The men’s soccer team had a rough week, losing all three of their games including two GLIAC contests. The Eagles scored just one goal while allowing seven. Ashland, previously ranked No. 18 in Division II, dropped to 2-4-1 (1-2-1 GLIAC) and fell out of the rankings.

Lake Erie (2-1-1, 1-0-1 GLIAC)

The Lake Erie Storm rolled into town and ravaged Ferguson Field on Wednesday, beating the Eagles 2-0 to hand them their first GLIAC loss of the season. The Eagles had the better of the play for much of the game, but were unable to make the pressure pay.

The two teams played 27 scoreless minutes before a defensive blunder by the Eagles at midfield led to the Storm’s first goal of the game.

“Jamie (Dollar), who’s usually fantastic at reading the flight of the ball, just got caught out a little bit and it bounced by him,” Eagles’ Head Coach Jon Freeman said.

Nathan Bias got on the end of the misjudged ball and raced down the center of the pitch on a three-on-two break. Bias laid the ball off to Jake Shelton, who was streaking down the left side of the field. From there, Shelton beat one AU defender before finishing into the right side of the goal to give the Storm the lead.

Lake Erie held a 1-0 advantage into the second half, at which point Ashland started to press for an equalizing goal. This led to more chances for the Eagles but also opened them up to a Lake Erie counterattack. The Storm nearly scored, pushing a shot wide, in the 72nd minute before putting the game away a minute later off of a corner kick.

Nathan Bias got his second assist of the game after his corner kick bounced around in the box and was corralled by Danny Eborall at the far right post. Several AU defenders had a chance at clearing the ball but were unable to.

“Too many guys just dove in,” Freeman said. “You’ve got to be better, you’ve got to stand a player up, and if we do, to be fair, I think the game’s different. The name of the game is putting the ball in the back of the net. They had eight shots, we had 11; they put two in, we didn’t.”

At Ohio Dominican (1-1, 0-0 GLIAC)

Colby Catlett scored his second goal of the game for the Ohio Dominican Panthers in the 61st minute to defeat Ashland on Friday night. Catlett unleashed a shot from 23 yards out on the left wing that found the far side of the net to give the Panthers a 2-1 victory.

Catlett’s first goal came early, in the 3rd minute, on a similar shot from 17 yards out.

Ashland found an equalizer in the 11th minute from a corner kick. Freshman Patrick Pearson swung in a cross that found the head of senior forward Andrew Iden. Iden’s header found the back of the net and tied the game. It was his first goal of the season.

After Iden’s goal play opened up a bit and both teams were able to create scoring chances. The Panthers had 11 first half shots to the Eagles’ seven, but the score remained tied going into halftime.

The second half was a different story. ODU controlled play for the majority of the half and created scoring opportunities throughout.

“They controlled the majority of the half,” Freeman said. “We didn’t match their intensity all over the field at the kickoff and paid for it.”

Junior defender Jamie Dollar took a knock early in the second half and had to leave the game. He would later return, but not before Catlett was able to score the game-winner.

At Walsh (3-1)

Ashland headed to Walsh on Sunday looking to bounce back after two crushing defeats in GLIAC action. For the third game in a row the Eagles were unable to finish in front of goal and were beaten 3-0 by the Cavaliers.

The Eagles employed a formation that included three attacking forwards that was meant to give them more scoring opportunities on a slow playing field. Junior defender Jamie Dollar missed the game due to injury suffered in Friday’s game.

Ben Traux scored two goals for the Cavaliers in the 13th and 82nd minutes and Juan Amaya put the game way for good in the 88th minute. The last two goals came with Ashland pressing forward to try and pull themselves back into the game.

Junior goalkeeper Justin Nolan had six saves for the Eagles.

Although the losses were gutting for a team that had high hopes coming into the season, Freeman is not ready to throw the towel in just yet.

“The season is not over and there are many games to play,” he said. “It ain’t over til’ it’s over. I am not quitting and I know that our players will not quit either. We have some very good players, but having talent is only part of being successful. You have to exercise that talent and put it into practice. We have to be more blue collar. The games are going to be dog fights and we need to be the bigger, badder dog on the day.”

The Eagles will certainly have a couple of dog fights on their hands this weekend if they want to get results in their matches this weekend. They will travel to take on Gannon (3-3) on Friday before heading to No. 6 Mercyhurst (5-0) on Sunday.