Northwood (3-1-1, 3-1)

Ashland sophomore forward Adam Mitchell waited a long time to score his first collegiate goal, but he won’t mind after what happened Sept. 21 in a 2-1 win over Northwood.

The native of Brighton, England, who was deemed ineligible all of last season, scored the game-winning goal with less than three minutes remaining in double overtime to knock off the Timberwolves. He also had the assist on the Eagles’ first goal.

“As soon as I hit it, I knew it was going in,” Mitchell said. “I mean, that’s my worst game by far out of all the games, but I got the assist, got the goal, so that’s what matters.”

Northwood, who was previously unbeaten and on top of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference standings, took the lead less than five minutes into the match when Sam Nair received a through ball from Jack Smith and blasted a shot past Eagles junior goalkeeper Justin Nolan.

Ashland, coming off its first loss of the season to No. 20 Saginaw Valley State, showed resolve, grabbing an equalizer in the 31st minute.

“Your fear is this,” Ashland head coach Jon Freeman said. “Good teams are going to score on you, and it’s how you react. We reacted very well.”

Senior midfielder Andrew Over dribbled past a defender and played a ball to Mitchell down the right side, just outside the penalty area. Mitchell then launched a cross into the box that found the head of sophomore midfielder Buster Meaney.

“I stepped back and just tried to nod it in the corner,” Meaney said. “It wasn’t a powerful header; I was just trying to place it in the corner.”

It was Meaney’s first goal of the season, and it leveled the score at one goal apiece.

The last 60 minutes of regulation did not include any goals, but they were far from boring.

The Eagles held a slim 10-9 advantage in shots through 90 minutes and wound up outshooting the Timberwolves 14-12 overall.

Nolan was particularly active, making six saves.

In the 41st minute, he dove to his left to deny the ‘Wolves’ Mitchell Brent, who had gotten in behind the Eagles’ defense.

“Luckily, he was out far enough and it was enough of a contested shot that I don’t think he got it out as wide as he wanted to,” Nolan said.

Despite all of the chances, it looked like both teams were going to have to settle for a draw.

All it took was one swing from the right leg of Mitchell to change that, as he smashed Over’s cross from the right wing across his body and into the left side of the goal.

“I was just waiting for it,” Mitchell said. “I knew exactly what Over was going to do with it. We do it every day in practice, so I just tried to get a foot on it and guide it back post.”

The volley sent Ashland’s bench storming out onto the field, where they hopped on top of Mitchell in a pile of sheer exaltation.

“Huge,” Freeman said, stressing the importance of the victory. “Huge. It’s just such a confidence boost.”

Findlay (3-4-0, 1-4-0)

Ashland looked to continue its momentum Sunday when Findlay came to Ferguson Field. The Eagles and Oilers each created an abundance of chances, firing a total of 40 shots.

The only shots that mattered came off the boots of AU players, as the Eagles took a 3-0 victory to cap a successful weekend.

Senior defender Mitch Deyhle scored twice and Mitchell added a second goal to his season tally.

“The name of the game is putting the ball in the back of the net,” Freeman said. “We did that today, and, fortunately for us, they did not.”

Mitchell scored first, getting on the end of a cross from freshman midfielder Mitch Griffiths in the 16th minute.

Griffiths used his quick feet to get around a defender along the end line on the left wing.

He played the ball in low to Mitchell, whose shot went off the fingertips of Oilers goalkeeper Matthew Brooks on its way into the right corner of the goal.

Findlay—who had a header go off the post in the ninth minute—had a chance to equalize in the 23rd minute, but Mark Sleasman’s shot that was directed towards the top right corner was denied by a diving Nolan.

Nolan made 10 saves to secure his first clean sheet of the season.

“He had a few easy ones and he made a few tough ones as well,” Freeman said. “At the same token, we’ve got to do a better job of limiting opportunities.”

Deyhle put the Eagles up 2-0 in the 40th minute, when a shot by graduate student Guilherme Karaoglan ricocheted off Brooks to Deyhle, who was standing eight yards from the left post. After his first shot from the same spot earlier in the match went sailing over the crossbar, he calmly slotted his second attempt underneath the keeper.

“I sent the first one over the bar,” Deyhle said. “I couldn’t afford to miss the second one.”

