By Jake Schwerer

he Ohio Northern men's soccer team started off OAC play with a 3-0 victory over Mount Union Saturday afternoon at the ONU Soccer Field.

Ohio Northern moves to 10-2-0 overall and 1-0-0 in the OAC while Mount Union falls to 2-5-1, 0-1-0.

The scoring began in the ninth minute when senior Chris Matejka used a free kick to his advantage and netted his third goal of the season.

Then, in the 17th minute, senior Nate Bascom stole the ball from the Purple Raiders and beat the goalie to score his team high 12th goal of the season to put the Polar Bears up 2-0.

Coming out of a 2-0 halftime lead the Polar Bears played great team defense to keep the Purple Raiders off the board.

The final goal of the game came in the 87th minute as freshman Shintaroh Itoh served up the ball to Bascom who passed it to senior Cameron Johnson who put the ball in the net to earn his seventh goal of the season.

Senior Mac Church improved his record to 10-2-0 on the year and earned his school-record 39th career shutout.

Mount Union goalie Jon Critell made four saves in the game but his record falls to 2-5-1.

The Polar Bears took 14 shots with seven being on goal compared to only two shots by the Purple Raiders with none being on goal.

"This was a good way to start OAC play," said Ohio Northern head coach Brent Ridenour.  "Mount Union is a tough team and team defense is what won the game for us."

The Polar Bears will be in action again as they continue OAC play when they head to Capital on Tuesday for a 4 pm game.