Category: Sports

Philippe Chauveau

Transcript Reporter

As the Battling Bishops and the Ohio Northern Polar Bears took the field at the Jay Martin Soccer Complex Saturday night, both teams were looking to improve their current .500 records.

Ohio Northern’s offense, led by senior forward Sandra Thorarensen’s hat-trick, proved successful in beating the Bishops.

Looking to bounce back from a loss on Wednesday, the Bishops were looking forward to a victory in this game. From the first whistle however, ONU controlled the game, and in the first 15 minutes they racked up six shots and a corner.

Most of the offensive rhythm came from Junior forwards Kristina Klusek and Sami Atkinson, but Thorarensen would take over later in the game.

With 30 minutes in the clock, OWU recorded their first shot. Junior forward Lindsay Reed and junior midfielder Elizabeth D’Amelio hit shots on frame and the ONU goalie had to make the saves. Besides that rare offensive moment, the Bishops just kept trying to defend themselves against the well-balanced Polar Bear attack.

ONU’s insistence finally paid off, as a shot by Atkinson was deflected by senior goalkeeper Hannah Zacharias, only to be found by a flashing Thorarensen. It was her first goal of the night.

OWU had a couple of more shots with sophomore midfielder Danielle Kaylor, but to no avail. Seven minutes later, the Polar Bears scored again. It was Thorarensen’s second goal, as she followed through on a low cross from the right side.

WIth 15 minutes left in the first half, the Bishops had failed to connect with their forwards, and the defense was getting tired of chasing the tricky ONU attackers around.

Zacharias made another save before the end of the period, and a couple others went wide. The Polar Bears outshot the Bishops by 14 at the half, and the score was 2 – 0.

Less than five minutes into the first half, the Polar Bears scored their third goal.

Sophomore midfielder Claire shored the Bishops only goal of the game, leaving the score 3-1.

With eight minutes left on the clock, Thorarensen completed her hat-trick by once again being in prime position in the box. She finished off another low cross, and Ohio Northern was up 4-1.

Despite some Bishop pressure in the final minutes of the game, ONU left Delaware with a win.

By Taylor Smith

The Ohio Wesleyan men’s soccer team returns nine of 11 starters and is off to a strong beginning while looking to improve on last season’s early exit in the NCAA tournament.

Head coach Jay Martin returns for his 37th season with the team, recording a 4-0 record to start this season. Two of those wins came Friday and Saturday, when the Battling Bishops hosted the Adidas Invitational at the Jay Martin Soccer Complex.

The Bishops defeated the Christopher Newport University Captains 3-2 in double overtime Friday. On Saturday they beat the Colorado College Tigers in a 6-2 rout.

The Bishops, who are ranked 10th nationally, entered halftime Friday night with a 0-0 tie despite outshooting the Captains 13-2 in the period.

CNU forward Jalon Brown put the Captains on the board first with an unassisted shot from the middle in the 53rd minute. OWU tied the game 10 minutes later with a header by sophomore midfielder Lonnie Barnes off a corner from senior midfielder Matt Shadoan.

Junior Colton Bloecher scored in the 70th minute to put the Bishops up 2-1, but CNU’s Keith Phelps tied the game 13 minutes later with a chip shot over OWU keeper junior Colin Beemiller.

After regulation ended in a draw, the teams played 18 minutes of sudden death overtime until junior back Drew Pang tapped in a goal off a corner kick from Shadoan.

After lifting his team 3-2 over CNU in double overtime, Pang said the experience was great as the team still looks to improve.

“I feel great; it’s my first (college) goal,” he said. “It’s more important that we got the win and rest up for tomorrow… (We) have high expectations so we’re just looking to get better.”

Senior back and team captain Jacob Eganhouse said the team needs to concentrate and command control of the game sooner than they did.

“We have to focus on one game at a time,” he said. “I think tonight (in the CNU game) we came out a little slow and waited for the game to come to us rather than take it, so tomorrow we have to refocus and start back from scratch, almost.”

On Saturday the Bishops once again entered halftime in a draw, with the score 2-2 this time after first half goals from Bloecher and sophomore midfielder Brian Schaefer.

OWU took the lead eight minutes into the second half with a side volley from 20 yards out by senior back Peter Jacobi into the top left corner of the Tigers’ goal.

The Bishops scored three more goals in the half including Bloecher’s second goal of the game in the 60th minute.

Martin, the winningest coach in college men’s soccer history with 625 wins, said he expects the team to win the conference championship and make a run in the NCAA tournament. But he said the team’s experience might not be enough.

“Yes, they’re experienced players and some of them are four-year starters and we have the best depth of any team I’ve ever had,” Martin said. “But we don’t have any leadership on the team. My expectations on the team are that we play much better than we did tonight (CNU game). I don’t even care about the outcome of the game; we didn’t play well. So I expect us to win the conference, I expect us to get into the NCAA tournament, I expect these guys to play a little better than they did tonight.”

