The Crew Tops Ohio State Men’s Soccer, 5-1, in Third Annual Connor Senn Memorial Match – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/14/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
April 14, 2004
Boc Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Columbus Crew took a 3-0 halftime lead on their way to a 5-1 win vs. the Ohio State men’s soccer team Wednesday night in the Third Annual Connor Senn Memorial Match at Ohio State’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. The crowd of 948 people, along with a silent auction during the game, raised over $7,500 for the Connor Senn Memorial Scholarship Fund, which has raised over $42,000 to date.
“This game means a lot to the team,” Kevin Nugent, Ohio State sophomore forward, said. “To come out and play a quality professional team and raise money to contribute to the Connor Senn Memorial Scholarship fund is a great thing.”
The two previous Connor Senn Memorial Matches raised more than $5,400 for the scholarship fund, which was started by Dr. Lance Senn, Connor’s father and a former member of the Ohio State tennis team, shortly after Connor collapsed during Ohio State’s match at Akron Sept. 26, 2001. Connor died that night from a congenital heart defect. A native of Granville, Ohio, Connor was a freshman walk-on defender who had earned a starting position midway through the 2001 season. He saw action in eight of 10 matches, starting five.
The Connor Senn Memorial Scholarship Fund gives two $500 scholarships to one male and one female senior high school level soccer players. The scholarship winners, Matt Steinke of Liberty Union High School and Jennifer Rinehart of Circleville High School, were announced during halftime of the match.
The Crew got on the board 3:45 into the match when Jeff Cunningham was taken down inside the goalkeeper box by Ohio State’s Adam Schauer (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy). Cunningham converted on the penalty kick to give Columbus an early 1-0 lead.
Cunningham then assisted on the Crew’s next two goals, the first of which came at the 37:02 mark as Frankie Hejduk found the back of the net. With just under two minutes remaining before halftime, Simon Elliott put Columbus up 3-0 at the 43:18 mark on a goal assisted by Cunningham and former Ohio State standout Jake Traeger. Traeger’s younger brother, Reid, played in the game for the Buckeyes.
Just 42 seconds into the second half, Ohio State’s Nugent (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) scored the Buckeyes’ lone goal of the contest off an assist by Peter Withers (Portland, Ore./Jesuit). Nugent also scored Ohio State’s goal in the 2003 Connor Senn Memorial Match, a 3-1 Crew victory.
“It feels great,” Nugent said of his goal. “The Crew is a great team and to be able to get pressure on them is a great accomplishment.”
The Crew’s David Testo added another Columbus goal at the 74:10 mark off an assist by Kyle Martino, and that duo assisted Michael Ritch on a goal at the 86:13 mark for the final score.
“As a coaching staff we can see that we have a good deal of work to do,” John Bluem, Ohio State head coach said. “We graduated four solid seniors, so we need people to step up and fill those roles. I am looking forward to this season.”
Ohio State goalkeeper Ray Burse, Jr. (Prospect, Ky./St. Xavier) collected five saves in the match, while Crew goalkeeper Jon Busch had two saves.
