Tiffin, Ohio – October 27, 2010 – The Heidelberg University men’s soccer team kept its first potential Ohio Athletic Conference regular season title alive with a 3-1 victory over Ohio Northern University under the lights at Mayer Field. With the win, Heidelberg stays undefeated in the OAC and moves to the top of the conference standings, while giving the Polar Bears their first conference loss.
The Berg improves to 12-3-2 overall, 6-0-2 in the OAC, while the Polar Bears drop to 14-4-1, 6-1-1 in conference play.
The win marks the first over Ohio Northern since 2002. Before tonight’s game, the Polar Bears only gave up an OAC-best three goals.
Heidelberg got on the board first in the 21st minute, when freshman Christian Walter (Bay Village, Ohio / Bay Village) made a stellar throw in from the near field and found senior Cory Buhrman (Brunswick, Ohio / Brunswick) who would head it in the near post for the early score.
Buhrman found the back of the net once again in the 29th minute. This time is was sophomore Grant Beck with a well-executed give and go pass. This marked Buhrman’s team-leading ninth goal of the season.
Ohio Northern made it interesting with a score from Chris Matejka in the 38th minute.
Adding insurance for the Berg was freshman Matt Paquette (Houston, Texas / Katy) who headed it for the score off a free kick from 40 yards out from senior Greg Acuna (Findlay, Ohio / Findlay).
Solid defending from the Heidelberg’s back four kept the Berg ahead, including Acuna, senior Jon Kijowski (Norwalk, Ohio / Norwalk), freshman Erik Furst (Columbus, Ohio / Upper Arlington), and sophomore Joel Oldham (Roanoke, Texas / Keller).
Heidelberg’s All-OAC goalie Ryan Smith (Ronaoke, Texas / Keller) made his presence felt with a season-high of eight saves on the night.
The Berg will look to capture its first ever OAC regular season title in the program’s history when it hosts Wilmington College on Saturday. The match is slated for 3:30 p.m.