MEN’S SOCCER

The #RV Forester men’s soccer team laid claim to the Crossroads League regular season conference title Wednesday night with a 2-2 draw against #RV Marian at Ascension St. Vincent Field. It’s the program’s first regular season conference championship since 1989.

Heading into tonight’s final regular season round of games, there were over 240 potential scenarios of how the final standings could shake out. The race to the finish featured Huntington and Grace tied for first with only one point separating them from IWU and Marian. As it turned out, the Foresters clinched the title outright based on their tie with Marian (12-3-3, 5-2-2) coupled with Grace’s loss to Bethel and IWU’s tie with Spring Arbor.

HU (12-4-2) finished with a CL regular season record of 6-2-1. Their journey to the top included knocking off Bethel, ranked third at the time, 3-2, and then upsetting 6th-ranked IWU last weekend 2-1.

Tonight’s battle with MU saw Coach Potter’s crew jump out to an early 2-0 lead. Less than four minutes in, Sam Dolobaipu tracked down a ball at midfield, powered through three defenders before rocketing a shot far post for his 12th goal of the season.

Less than 20 minutes later, the guests were at it again. This time it was a finesse play by Joao Ratinho – a perfectly placed left strike from 20 yards out that nestled its way into the back of the net near post. It made for what seemed a comfortable 2-0 advantage that spilled into the second half.

As it turned out, there was nothing comfortable about a two-goal advantage thanks to Samuel Wehaus. The 6-4 freshman forward scored twice for Marian within a three-minute span to level the playing field with just over 22 minutes remaining. Despite a huge momentum shift and a 10-2 shot disparity that favored the hosts, HU was able to ward off a ferocious Marian comeback to settle for the stalemate.

The two teams combined for 36 shots with Marian claiming all but eight of them. Corner kicks also favored the Knights 5-2. Dan Pellegrine was sensational in net, tracking down 12 of MU’s 15 shots on goal.

As the top seed, Huntington will host 8th-seeded Saint Francis on Wednesday in quarterfinal action of the Crossroads League tourney.