Eganhouse agreed with Martin and said it’s great for the team to have amount of depth and experience this year’s team posses.

“We can play 20 guys on a night no problem, which is unlike other teams, so the depth and experience will definitely help against some of these teams that are a little more shallow,” Eganhouse said. “As the season goes on we’ll have more legs.”

Martin said Eganhouse is the leader in the back, but he is too far removed from the attacking players to make an impact on them and the team must get somebody to lead up top.

“You don’t have to be vocal, you don’t have to yell and scream, but you can lead by example and we don’t have anybody doing that,” he said.

One of the two players to graduate last year was four-year starter and three-time All-NCAC keeper Paul Hendricks. Junior Colin Beemiller has assumed the starting keeper position and is thriving, according to Martin.

“I’m very pleasantly surprised that Colin is Doing great,” Martin said. “We didn’t know how he would react since he sat behind Paul, didn’t get much time, but he’s doing really well.”

Beemiller said he is comfortable in the goal and owes most of that confidence to his teammates.

“It feels good, but I give a lot of credit to them (the team) because I was ready,” he said. “It wasn’t much of a step because I got in some scrimmages and stuff, got some playing time. It feels good to be the number one this year.”

As the Bishops continue their season, Eganhouse said the team has plenty of enthusiasm and incentive stemming from last year’s loss to Centre College in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

“It was definitely too early for us to get out of the tournament, earliest it’s been in a long time,” he said. “It was motivation for the off-season; we worked hard and the new guys coming in know what our expectations are already. It’s fuel for the fire.”

Eganhouse said the proof of their hard work is in their first four wins.

Beemiller said everyone was dissatisfied with how last year’s season ended and the team now has even more to prove this season.

“I feel we reacted nicely; we were all pretty disappointed,” he said. “I don’t think any of us thought we should go out that early, and this year we’re trying to make a statement and definitely go deeper (into the NCAA tournament).”

By Jamell Brown-Smith

Ohio Wesleyan’s chapter of Athletes in Action (AIA) has resumed meetings after a summer hiatus.

Founded in 1966, the primary focus of the organization is empowering athletes to spread the word of Christ through sportsmanship and general good will. Each meeting features a devotional ceremony where members share stories about the influence of God in their lives and how sports played some role in that experience. There are also Bible study sessions students can attend.

Junior Samantha Brooke said AIA’s atmosphere helps her relieve stress and that she would recommend the club to anyone looking to do the same.

“The general idea is to focus on what we can do to show Christ through our sportsmanship, but everyone is welcome,” she said.

Junior Alicia Brown was hesitant to attend a meeting, as the group is not technically associated with the university; but said she thought everyone was “super welcoming.”

OWU’s chapter meets at Donato’s Pizza on Sandusky every Monday at 8:30 p.m. AIA Director Matt Kuchers attends and directs all organizational activities and can be approached at any meeting with questions about membership.

By Jacob Beach
Transcript Reporter

The Ohio Wesleyan women’s tennis team recorded their third win of the season on Thursday April 18 against the Student Princes of Heidelberg University.
The victory capped off a week of two home losses—one against conference rival Wittenberg on Tuesday, and the other against the Baldwin-Wallace Yellow Jackets on Friday.
Facing Wittenberg in the early part of the last week proved to be a challenge for the Bishops. However, the team showed much improvement against the conference rival compared to last season’s competition.
The Tigers won the match, taking four of the six victories in singles competition and one of three doubles matches, totaling a 5 to 4 victory for the Tigers.
Sophomores Whitney Lonnemann and Ellie Magner partnered up in doubles to defeat their Wittenberg opponents 8-5.

Freshmen Meghan Gutherie partnered with Magner to capture the victory in first doubles 8-1. On the singles side of competition against the Tigers, both Lonnemann and Magner took the only two victories in singles play, both in two sets. At number-3 singles, Lonneman defeated Wittenberg’s Kaitlin Payne 6-1 and 6-0. Magner, playing at 4 singles versus Wittenberg won 7-5 and 6-0. The team’s only victory last week came Thursday against the Student Princes of Heidelberg. The singles competition was fierce—the teams split one through six singles 3-3, with the victories coming from sophomore Alexandra Webb at number-one singles, Lonnemann at number-three and Magner at the four singles slot.

The pair of Guthrie and Webb took number-one doubles alongside their teammates Lonnemann and Magner at the number-two doubles spot, solidifying their victory over the Student Princes.

Last Friday the team capped off their week at home with a match against Baldwin-Wallace.

Lonneman had the only singles victory against the Yellow Jackets and extended her individual win streak to a staggering six wins. The only doubles victory came from Gutherie and Webb, who combined to beat the number-one doubles pair from Baldwin-Wallace 8-6.

The team ended their regular season on April 23 against Central State and will begin North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) tournament play this weekend. With the victory over Wittenberg, the Bishops move to 3-14 in the regular season.

