Ohio State
Stetson
Ohio State Captures Wolstein Classic with 4-2 Win Over Stetson – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/4/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Sept. 4, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The 23rd-ranked Ohio State men’s soccer team captured the Bert & Iris Wolstein Classic title with a 4-2 win over Stetson Sunday afternoon at a rain-soaked Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. The Buckeyes improve to 2-1-1 on the season, while the Hatters fall to 2-1-0.
Sebastian Rivas was named the MVP of the sixth annual tournament after scoring his first two career tallies between the pair of games in the Classic. He was joined by Adam Gorksi, Parnell Hegngi and David Tiemstra as members of the all-tournament team. Rivas and Hegngi each scored in the win over Stetson and were joined by Chris Hegngi and Ben Killian in the box score. Buckeye goalkeeper Matt Lampson, an early-season candidate for the MAC Hermann Trophy, tallied a season-high seven saves in the win.
“It was a tremendous effort from the guys,” John Bluem, Ohio State head coach, said. “We knew it would be a difficult game after watching Stetson on Friday night. They play quite well and they were good, but I think our guys wore them down. I think we were a little bit better and they had a little bit tougher game than we did on Friday night.”
For the fourth time this season, the Buckeyes gave up the first goal of the contest, surrendering a tally to Raffaele Centofanti early in the 31st minute of action. They would tie the contest just over eight minutes later, however, when Chris Hegngi finished off a penalty kick and then take over the lead in the 43rd minute. Parnell Hegngi notched his first of two assists on the day when he played Rivas the ball 10 yards out from the goal and the junior midfielder stuffed to the right of the diving keeper for the 2-1 advantage.
Ohio State took the lead into the intermission and maintained it until the 61st minute when JJ Bostic finished off a pass from Gonzalo de Mujica, who earned assists on both of the Hatters’ goals. Once again it did not take long the Buckeyes to counter, re-taking the lead in the 66th minute and not relinquishing it for the remainder of the contest.
With his second assist, Parnell Hegngi managed to direct the ball out to Killian at the top of the penalty area for the junior defender to stuff in the back of the net for his first goal of the season and the game-winner. An insurance goal was added 20 minutes later, midway through the 85th minute, when Austin McAnena took over the assist duties and allowed Parnell Hegngi to score and finish his day with four points.
“Winning both games were huge for us,” Rivas said. “Coming into this tournament, we hadn’t played much so coming into this weekend hungry was good for us. And then coming back from 1-0 deficits both games shows that we are relentless and continue to go out and work hard. As a team and a unit it shows that we pick each other up.”
Both teams had a wealth of opportunities on the day with the Buckeyes holding a narrow 23-22 advantage in shots and a 9-5 edge in corner kicks.
Sunday action was delayed nearly an hour and a half because of heavy storms and lightning in Columbus. Penn State eventually defeated FIU, 1-0, before the Buckeyes and Hatters took over the pitch. Nineteen minutes into the contest, the teams were forced to take a half-hour lightning delay before resuming action without further incident. The Nittany Lions and Stetson each finished tournament action at 1-1, while FIU was 0-2.
Ohio State will look to win its third in the row when the team returns to action at noon Sept. 11 against Binghamton in Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. Admission to the contest is free.
2011 Bert & Iris Wolstein Classic All-Tournament Team
Adam Gorski, Ohio State
Parnell Hegngi, Ohio State
Sebastian Rivas, Ohio State (MVP)
David Tiemstra, Ohio State
Julian Cardona, Penn State
Grant Warming, Penn State
Mackenzie Arment, Penn State
Raffaele Centofanti, Stetson
Gonzalo de Mujica, Stetson
Jonathan Mendoza, Stetson
Mario Uribe, FIU
Anthony Hobbs, FIU
