Men’s Soccer: No. 21 Buckeyes continue four-game winning streak, beat Xavier 3-1

After 25 years, the Ohio State men’s soccer team finally got its revenge against Xavier University.

On the back of graduate midfielder David Wrona’s first career goal for Ohio State, the No. 21 Buckeyes extended their winning streak with a 3-1 victory over Xavier University Sunday, defeating the Musketeers for the first time since a 2-1 victory in 1998.

“With everyone running to the front post, I thought I’d just sit back here and wait for something to happen,” Wrona said. “And it popped out perfectly for me.”

The Musketeers proved to be aggressive on the pitch, accruing 12 fouls — as well as two yellow cards against junior defenders Ernest Mensah Jr. and Matthew Senanou — in the first half alone.

Senior forward Michael Adedokun gave Ohio State a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute, striking a powerful shot into the goal’s bottom right corner off an assist by freshman forward David Ajagbe. This successful play marked Adedokun’s sixth career goal as a Buckeye.

“We know their goalie is pretty good, but early in the game, sometimes the intensity might be high and the goalie might not expect this coming,” Adedokun said. “So, I took the first shot. It went wide, then the second one, I’m lucky it went in.”

Ohio State maintained its offensive pressure throughout the first half. The Buckeyes had eight shots on goal — two of which were on target — in comparison to Xavier’s four shots.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t put a couple of those away, but we still put three up on the board, which was nice,” head coach Brian Maisonneuve said.

Xavier’s second-half retribution came quickly, as freshman midfielder Jack Bilyeu equalized with a shot to the left side of the Buckeyes’ goal, making it 1-1 in the 48th minute.

Even so, it didn’t take long for the Buckeyes to bounce back. Just six minutes later, with an assist from Adedokun, Wrona scored his first career goal to restore Ohio State’s lead.

“We were winning 1-0 at the time, and they came back and scored,” Wrona said. “That’s hard, you know, when you have the chance to put it away, and then they come back and tie it. So, it was a big weight lifted off my shoulders putting that in.”

Xavier’s hopes for victory dwindled even more when junior midfielder George Waites was issued a red card in the 57th minute, leaving the team with 10 players for the remainder of the match.

“We saw that coming, to be honest, you know, because in the first half, they were very rough,” Adedokun said.

Shortly after, Ohio State junior defender Nathan Demian was helped off the field due to an apparent hamstring injury in the 58th minute.

“I know it’s his hamstring, but how bad or good, I have no idea,” Maisonneuve said. “We’re hoping for the best.”

The Buckeyes found an opportunity to strengthen their lead in the 77th minute, when an assist from freshman midfielder Nick Skubis helped junior midfielder Marko Borkovic score, sealing the score at 3-1.

“I’ve had those opportunities a lot in training, and I knew that if I just kept my focus and pretended like I was out on the training pitch, I’d be able to put that in the back of the net,” Borkovic said.

Ohio State played a highly physical match, committing a total of 21 fouls and receiving four yellow cards. The Buckeyes finished with 17 shots, eight of which were on target.

“We’ve played Xavier in the past, and it’s always been a very physical battle on the pitch,” Borkovic said. “We knew that going into the game, and we knew if we won the 50-50s in the middle of the pitch, we’d get opportunities to score.”

Ohio State will return to Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium Friday at 7 p.m. to take on Butler University.