The Shutout Train (ONU vs Hanover)

    Last Saturday, Sept. 17 Ohio Northern Men's Soccer played their sixth nonconference game of the year. They were on the road at Hanover College for only their second away game of the season. In 2021 these two teams played and Hanover won 1-0, so the Polar Bears were once again ready for another tough fight. 

    Coming into the game ONU knew Hanover was going to be a tough matchup, but there was one other factor the ONU team had to overcome. This factor was Hanover's bumpy grass field. To prepare for this different playing surface, ONU practiced on their own grass field for 2 days prior to the game. During the game, the players could feel the difference and it showed in the game. Although ONU had the majority of the possession throughout the game, they still couldn't play as comfortably as they would like. This made it hard for them to score in the regular run of play, and it took a freekick late in the first half to break the deadlock and put them up 1-0. After that, there wasn't much more action before halftime. Following halftime, the ONU team came out with very low energy. This gave Hanover the chance to put a little pressure on ONU, but thanks to some great defending they weren't able to take advantage. ONU then got settled back in and finished the game out pretty comfortably, eventually getting a second goal to put them up 2-0. The game ended this way and thanks to another gutsy defensive performance the team got their third shutout win in a row. They hope to bring this shutout train along when playing Rose-Hulman and Carnegie Mellon this weekend. ONU is excited for another soccer-filled weekend back at the home field.

    Go Bears!