WILMINGTON, Ohio - The Wilmington College men's soccer team pounced on two loose balls in the box to score one goal in each half and defeated Marietta College 2-0 in Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) action at Williams Stadium on Saturday evening.
The Fightin' Quakers opened the scoring in the 18th minutes when Elorm Dogbey got the ball inside of the 18-yard box. The fifth-year senior nearly overran the ball with his own stride, and after briefly losing possession, fired a shot with his right foot and buried his seventh goal of the season. The hosts, which allowed just four shots in the first half, took the 1-0 lead into the locker room.
At about the same mark in the second half, Jeffry Vasquez broke loose in the Pioneer box. Marietta's keeper, Joey Backhaus, made a great save at the point-blank shot, but freshman Gio Alvarez fired a rocket of a volley near the top of the box on the deflection inside the near post. The hosts, which played perhaps their best defensive game of the season, allowed just five shots in the final 45 minutes as reigning OAC Defensive Player of the Week Thomas Grimes made three saves to secure the clean sheet.
Wilmington tallied a 22-9 shots advantage including an 8-3 margin in shots on goal. The Quakers also doubled the Pioneers in corner kicks 4-2. Individually, Grant Murary led the way with five shots while Casey Miller and Alvarez each had four. Elliot Britton, Marietta's top goal scorer, fired three shots in defeat.
With the victory, the Quakers improve to 8-4-2 overall and 3-1-1 in conference contests. Wilmington will head to Ada, Ohio, on Wednesday for matchup with league-leading Ohio Northern University.