By Jimmy Sanzone
Transcript Correspondent

Ohio Wesleyan’s men’s lacrosse team overpowered DePauw University this past Wednesday, blowing by the Tigers for a 24-2 victory at Selby Field. The Bishops’ record improved to 9-4, while the Tigers fell to 0-10.

OWU started the game well on offense, scoring six goals by the 9:45 mark in the first quarter.

After two DePauw turnovers in a span of 25 seconds, senior midfielder Pat Bassett assisted junior attacker Casey Helms to give OWU a 7-0 lead just seven minutes into the game. By the time lightning caused a delay with 3:59 left in the first quarter, OWU held an 11-1 lead.

“One of our juniors, Spencer Schnell, really brought a lot of energy and the entire team fed off him,” OWU freshman defenseman Mike Knapp said. “We got off to a good start but we thought we should have taken better shots.”

Less than seven minutes into the second quarter, the Bishops extended the lead to 18. Freshman attacker George Rice, who scored two goals to give OWU a 19-1 lead, led the charge.

A six-minute scoring drought from both teams, which included three OWU turnovers, came to an end with 2:39 left in the first half when OWU sophomore attacker Edwin Foster scored off sophomore Tommy Minkler’s assist.

The duo repeated the same actions just minutes later, again scoring giving OWU a 21-1 lead going into halftime.

The beginning of the third quarter showed more of the same from the Bishops, who quickly scored twice by the 14:04 mark to gain a comfortable 23-1 lead over the Tigers.

DePauw midfielder Michael Strader was the sole bright spot for the Tigers, scoring for the second time with 8:37 left to play in the third quarter. This was the final goal the Tigers scored.

After much stagnant play from both teams, play was stopped again for almost three hours due to more intense lightning. The players kept themselves entertained during the wait.

“We had some music playing and we were dancing around, just bonding as a team,” OWU sophomore midfielder Nico Pariambada said. “Some guys were out in the tunnel playing wall ball keeping their stick loose, as well.”

After almost three hours, play resumed with undesirable weather. Just three minutes into the fourth quarter, the game was called after another lightning sighting.

One of the keys to the game for the Bishops was time of possession. OWU dominated the ball for the entire game with a combination of smart passes on offense and good energy on defense.

“Our offense did a great job controlling and possessing the ball so when it came to our side of the field we had plenty of energy to play great fundamental defense,” Knapp said.

Senior Colin Short, Foster, Minkler and Schnell each tallied three goals by the time the game was called. Senior Jaime Vavrek collected four assists for the Bishops.

By Hugh Kerins
Transcript Correspondent

Ohio Wesleyan’s Bishops baseball team started off slow in conference play against DePauw and gained momentum by beating Denison, but then showed lack of experience down the stretch.

On April 6 and 7 the Bishops traveled to Greencastle, Ind., to face conference opponent DePauw for a weekend series.

The Bishops started out strong, taking the first game 8-3.

During the game senior Ben Steele came up with three RBI’s and a home run. Other big contributors were junior Sean Vollenweider, freshmen Steven Moore and Taylor Hutchinson, who each had two hits and an RBI.
After the first game, the tide turned quickly—DePauw beat the Bishops in the next three games 3-9, 3-4 and 8-10, respectively.

In the last two games on April 7, the Bishops made late comebacks, but fell short at the end of both.
“Our team struggles to come out of the gates and jump on teams,” senior James Tolland said. “It is almost as if we need four innings to get warmed up or something, and by then it’s almost too late sometimes.”
Standouts in the two losses were Vollenweider, who collected a total of five hits along with three RBI’s; first baseman Toland collected five hits.

Steele said he thinks the team will improve despite its youth.

“… I believe we are really coming together as a team and fighting back in different games,” he said. “There has also been a great amount of hard work that helps us win games.”

The Bishops continued conference play the following weekend after having their game against Otterbein University canceled due to inclement weather.

With continuing conference play, the team came back from the tournament with a game against Denison at Littick Field. On April 13 the Bishops collected two big victories. The final scores were 11-0 and 5-2.
Vollenweider, Steele, Toland and sophomore J.J. Buckey drove in two runs apiece to power OWU over Denison in the opener of the double-header.

The Bishops broke the game open in the fourth inning, collecting seven hits and adding a pair of walks and a sacrifice fly along the way. Vollenweider’s two-run single capped the eight-run rally.

During the second game, Denison took an early lead, but that would be it for the Big Red—sophomore pitcher Charles Cooper blanked the visitors on one hit over the next six-plus innings of action. The final score of the game was 5-2.

On the following day, April 14, Denison got its revenge with two solid victories against the Bishops, and showed no mercy in either outing. The Big Red beat OWU with final scores of 1-6 and 3-17.

“This is where we show our youth,” said sophomore Paul Priddy. “We are young and we’re still trying to get our legs under us. As a young team we have a lot of potential, and I think are really going to do great things as the year progresses.”

The Bishops continue play on April 17 at Capital University.