His second goal came on a free kick just outside the penalty area in the 75th minute. He struck the ball with his left foot around a wall of defenders and into the top left corner of the goal.

“It looked like the wall was set up for a right-footer, but (Freeman) was calling for me to hit it so I did what I was told.”

Deyhle put four shots on goal for the Eagles, who held a 10-6 advantage in that area.

Mitchell struck on frame twice before he was subbed off with a hamstring injury, and freshman Dario Barthley forced Findlay goalkeeper Alex Jurek to make a fingertip save that went off the crossbar in the 90th minute.

At Lake Erie (2-7, 1-5)

The Eagles won their third match in a row when they defeated Lake Erie 2-0 Friday night. Guilherme assisted on both of the goals, which came in the second half.

Freshman forward Eric Ashley found the breakthrough in the 47th minute when Guilherme found him running down the middle of the pitch. He finished from about five yards out.

The goal was Ashley’s first of his college career.

Senior defender Jamie Dollar had the second goal in the 63rd minute.

The Storm outshot the Eagles 18-13, including a 12-11 advantage in the second half, but AU put seven of their shots on target compared to just three for Lake Erie.

Nolan made three saves to complete his second clean sheet in a row.

Notre Dame College (7-2, 5-2)

The Eagles came into Sunday’s match against Notre Dame College playing some of their best soccer, but they were also pretty banged up. Mitchell, Meaney and sophomore defender Max Rhoda were all missing from the lineup.

It might not have mattered, as the Falcons jumped out to a 2-0 lead and outshot AU 23-4 on the way to a 2-1 victory to regain the top spot in the conference.

“Hats off to Notre Dame,” Freeman said. “I thought they played a very good game, a professional game and they got the result.”

Coming off of a tough 3-2 loss at Saginaw Valley State on Friday, NDC looked hungry from the start.

Tom Owens had an assist and a goal for the Falcons and was an absolute terror for Ashland’s defense all afternoon.

Ashland’s best opportunity to score was in the ninth minute. Graduate student Keiichi Nguyen flicked a cleared ball from the midfield to Guilherme, who headed it to Ashley about 25 yards from goal.

Ashley held up play just long enough to find Guilherme on a run into the box, but Guilherme’s shot went straight to the keeper.

Notre Dame’s first goal came just before halftime. Owens’s free kick fell to the head of Jacob Sheppard, who slotted it past Nolan.

“It wasn’t a real clean header, but the ball ended up in a nice place for him,” Freeman said.

The Falcons held the majority of possession and created numerous quality chances. Six minutes into the second half, Nolan was forced to make a diving save on a shot by Renan Troccoli, and in the 59th minute Owens had a free kick rattle the post.

A little over a minute later, NDC received another free kick a few yards outside the penalty area and Owens corrected the error, sending a left-footed screamer over Ashland’s wall and into the top left corner of the goal.

“It’s two set pieces that they killed us on,” Freeman said. “You don’t give away those free kicks, and what’s going to happen? You don’t know.”

The Eagles looked more positive going forward after the second goal.

Freeman moved Deyhle up from left back to the midfield, a change that was rewarded in the 85th minute when Deyhle’s cross from the left wing was headed into the back of the net by Sheppard for an own goal.

Notre Dame kept the ball in AU’s half for much of the last five minutes to deny the Eagles any real chances to equalize.

“It’s just frustrating,” Freeman said. “I don’t like losing, I know the team doesn’t like losing. We’ve got to take what we can from the game, learn from some of the mistakes and at the same time try to be positive tomorrow.”

Notre Dame held a 3-2 advantage in corner kicks and committed 15 fouls to Ashland’s 17. The Falcons’ Erik Beattie (12’) and Dollar (83’) received yellow cards.

The loss dropped the Eagles’ record to 5-2 in the conference and 6-2-1 overall. Ashland currently sits atop the GLIAC North Division standings and is tied atop the overall standings with Notre Dame and Ohio Dominican.

In the latest Midwest Region Rankings—which determine who makes the NCAA tournament—the Eagles remained sixth, one place behind NDC.

The road doesn’t get any easier for the Eagles, who take on nationally-ranked No. 2 Gannon (9-0) 7 p.m. tonight at Ferguson Field before heading to Walsh (2-7, 2-5) on Sunday.