ASHLAND, Ohio – It didn't take long for the AU men's soccer team to put away Northwood in Thursday (Nov. 4) night's GLIAC Men's Soccer Tournament semifinal. Ashland scored four times in the first 24:11 on its way to a 5-1 rout of the Timberwolves.
With the win, the Eagles will play Ohio Dominican in the GLIAC Championship game on Saturday (Nov. 6) at 6 p.m. The Panthers beat Tiffin in Thursday's first semifinal, 4-1.
"We had to have a high energy and a high tempo and we did just that," said junior midfielder Kenny Hewitt (Brighton, England/Edgehill). "We were rewarded for it."
Hewitt opened the scoring with a perfectly placed free kick from 22 yards into the near post that drove past keeper Matt Renouf.
"I had one in the same position in training (Wednesday) and Justin (Nolan) (Medina, Ohio/Highland) made a world-class save, which put me in a bad mood so I had to put it right today," Hewitt said.
Just 47 seconds later, sophomore defender Mitch Deyhle (Cincinnati, Ohio/La Salle) found the head sophomore midfielder Danny Lusheck (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) with a cross which Lusheck finished for his third goal of the season.
Scoring that second goal so quickly was one of the keys for Ashland head coach Jon Freeman.
"It was very good for our confidence and it sort of put the dagger in their heart," he said. "It takes a little bit of wind out of their sails, because after you get a goal scored on you, you want to come out with a little bit of vinegar, a little bit of spirit and fire. I think we snuffed it out and banged out another couple. But they fought back and banged one in too."
Freshman forward Louis Clark (Brighton, England/Hove Park) scored 10 minutes later off a feed from Lusheck, who tallied his third assist of the season.
In the 25th minute, Hewitt scored what might turn out to be the highlight goal of the season. The ball was played to the end line on the left side by Clark. Hewitt ran on to it and buried it into the far side wall of the net for his fifth goal of the year. The angle on the shot was nearly impossible.
"It was a cross. If I told you how it went in, everyone would be trying it," Hewitt said, laughing. "You just hit it hard across goal as best you can. If it goes in, it goes in. It's more of a cross, but you put in there it could come off a defender, off a head. I just got lucky, but I'll take it."
The Timberwolves fought back at that point, getting a goal from Chen Tzfania with the assist coming from Mike Carroll in the 39th minute.
AU carried the 4-1 tally into the intermission before Clark delivered his 15th goal of the season on a ground shot past Northwood keeper William Eberhardt. Livingston fed Clark a great ball over the top of the defense from the top of the penalty area and Clark finished the opportunity.
"We've had a couple games, like the Urbana game (a 1-0 double overtime win for AU), where we've had shot after shot, but struggled putting them in," Lusheck said. "Tonight we did a much better job of taking advantage of our chances."
The Eagles now have a stern test awaiting as Ohio Dominican comes in on roll, having beaten Tiffin on Thursday and knocking off Northwood, 3-0, on Sunday (Oct. 31). The top-seeded Eagles have never won the three-year-old GLIAC Tournament, despite being regular season champs in the last three years.
"These guys made a point at the beginning of the year that winning the conference tournament was going to be a big deal," Freeman said. "There's a little more focus, a little more sharpness."
Said Hewitt: "It's a hunger to set the record straight. We're not comfortable with just being regular season champs. We want them both and we want to say we're outright winners."
AU lost to Tiffin in the conference final last season, 2-1 in overtime. In 2008, Ashland lost, 4-2, in the semifinal to Saginaw Valley State when the Eagles last hosted. Now they will have the opportunity to win the tournament on Saturday (Nov. 6) at 6 p.m. at Ferguson Field.
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