Junior midfielder Max Moller beats his defender during a match against IPFW Aug. 20, at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. OSU won, 2-0.
Credit: Shelby Lum / Photo editor
The Ohio State men’s soccer team begins a stretch of four straight in-state matchups with a trip to Bowling Green, Ohio, to take on the Falcons.
Coach John Bluem said he looks forward to the challenges of the matchups against Ohio teams.
“These are hard games, these Ohio games,” Bluem said. “They’re rivalry games in a sense that, kind of, everybody likes to play Ohio State.”
OSU is coming off a win against Southern Methodist University in the Holiday Inn City Center Golden Hurricane Classic, and a 4-1 defeat at the hands of then-No.22 Tulsa last weekend. Sophomore midfielder Zach Mason says the loss was a reality check.
“I think it made us re-evaluate what we were doing as players, to come together a bit,” Mason said. “I think we showed that on Sunday.”
Over the weekend, freshman midfielder Christian Soldat and senior midfielder Denio Leone scored their first goals.
Soldat said he didn’t think about the fact that it was his first score of the year.
“It didn’t really hit me at first,” Soldat said. “I was more worried about getting the ball back so we can try and get another goal.”
When asked about the pressure of scoring more, Soldat said it should not be a problem.
“The first one is always the hardest in the season,” Soldat said. “Once you get that out of the way, it’s smooth sailing.”
Mason and Leone were named to the All-Tournament team from the Hurricane Classic.
Bowling Green State comes into the match with a 1-2-1 record. The Falcons’ last three matches were against ranked opponents, including a 1-1 draw with then-No. 14 Michigan.
BGSU returns 14 letter winners and introduces nine newcomers to the team. Two returning players, junior midfielder Danny Baraldi and senior forward Anthony Grant, made the All-Mid-American Conference first team in 2012.
The match kicks off Friday at 7 p.m. at Cochrane Field.
