BEREA, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University men's soccer team notched its first Ohio Athletic Conference victory with a thrilling 1-0 win over Ohio Northern University to highlight a 1-1 week.
Week in Review
-Junior Academic All-OAC forward Joey Geither (Parma/Normandy) and the reigning OAC Forward of the Year, junior two-time All-OAC and Academic All-OAC forward Danny Ruple (Berea/Berea-Midpark), connected for both of BW's goals this week with Geither's being the game winner against Ohio Northern in the 88th minute
-Ohio Northern came into the game riding a seven-game winning streak and had not allowed a goal in over 400 minutes of play
-The 1-0 victory marks the first time since 2014 that BW defeated the Polar Bears
-BW notched its second shutout of the season, the first coming on Sept. 15 against Pitt.-Bradford (Pa.)
-Ruple leads the OAC in shots taken (61), is tied for second in assists (7), is third in points (27) and is tied for third in goals (10)
-Junior Academic All-OAC forward Cannon Dees (Berea/Berea-Midpark) is fourth in the conference with his five assists
-Junior goalkeeper Patrick Mehal (Richfield/Revere) is fourth in the OAC with 44 saves on the season
-Head Coach Reid Ayers' take: "On Wednesday, we played our most complete game. We didn't make many fatal errors. Against Otterbein, we had the lead and were playing well. We just had self-inflicted errors that get punished at this level. We're doing some really good things. These guys have it switched on. We're a pretty fun and explosive team."
Up Next
-With only three weeks left in the regular season, the Yellow Jackets continue OAC action with games against Heidelberg University and Muskingum University. "We're into a very important week in conference," Ayers said. "The quality and parity of the OAC is on display. You have to put up a game-to-game performance and a game-to-game focus. It has to be a full 90 minutes, making critical plays at critical times."
-Wednesday, Oct. 10 vs. Heidelberg (5-5, 2-1 OAC)-> After a come-from-behind victory in the final minutes over Marietta, Heidelberg is heading into the Wednesday's game with a lot of confidence and belief.
-Saturday, Oct. 13, at Muskingum (5-7, 0-3 OAC)-> In the second half of last year's game against Muskingum, Ruple notched his second career hat trick in a 2:29 span, marking the sixth-fastest hat trick in NCAA history.
-Focus for the week: Knowing when to play and when to be more sensible instead of forcing things when they aren't on and open