*Story by Athletic Communications Intern Adam Knaub
WILMINGTON, Ohio - The Wilmington College men's soccer team defeated No. 19 Ohio Northern University 2-1 with an 89th minute goal from Bruce Anthony in Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) competition on Wednesday evening. The win is the first one for Wilmington over Ohio Northern since 2008.
The Fightin' Quakers are now 10-2-2, 3-0-1 OAC and are in a tie with John Carroll University for first place in the conference standings. The Polar Bears fall to 11-3-1, 3-1-0 OAC.
The early minutes of the game favored the Polar Bears as they had solid chances to score landing six shots on goal in the first half. Ian Molfenter almost scored for the Quakers in the 27th minute as his shot beat the Polar Bears' goalkeeper, but deflected off the post and out of bounds.
The first goal of the game came from Molfenter in the 65th minute unassisted. Ohio Northern regrouped and returned the favor in the 73rd minute. Levi King scored on a long-distance header narrowly edging past the fingertips of Quaker goalkeeper Felix Maurer with an assist to Mitch Colvin. With time winding down in regulation and overtime seeming certain the Quakers earned a corner kick with less than two minutes remaining on the clock. Anthony was able to take a volley on the initial kick, but a Polar bear defender deflected the shot,\. Anthony then found his footing again to take a better shot from the rebound. The goal was not initially called as an Ohio Northern defender headed the ball out of the goal, but the assistant referee determined that the ball fully crossed the goal line.
The Quakers were out shot 16-6 but led in corner kicks 6-5.
Maurer had to make nine saves in his victory while John Lombardo only recorded one in the loss.
Wilmington will travel to Marietta College on Saturday to continue OAC play at 7 p.m.