Thank you to everyone for another great season!

From Coach Ridenour:

Hi everyone, I just want to thank everyone for all of your support this season! Our fans, our friends, our family, our alumni, are all extremely important to our success, and we couldn't do what we do without your support.

2009 was another amazing season for ONU Men's Soccer. This season was the first ever to see an ONU team go undefeated in the OAC (8-0-1, 10-0-2 if you include the tournament games)! It was the first time in history we made back-to-back OAC finals and back-to-back NCAA Tournaments. We were honored with a record EIGHT players making All-OAC. We had 3 players named OAC Player of the Week. And, our senior captain, Dan Schade became the 8th player in ONU history to be named OAC Player of the Year as he earned the honor as being named the OAC Defender of the Year. (ONU has had 3 of the last 4 OAC Defenders of the Year).

Our seniors (Dan Schade, Dan Otanicar, Nick Keller, Blair Ellenberger, and Jimmy Matuszak) are leaving the program with THREE OAC CHAMPIONSHIPS, THREE trips to the NCAA TOURNAMENT and an overall record of 65-18-12 (.726) and an OAC record of 24-6-6 (.722) which are all school records for wins and winning percentage. We will be celebrating their wonderful careers at our Awards Banquet on December 12th at 1pm. Everyone is welcome to celebrate our season with us on the 12th!

Please continue to check the blog throughout the off season as we will have interviews with players, video highlihghts from the season (including our 2009 goal of the year nominees and winner), and updates on our 2010 season (that will include our 4th trip to Europe!).

Thank you again for a great 2009!

Brockport ends our season in PK shootout

The second set of penalty kicks in less than a week ended our season at the hands of SUNY-Brockport in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

The first half was a defensive battle as neither team had many quality chances.

The second half started out the same as the first - a defensive battle. However, Brockport was able to get on the board in the 59th minute to take the lead 1-0.

With a little over ten minutes to play in regulation, Dan Schade sent a ball into the box that was deflected towards the Brockport goal. After the Brockport keeper made a fantastic save, Christian Huelsman was in the right place at the right time and tucked home the tying goal for his 14th of the season.

After two scoreless overtime periods, the game ended as a tie and went to PKs to decide who would face Messiah in the round of 32.

A fantastic save by the Brockport keeper on one of our PKs was all it took for them to edge us on PKs 5-3.

Our season ends at 15-3-4. Thank you to everyone that supported us throughout the season and we are looking forward to 2010.

D.U.E.

Eight Bears Named All-Conference

Eight ONU men's soccer players were named to All-OAC teams this past week setting a new record for the program. The previous record was seven set in 2003.

The All-OAC awards are voted on by the coaches of all of the OAC men's soccer teams. At Ohio Northern, we view these accolades as team awards becuase, without their teammates, it would have been impossible for these players to accomplish their goals.

First Team:
Dan Schade (OAC Co-Defender of the Year)
Dan Otanicar

Second Team:
Christian Huelsman
Cameron Johnson

Honorable Mention:
Dustin Connor
Abrim Mueller
Cory Dobkins
Mac Church

Congratulations to the team for these awards!

D.U.E.

Bears earn at-large NCAA bid, host SUNY-Brockport on Thursday

We earned one of the 17 NCAA at-large bids for the 2009 Division III National Tournament which marks our third time making the tournament and our first time earning an at-large bid.

Our first two trips came in 2006 and 2008, both after OAC tournament championships. This year, after falling to Capital in a PK shootout, we had to hope for an at-large bid.

The call came in Sunday night around 10:00p and this morning it was announced that we would host the first round of the tournament as SUNY-Brockport makes the trip to Ada. Thursday will mark the first time in ONU soccer history (men's or women's) that we will host an NCAA tournament game.

The game time is 1:00p on Thursday, with the winner traveling to 2008 national champs Messiah (Pa.) on Sunday.

D.U.E.

Bears Tie Capital in OAC Final, fall short on PK's

We tied Capital 2-2 in the OAC Final on Saturday afternoon in Ada, however Capital took advantage of a PK shootout to earn their first trip to the NCAA tournament.

We took the lead in the 26th minute when Greg Stawicki finished a Dan Schade cross for his eighth goal of the season.

We extended our lead just six minutes later when Christian Huelsman finished a shot from 20 yards out off an assist from Stawicki. The goal is Huelsman's team-leading 13th of the season.

Capital came out firing in the second half and was able to get two goals just four minutes apart to tie the game at 2-2.

Both overtimes were scoreless and Capital earned the OAC automatic qualifier by edging us 2-1 on penalty kicks.

D.U.E.

Solid defense proves key in OAC Semi

An own goal just 1:54 into the match was all we needed to advance to our third OAC final in four seasons.

Sophomore Abrim Mueller dribbled down the right side of the field and sent a cross in that was headed in by a Heidelberg defender for the only goal of the match.

Our defense stayed solid the rest of the game to earn our 11th shutout of the season, just one shy of the ONU record of 12 set in 2008.

In the other OAC semi-final today, Capital defeated Baldwin-Wallace by a score of 2-1.

Capital will travel to Ada on Saturday for the OAC final to be played at 2:00p.





Mac Church - Save v. Heidelberg

D.U.E.

2-1 win secures outright OAC championship

A 2-1 win at Marietta on Saturday afternoon secured our second outright OAC Regular Season Championship and fourth regular season title overall.

Sophomore Christian Huelsman got us on the board at the 25 minute mark off an assist from fellow Wellington High School alum Greg Stawicki. The goal is Huelsman's team-leading 12th of the season.

Junior Chaz McCullah recorded the game winner just five minutes later off an assist from Huelsman. The goal is McCullah's second of the season and the assist is Huelsman's fifth.

With the win, we become the first team since John Carroll in 2001 to go undefeated in the OAC regular season and the first ONU team to do so.

We return to action on Thursday when we play the winner of Heidelberg and Marietta who play tomorrow (Tuesday) at Heidelberg. The game on Thursday will be at the ONU Soccer Field at 2:00p.

D.U.E.