Unfazed, the Panthers responded just under three minutes later as Andrew Edler (So./Hilliard, OH) played the ball over the top to Pat McGrath (Sr./Cincinnati, OH) who beat a defender and the goalkeeper to knot the score at 1-1.

The score remained all square into the break as Tiffin posted a slim 6-4 advantage on shots.

Despite the weather, ODU began to heat up to start the second half. Just over nine minutes into the half, AJ Mueller (Sr./Dublin, OH) played a long pass to Felix Darko (Jr./Reynoldburg, OH) who beat the keeper one-on-one on the right side from  10 yards deep for his team-leading eighth score of the season and giving the Panthers their first lead of the night.   

In the 62nd minute, McGrath added his second score of the game and fifth of the season, heading in a perfectly placed cross six yards out from Duncan Campbell (Fr./Hilliard, OH) on the right side.

The Panthers added another insurance goal at the 68:24 mark as Darko flipped a header off a long pass over the attacking keeper and laid a pass to Chris Curry (Sr./Loveland, OH) for the open net score. Curry’s goal was the first of his collegiate career after making the transition from defender to forward prior to the start of the season.  

ODU was able to cruise the remainder of the game as the defense held GLIAC Offensive Player of the Year, Ashton Campbell, to just three shots and two shots on goal.

With the win, the No. 2 seed Panthers (13-5-1) advance to take on Ashland in the conference finals at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 6 at Ferguson Field. The No. 1 seed Eagles defeated Northwood (Mich.) 5-1 in the second semifinal.

In the second semifinal match, host Ashland downed fourth-seeded Northwood University, 5-1.
[Boxscore]

Recap courtesy of AU's Brendan Bittner

It didn’t take long for the AU men’s soccer team to put away Northwood in Thursday (Nov. 4) night’s GLIAC Men’s Soccer Tournament semifinal. Ashland scored four times in the first 24:11 on its way to a 5-1 rout of the Timberwolves.

With the win, the Eagles will play Ohio Dominican in the GLIAC Championship game on Saturday (Nov. 6) at 6 p.m. The Panthers beat Tiffin in Thursday’s first semifinal, 4-1.

“We had to have a high energy and a high tempo and we did just that,” said junior midfielder Kenny Hewitt (Brighton, England/Edgehill). “We were rewarded for it.”

Hewitt opened the scoring with a perfectly placed free kick from 22 yards into the near post that drove past keeper Matt Renouf.

“I had one in the same position in training (Wednesday) and Justin (Nolan) (Medina, Ohio/Highland) made a world-class save, which put me in a bad mood so I had to put it right today,” Hewitt said.

Just 47 seconds later, sophomore defender Mitch Deyhle (Cincinnati, Ohio/La Salle) found the head sophomore midfielder Danny Lusheck (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) with a cross which Lusheck finished for his third goal of the season.

Scoring that second goal so quickly was one of the keys for Ashland head coach Jon Freeman.

“It was very good for our confidence and it sort of put the dagger in their heart,” he said. “It takes a little bit of wind out of their sails, because after you get a goal scored on you, you want to come out with a little bit of vinegar, a little bit of spirit and fire. I think we snuffed it out and banged out another couple. But they fought back and banged one in too.”

Freshman forward Louis Clark (Brighton, England/Hove Park) scored 10 minutes later off a feed from Lusheck, who tallied his third assist of the season.

In the 25^th minute, Hewitt scored what might turn out to be the highlight goal of the season. The ball was played to the end line on the left side by Clark. Hewitt ran on to it and buried it into the far side wall of the net for his fifth goal of the year. The angle on the shot was nearly impossible.

“It was a cross. If I told you how it went in, everyone would be trying it,” Hewitt said, laughing. “You just hit it hard across goal as best you can. If it goes in, it goes in. It’s more of a cross, but you put in there it could come off a defender, off a head. I just got lucky, but I’ll take it.”

The Timberwolves fought back at that point, getting a goal from Chen Tzfania with the assist coming from Mike Carroll in the 39^th minute.

AU carried the 4-1 tally into the intermission before Clark delivered his 15^th goal of the season on a ground shot past Northwood keeper William Eberhardt. Livingston fed Clark a great ball over the top of the defense from the top of the penalty area and Clark finished the opportunity.

“We’ve had a couple games, like the Urbana game (a 1-0 double overtime win for AU), where we’ve had shot after shot, but struggled putting them in,” Lusheck said. “Tonight we did a much better job of taking advantage of our chances.”

The Eagles now have a stern test awaiting as Ohio Dominican comes in on roll, having beaten Tiffin on Thursday and knocking off Northwood, 3-0, on Sunday (Oct. 31). The top-seeded Eagles have never won the three-year-old GLIAC Tournament, despite being regular season champs in the last three years.

“These guys made a point at the beginning of the year that winning the conference tournament was going to be a big deal,” Freeman said. “There’s a little more focus, a little more sharpness.”

Said Hewitt: “It’s a hunger to set the record straight. We’re not comfortable with just being regular season champs. We want them both and we want to say we’re outright winners.”

AU lost to Tiffin in the conference final last season, 2-1 in overtime. In 2008, Ashland lost, 4-2, in the semifinal to Saginaw Valley State when the Eagles last hosted. Now they will have the opportunity to win the tournament on Saturday (Nov. 6) at 6 p.m. at Ferguson Field.