ADA, OH – The Wilmington College men's soccer team drew first blood in Wednesday's Ohio Athletic Conference game with Ohio Northern. Unfortunately, the Polar Bears were able to withstand the initial attack in posting the 3-1 victory.
WC head coach Bud Lewis said the team came into the match with an attacking mentality that led to the Quakers drawing first blood.
"We did what we hoped to do against an outstanding team. We did a good job creating that first goal," he said, noting that getting on the scoreboard first put them in a desirable position. "We played the ball in to Marcus, who pulled their keeper out of the goal. He laid the ball across to Taylor, who finished a nice goal."
It was the first goal of the season for sophomore midfielder Taylor Estes (Reading, OH/Reading). That was the first goal scored by an OAC team in eight games this season.
Despite the loss, Wilmington can still secure the second seed in the OAC Tournament along with the first round bye that accompanies the lofty seeding with a win Saturday over John Carroll.
While the loss stung, Lewis said the Quakers came out of the game knowing they can play with "an excellent team"
"Now we have to focus on John Carroll," he said. "Wilmington has been a team that has rebounded well — I expect we'll do just that for Saturday."
Even after ONU scored the equalizer, Lewis felt confident going into the second half, but it became apparent the Polar Bears were getting more of the play and dictating much of the game's tempo.
"Our pressure up front didn't match the level of the first half," he said, noting they deviated a bit from what had been a pretty successful game plan. "Once they got the second goal, we increased our numbers up front and Northern was able to hold the ball and put us under a lot of pressure.
"Ultimately, we lost the midfield battle."