Slippery Rock Tournament

The men’s soccer team began its season by going unbeaten at the Slippery Rock Tournament Aug. 31 and Sept. 2.

Senior defender Jamie Dollar scored both of the Eagles’ goals in a 1-1 draw with Slippery Rock (0-0-1) and a 1-0 victory over Mercyhurst (0-2-0).

It was freshman goalkeeper Evan Bader who stole the show, however, stepping in for redshirt junior Justin Nolan and senior Kurt Innes, who were both out due to injury. Bader made 15 saves, including one on a Mercyhurst penalty kick to preserve the lead.

“He stepped up big time,” Ashland head coach Jon Freeman said.

Had Bader gotten injured, Freeman had no viable backup plan.

“I was looking down the bench and I’m going, ‘Wow,’” he said. “You really don’t know what you’re going to do and I think I would have just given the gloves to whoever wanted it.”

Against Slippery Rock, the Eagles gave up a free kick a few yards outside the box on the right side in the 21st minute. The Rock’s Joshua Gray took the kick and bent it with his right foot around Ashland’s wall and past Bader to make it 1-0.

In the 37th minute, junior graduate student Guilherme Karaoglan received a yellow card under controversial circumstances.

“He got elbowed twice,” Freeman said. “On the second elbow, the guy got off balance and fell and (Guilherme) picked up the card.”

Seven minutes into the second half, Guilherme received a second yellow and was sent off, this time for a deserved offense.

“At the end of the day, we need to be smarter when we’re carrying cards and make sure we don’t make the same mistake again,” Freeman said.

That left AU to play a man down for the remainder of the match.

The Eagles did not miss a beat, and finally equalized in the 76th minute when they forced the referee to make yet another impact on the match.

Junior graduate student Keiichi Nguyen received the ball on the right side of the pitch and got by his defender inside the box before being brought down. A penalty kick was given, and Dollar coolly put it past the keeper.

Ashland held onto the draw despite being outshot 20-14 overall and 6-2 in extra time. Bader made eight saves.

In the Mercyhurst match, the Eagles were able to overcome a 7-2 disadvantage in shots in the first half and grab a late goal in the second half to escape with a 1-0 victory.

Bader was fantastic in goal again, making seven saves to earn the first clean sheet of his college career.

Dollar made the breakthrough in the 69th minute on a wild play off of a corner kick.

Senior defender Mitch Deyhle sent the ball into the box, where it was knocked down to the feet of Nguyen. Nguyen’s shot was blocked, giving freshman midfielder Mitch Griffiths a chance to fire. His shot was also deflected, this time to Dollar, who put it in the back of the net to give AU the lead.

Less than five minutes later, Mercyhurst was awarded a penalty when one of their players was tackled inside the box.

Bader turned the penalty shot away.

“It’s huge when a keeper does that… It just gives you a rush, and that allowed our team to get the result,” Freeman said.

Bader also made a save in the final minute to ensure the Eagles their first win of the season. Freeman was pleased with the result, but felt his team could have played a little better after grabbing the lead.

“I don’t think we played our best soccer in that moment,” he said. “We were playing not to lose, not to make mistakes, and I think if we would have settled down and just played we probably would have picked up another goal.”

Ashland finished the match with eight shots to Mercyhurst’s 14, but held a 7-3 advantage in corner kicks.

Tiffin (1-1-1)

Last year when Ashland went into the second half of a scoreless match against bitter rival Tiffin at home, the Eagles hunkered down and kept it that way. This year, they got an even better result.

Dollar (67th minute) and Griffiths (83’) each scored second half goals in a 2-1 victory in the first Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match for both teams.

The first half saw both the Eagles and the Dragons have a fair share of the ball, but no goals. Tiffin held a slim 4-2 advantage in shots at the break, and Freeman knew his team would have to make adjustments in order to break down TU’s defense.

“I think we could have done a bit better in attacking out wide,” he said. “I think we started to make that adjustment ourselves on the field in the first half, and I just sort of encouraged them to do it a bit more.”

The breakthrough came when Guilherme flicked a pass on to Mitchell, who took it and streaked past two defenders on his way towards the goal.

“I was gonna go and lob the keeper, but then I saw that he was absolutely steaming out so I went and put it under him,” Mitchell said. “He just absolutely clattered me.”

Mitchell’s shot went wide, but a penalty was given. For the second time this season, Dollar converted to give AU the lead.

“Trust him,” Mitchell said. “I always trust him with the finish.”

Unlike the end of the Mercyhurst game, the Eagles continued to push forward with the lead for the final 23 minutes. Griffiths was instrumental in the attack, swinging in several crosses from the left wing and taking on Tiffin’s right back the entire second half.

“We saw a weakness that we felt like he could exploit and he did a good job of it,” Freeman said.

His hard work was rewarded with just over seven minutes remaining.

Mitchell – who had five shots, three on goal – beat his defender near the end line on the right edge of the penalty area and swung in a low cross. It deflected to Griffiths, who was unmarked.

“I was just trying to get anything that could go on goal and possibly go in,” Griffiths said. “Thankfully it did.”

With so little time remaining, the second goal may have caused the Eagles to let off the gas a little. Tiffin’s Karl Jones made the pressure pay with a beautiful strike from just outside the penalty area.

Jones, who was really the Dragons’ only threat all afternoon – seven shots, three on target – found himself unmarked and unleashed a shot with his right foot that zipped right past an outstretched Nolan.

“We just had a complete mental breakdown,” Freeman said. “Nobody stepped to apply pressure, and Karl Jones punished us. Fair play to him, because it was a great finish.”

Nolan made four saves, including a sliding feet-first stop in a one-on-one with Jones and a diving save on a curling free kick by TU’s Jon O’Brien.

As always when these two teams get together, there were several cards handed out.

Four AU players were carded to TU’s one, including a third booking in three games for Guilherme, who lashed out with his foot on a downed Dragon in the third minute. Griffiths, Dollar and sophomore defender Max Rhoda were also carded—Dollar for doing a back flip after scoring his goal—but no players were sent off.

“That’s going to happen in a game like this,” Freeman said. “You’re gonna have some guys battling back and forth and kicking one another.”

Both teams finished with 11 shots, Tiffin holding an 8-4 edge in corner kicks. TU committed 22 fouls while AU was whistled 17 times.

The win puts Ashland into a tie for first place in the GLIAC North Division with Findlay and Northwood.

The Eagles host Malone tomorrow and travel to take on preseason favorite Saginaw Valley State Sunday.