COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Dominican's men's soccer team dropped its conference opener to visiting Findlay 2-1, setting them back to a 1-2 overall record and 0-1 in the GLIAC. This week, ODU makes a tough road trip to Lyndhurst, Ohio and Painesville, Ohio to take on Notre Dame College (3-0) and Lake Erie College (1-3).
Live Audio for ODU vs. Notre Dame can be found at: http://www.meridix.com/everywhere.php?liveid=NDCSoccer
Live Stats for ODU vs. Lake Erie can be found at: http://www.lec.edu/stats/msoc/xlive.htm
About The Panthers:
Ohio Dominican's men's soccer team couldn't overcome visiting GLIAC foe Findlay, falling 2-1 to the Oilers on a brisk Sunday afternoon.
The Oilers took early control as Ryan Poyle scored the first goal of the game from 20 yards out at the 15:59 mark in the first half.
Senior Justin Wheeler (Gahanna, Ohio) responded with his first goal of the season, tying the game 1-1 midway through the second half with a blast from the five yard line.
In the 63rd minute, Findlay's Mark Sleasman scored the second goal of the game to put the Oilers up 2-1, and that would eventually seal the win for Findlay.
Junior goalie Dean Dziewit (Waterford, Mich.) made two saves in goal in the loss.
The Panthers outshot the Oilers 12-10 and edged them on corner kicks, 5-1.
About The Falcons:
Notre Dame has now won 22 consecutive games and claimed its 18th consecutive victory at home with a 4-0 win over Salem International (W. Va.) on Tuesday night.
The Falcons got goals from Christian Earnest, Elliot Kelly, Jacob Sheppard and Tom Owens in a non-conference match that marked the team's 2012 home opener. Owens also recorded a pair of assists in the game. With the victory, Notre Dame (3-0) extended an overall win streak that started on Sept. 2, 2011. The Blue & White have now won 45 of their last 46 games, dating back to the beginning of the 2010 season.
NDC netted two goals in the game's first half, a 45-minute period that saw the Falcons outshoot the Tigers, 14-2. Earnest scored his goal -- off an Owens feed -- in the seventh minute. Kelly doubled the Falcon lead with a corner rebound goal in the 31st minute.
Sheppard claimed his netfinder in the 69th minute. Owens scored his team-leading fourth goal in the 86th minute. He has now scored 12 points (four goals, four assists) over the Falcons' first three games.
The final score marked Notre Dame's 12th shutout in the 22-game win streak. In those 22 games the Falcons have outscored foes, 84-14.
Notre Dame hasn't lost a home opener since Sept. 27, 2006.
About the Storm:
Last week, the Storm went 0-2 against Notre Dame College and Urbana. In the 3-0 loss to Notre Dame on September 8, the Falcons offense pressured the Storm in the first half. Notre Dame's Elliot Kelly nearly broke the stalemate at the ten minute mark with a shot from five yards out, but freshman goalkeeper Filip Ljubevski made an excellent save to keep the game scoreless. Lake Erie senior Jake Shelton shot came close to putting the Storm on the board at the 20 minute mark, but his shot missed wide. Notre Dame picked up the first goal of the game at the 24 minute mark, as Tom Owens floated a ball over the head of Ljubevski inside the far post, to put the Falcons up 1-0. The Storm nearly tied the game up at the 32 minute mark, as freshman Ryan Gibson put a header overtop of the Notre Dame net off a corner from junior Stewart Bath. Ljubesvki ended the first half with four saves.
The Falcons were unable to rebound from a strong first half from cross-state opponent Urbana University, falling 5-0 in Urbana, Ohio Tuesday, Sep. 11.
The Blue Knights opened up the scoring in the 13th minute, as Yves Nzwanga floated a shot over top of freshman goalkeeper Filip Ljubevski. Nzwanga added his second goal of the day five minutes later ton increase the Urbana lead. Carl Peers picked up Urbana's third goal of the half at the 21 minute mark off of a free kick. The Blue Knights scored two more goals in the second half to seal the victory 5-0.
The Series:
The series is currently tied at two games apiece. The Falcons took the first game in 2001 when they edged out the Panthers 3-2 on Korb Field in Lyndhurst, Ohio. In 2004, the Panthers evened the series at 1-1 with 3-2 victory on Falcon turf. ODU finished the 2007 season leading the series 2-1 when they claimed a home victory over ND, 2-0.
In the last meeting of these two teams in 2008, the Falcons tied the series 2-2 with a 2-1 victory over the Panthers at Panther Field on September 27. Felix Darko scored the lone goal for ODU.
Against the Storm of Lake Erie, the Panthers currently have a 5-0 lead in the series. Their first meeting was in 2009 where the Panthers topped the Storm 2-0 on August 28. In 2010, ODU made a 2-0 sweep of the Storm, winning 2-1 on Panther field on September 19 and again on October 24 in Painesville 3-1. Last season, once again the Black and Gold swept the Storm 2-0.
Contact: Sarah Twiggs
twiggss@ohiodominican.edu
