2019 Ashland Preview

The Ashland University men’s soccer team comes into this season riding high after a GLIAC Tournament title and a berth in the NCAA postseason in 2018. It was just their third season under head coach Oliver Slawson after a three-year hiatus from 2013-15. The Eagles went 6-2-2 in their last 10 games, including a 4-3 overtime loss to Saginaw Valley in the NCAA Tournament. They earned that spot in the postseason with a magical run through the conference tournament in which they beat Purdue Northwest on the road, 1-0, came back from 2-0 down to beat Parkside, 3-2, in overtime, and blanked Northwood in the final, 3-0.

The Eagles bring back almost the entirety of the roster that made that run in the playoffs, including the GLIAC’s leading scorer, junior Justin Libertowski. He posted 13 goals to his account last season, tied for fifth-most in program history. He scored nine goals in his last 11 games, including two in the NCAA Tournament defeat to SVSU.

Also returning are a pair of All-GLIAC second team standouts, junior defender Fred Francis and senior midfielder John Duldner. All-GLIAC honorable mention selection, senior Jordan Dees is also back in the midfield ranks.

Ashland will look to continue its overwhelming front line play after scoring 22 goals in the final 10 games last season. The Eagles also hope to seem improvement limiting goals and increasing their number of clean sheets from five last season.