By Caleb Scott

The No. 8-ranked Ohio Northern men's soccer team used a strong first half effort to defeat Capital 4-0 on Wednesday evening and advance to the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament Championship on Saturday.

The Polar Bears improve to 17-1-3 overall, while the Crusaders fall to 14-4-2.

Northern advances to the OAC Tournament Championship game and will face No. 1-seeded John Carroll.

Senior Austin Horton (Lewis Center/Olentangy) scored two goals in the first four minutes of the contest to lead ONU offensively.

Just 2:43 into the contest, senior David Janusz (Oregonia/Lebanon) would play a low cross into the goalies box from the right wing and Horton would one touch it passed the keeper to make it 1-0.

Seconds later, senior Grant Allbritten (Warsaw, Ind./Warsaw Community) would play a long ball over the top and Horton was able to place it just out of the CU keepers reach to make it 2-0 in the fourth minute.

Northern would add to its lead just before the intermission as senior Matt Kinkopf (Hamilton/Cincinnati Christian) played a short cross into traffic and freshman Jimmy Walkinshaw (Plymouth, Mich./Canton) found the back of the net to give ONU a 3-0 lead at the half.

Capital would put pressure on Northern early on in the second half, but the Polar Bear defense proved to be too much for the Crusaders.

"I was really proud of the way we played defensively," said head coach Brent Ridenour. "Dean played great in the goal and to be able to shut out a team like this says a lot about our guys."

Senior Nathan Libertwoski (Medina/Medina) would seal the 4-0 victory in the 89th minute, as senior Anthony Clark (Amelia/Amelia) found Libertowski at the top on the box and Libertowksi scored from 10 yards out.

"Getting a win like this is very big for us," said Ridenour. "We are looking forward to playing a strong and competitive John Carroll team Saturday."

Northern won the shot battle by a 20-6 margin and edged Capital in corner kicks 7-5.

The Polar Bears will return to action Saturday at 7 pm as they travel to University Heights to take on the Blue Streaks at Don Shula Stadium.