Niklas Martennson scored two goals Wednesday to lead Wilmington College to a 3-1 win over Muskingum in Ohio Athletic Conference men’s soccer action at Williams Stadium’s Townsend Field.
The win lifts the Quakers to 5-13 overall and 2-6 in the OAC. The Muskies slip to 4-13, 1-7.
Wilmington had lost two straight and eight of its last nine matches.
“We struggled a bit to start the game, but we started to open up and relax a bit,” said Wilmington head coach Bud Lewis. “We started to get dangerous and really moved the ball out of the back. It was nice to get the goal lead instead of being a goal down. We talked at halftime about having that ‘being down’ mentality. We have been a very good second half team. I was pleased with our second half; we created a lot of dangerous chances.”
Both of Martennson’s goals came on penalty kicks, one in the 25th minute and the second in the 47th minute.
Martennson now has four goals on the year.
Chris Bourque made it 3-0 with a goal in the 50th minute. The goal was Bourque’s first of the season. Alec Rivers registered an assist on the play.
“Great service by Alec, and the keeper never had a chance to get to the ball because it was a driven ball,” said Lewis. “Literally, Chris just had to direct it to the goal and it was going to go in.”
Muskingum avoided the shutout by scoring in the 69th minute.
Wilmington held a 26-6 advantage in shots. The Quakers had 10 shots on goal.
Nick Latessa, the WC goalkeeper, had one save.
WC held a 5-3 advantage in corner kicks.
Lewis credited the play of seniors Nick Toney, Ethan Zimpfer and Jesse Buhrman.
“Our seniors today performed very well,” said Lewis.
