for us."