After starting the season 2-8-2, the men’s soccer team has crawled their way back into the mix for a spot in the GLIAC tournament with three wins and a draw in their last four games. Ashland earned dramatic wins over Ohio Dominican and Urbana this past weekend. The Eagles scored five goals and gave up three. Senior Kenny Hewitt had two goals and two assists to lead the squad, which improved its record to 5-8-3 (3-5-2 GLIAC), leaving it just three points out of fourth place in the conference.

Ohio Dominican (6-5-3, 5-3-3 GLIAC)

Ashland took a 2-0 first half lead over the conference-leading ODU Panthers and held on to win 2-1 in their final game at home Thursday night. Junior defender Jamie Dollar scored both of the goals, both of them coming on headers from corner kicks by Hewitt.

If the weather man from “Family Guy” had been at Ferguson Field Thursday night he could have put his signature line to good use. “It’s rainin’ sideways” was the perfect way to describe the conditions that the Eagles and Panthers had to battle all night as the temperature dipped into the ‘40s.

“We were really excited for this type of weather,” Hewitt said. “We got into it from the warm-up, down in the changing room and stuff, and we knew that the team who handled the conditions on the night best would come out and win.”

Not only did Ashland handle the weather better than their opponents, they also used it to their advantage on both of their goals. The English winger Hewitt undoubtedly has plenty of experience with playing in bad weather, and he put it to good use in the Eagles’ win.

“In these types of conditions you’ve got to put it up there and sometimes you’ve got to let the wind dictate everything else,” he said.

Hewitt curled two corner kicks, one in the second minute and the other in the 24th, towards the goal, and each was headed in by Dollar. The goals were the third and fourth of the year for the junior defender, but it was the first time that he had scored since the second game of the year against Northern Kentucky (Sept. 4).

Even with a 2-0 lead, there was still a lot of soccer to be played. Neither team scored for the rest of the first half, after which both teams (along with the few fans who were brave enough to come to the game) went into the Troop Center to get warm.

Once play continued, the Eagles played conservatively in an effort to protect the lead.

“I thought we handled (the lead) well,” said Ashland head coach Jon Freeman. “We didn’t give up many shots, and we made it difficult for them to score.”

One of the few shots the Eagles did give up came on a 22-yard free kick in the 73rd minute. ODU’s Casey Weddle stepped up to take the kick, which sailed over the four-person wall and past the outstretched fingertips of AU junior goalkeeper Justin Nolan, hitting the right post and going in to cut the Eagles’ lead in half.

The Panthers threatened to tie the game several times in the final 16 minutes, but were unable to come up with anything to get past Nolan a second time. Ashland finished the game with 14 shot to ODU’s 6. The Eagles were ecstatic for the win over another team at the top of the GLIAC.

“It means a lot, especially for this senior class,” Freeman said. “The way the season’s gone, some results haven’t gone our way. At times we haven’t played our best soccer, and tonight we came out and we did. It’s a tribute to them.”

Urbana (6-8-1)

Kenny Hewitt scored an equalizer in the 74th minute and capped it off with the game-winner on a penalty kick in overtime to help Ashland beat Urbana 3-2 in non-conference action Sunday.

Sophomore defender Danny Lusheck put the Eagles on top after 28 minutes when he scored on loose ball in the box following a corner kick. Ashland took the advantage into halftime, piling up nine first half shots to the Blue Knights’ seven.

Urbana got even in the 51st minute when Ed Willoughby chipped a shot over the head of junior goalkeeper Kurt Innes. The Blue Knights took the lead 15 minutes later on a shot by Brandon Thompson.

Ashland used a little luck to pull even in the 74th minute on a corner kick by Hewitt. The senior curled his kick towards the near post, where it snuck past a cluster of humanity and over the line. Both teams created scoring chances in the final minutes of regulation, but they weren’t good enough to keep the game from going to overtime.

The teams played nearly seven minutes of overtime before the Blue Knights were called for a foul in the box and Hewitt stepped up and converted a penalty kick for the sudden-death victory.

Ashland has just two games remaining in the regular season, both on the road against Tiffin and Findlay this weekend. With wins in both of those games and some help from Lake Erie, the Eagles could earn a spot in the GLIAC tournament, which they won last year.