BEREA, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University men's soccer team finished off the first two weeks of the 2018 campaign with a 2-2-1 record, including wins over Geneseo (N.Y.) and the College of Wooster as well as a double overtime tie with Anderson (Ind.) University.
Week(s) in Review
-BW's 3-2 win over Geneseo on Aug. 31 marked the first season-opening win since 2015 and the team's first Herb Lauffer Memorial Tournament victory since 2014
-Junior two-time All-Ohio Athletic Conference and Academic All-OAC forward Danny Ruple (Berea/Berea-Midpark) was named Most Valuable Player of the Herb Lauffer Tournament after two goals and two assists on the weekend
-Ruple was also named OAC Men's Soccer Offensive Player of the Week for the second time in his career
-On Sept. 4, the Yellow Jackets defeated Wooster for the second consecutive season
-Ruple and freshman midfielder Attila Nagy Jr. (Lakewood) were named to the Raven/Spartan All-Tournament Team following the games against Manchester (Ind.) and Anderson
-Ruple leads the Yellow Jackets and is currently second in the OAC in goals (5), assists (3) and points (13)
-Junior Academic All-OAC forward Cannon Dees (Berea/Berea-Midpark) scored both game-winning goals against Geneseo and Wooster
-Eight different Yellow Jackets have recorded at least one point so far this year
-Coach Reid Ayers' Take: "We've been good on the ball and it's been good to see some different players get involved and score. We've given up some early goals, though, so we have to do a better job starting games and consistently making plays offensively and defensively. Learning to win is a skill and we are still learning how to win games. "
Up Next
-The Yellow Jackets continue their four-game road trip
-Wednesday, Sept. 12 at Allegheny (Pa.) College -> In 2017, BW hosted Allegheny for the home opener and fell on a last-second goal by the Gators. The two teams have faced off for at least 10 consecutive seasons and it "traditionally seems to be a competitive game, every game is down to the wire," says Ayers. Deal with challenge of being on the road this week, being able to perform away from home. Tighten some things down, as each week progresses, our mentality has been to get better so goals this week is to still perform at the level we are offensively but being more organized, more determined on defensive side. Two teams have gotten off to good starts
-Saturday, Sept. 15, at Pitt.-Bradford (Pa.) -> The Panthers are a new opponent on the schedule and are "definitely a program on the rise. They have characteristics of an OAC team so we felt that playing them would help prepare us for October," said Ayers.
-Focus for the week: deal with the challenge of being on the road and being able to perform away from home. "We have to tighten things down. As each week progresses, our mentality has been to get better so our goals this week are to still perform at the level we are offensively but to also be more organized and determined on the defensive side. Both teams have gotten off to good starts so we have to play to our standard to make these games beneficial for OAC play," explained Ayers.
