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No. 18 Ohio Valley men victorious vs. Dominican

Ohio Valley University’s Celso Riveros, who is shadowed by Ohio Dominican’s Phillip Kelly, tallied a goal and had two assists to help lead the No. 18 Fighting Scots to a 5-2 victory Saturday afternoon against the visiting Panthers in Great Midwest Athletic Conference soccer action. Photo by Jay W. Bennett.

VIENNA — Ohio Dominican University struck first here Saturday afternoon, but No. 18 Ohio Valley University rallied for a 5-2 Great Midwest Athletic Conference men’s soccer triumph as head coach Luis Rincon’s squad improved to 8-1-1 overall.

“I mean, I was very calm to be honest the way we were playing,” Rincon stated when asked about getting down early. “Sometimes they shoot twice and it goes in and then we shoot 10 times and we hit the post like four times. Sometimes you have to be patient and the ball will go in. We were doing good things, you know.”

That happened in the 9th minute following a corner kick by the Panthers. Phillip Kelly proceeded to head the ball to Jonathan Barnes, who was left unmarked by the post and easily booted it past Fighting Scot keeper Carols Rubio.

ODU (2-6, 1-5 G-MAC) wasn’t able to maintain its cushion for long as OVU, which improved to 5-0-1 in conference play, got the equalizer with three seconds left in the 12th minute. Nicolas Rodriguez got the ball in the box to Guillermo Segovia, who snuck it into the far side of the net.

Ohio Valley, which returns to action at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at home versus Trevecca Nazerene University, nearly added two more quick goals. Nemanja Acimovic got the ball to Rodriguez, but his one-touch just grazed the left post. Moments later, Celso Riveros’ shot nicked the right post.

The Fighting Scots took the lead for good in the 20th minute when Rodriguez blistered a shot from the middle of the pitch just outside the box past Panther keeper Ian Crook. Riveros picked up the assist. Rodriguez added an unassisted tally 35 seconds later for the 3-1 lead.

With just 1:32 left in the first half, an OVU turnover deep in its own territory resulted in an easy goal for Barnes.

Prior to the Panthers’ final goal of the match, Acimovic once again started things and his cross to Segovia nearly resulted in a goal. Segovia leaped into the air and did a flying sideways jump kick, using his hand to brace his fall, but the ball crushed the crossbar and caromed away.

“The guys always work hard,” added Rincon, who watched the women’s program beat the Panthers 3-0 thanks to two goals from Konstantina Giannou and one by Iona Rothfeld, each of whom had a penalty kick.

“We try to play good futbol. We don’t like to just boot it and see what’s going to happen. We try to knock it around. That’s our style and we want to end up the season playing good futbol and give the spectators the best, so they can be happy.”

After the break, Panther Ryan Kasprzak had a shot in the box, but it sailed high.

The hosts went ahead 4-2 when Javier Rodriguez found an unmarked Riveros in the box for an easy goal. OVU’s final goal came with less than a minute to play. A cross by Riveros was controlled by the chest of Goncalo Garcia, who then rocketed a shot into the back of the net. Coach Rincon’s squad nearly added another with 15 seconds to go, but Thomas Couillard’s blistering attempt went straight to Crook’s gut.

“I mean, it’s always a tough one with this team,” Rincon said of ODU head coach Willy Merrick’s program. “They push us hard. We’ve had a lot of injuries and it’s a long season.”

The Fighting Scot (5-0-2, 4-0-1) women, who play host at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday to Salem International, also had an assist from Jennifer Medina and keeper Kimberly Mora earned the clean slate with seven saves.

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