By Wes Mayberry
The No. 13 Ohio Northern men's soccer team celebrated Senior Night by securing the 2022 Ohio Athletic Conference Regular Season championship Saturday with a 3-0 win over Marietta at Kerscher Stadium.
This marks ONU's ninth OAC Regular Season title in program history and first since 2015.
The Polar Bears (13-2-3 overall, 8-0-1 OAC) completed the fourth unbeaten conference season in program history and will host an OAC Tournament semifinal game on Thursday at 4 p.m.
With Saturday's victory, Northern also extended its current win streak to seven games as part of a larger 15-game unbeaten streak that ranks second all-time to a 19-game streak from 2016.
Saturday's loss dropped the Pioneers to 5-10-3 overall and 3-6-0 in the OAC.
Fifth-year senior Levi King (Indianapolis, Ind./North Central) and sophomores Noah Zebrak (Cleveland/St. Ignatius) and Sam McKee (Mason) scored one goal each for ONU in the game.
King opened the scoring with a goal in the 19th minute courtesy of an assist from sophomore Ryan Parker (Lexington).
That goal capped an incredible stretch for King, who recorded at least one point in all nine of ONU's conference games this season.
He wasn't done, though, as he assisted Zebrak's goal in the 20th minute that put the Polar Bears up 2-0.
King closes the regular season with a team-best seven goals, seven assists and 21 points.
Northern took that 2-0 lead into halftime, and McKee capped the scoring with his goal in the 69th minute, which came on an assist from sophomore William Shaffer (Galena/St. Francis DeSales).
Senior Josh Ellis (Whitehouse/Anthony Wayne) played 80-plus minutes in goal for ONU and recorded one save while improving his season record to 7-2-2. He and sophomore Lucas Hickey (Conroe, Texas/Oak Ridge) secured the combined shutout.
Northern out-shot Marietta 21-6 in the game and finished with a 10-1 edge in corner kicks.
