Ohio Wesleyan 3, Olivet 0
Kenyon 3, Texas-Dallas 2

Aug. 29, 2008

Sophomore forward Tyler Wall (Columbus/Upper Arlington) converted a penalty kick to put Ohio Wesleyan on the scoreboard, and sophomore back Brian Greene (Beavercreek) and freshman midfielder Travis Wall (Columbus/Upper Arlington) followed with goals to provide the final margin in Ohio Wesleyan's season-opening win over Olivet in first-round action of the annual Fred Myers Invitational on Friday at Roy Rike Field.

Ohio Wesleyan will face Texas-Dallas at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday in the tournament's second round. Saturday's opening game matches Olivet against Kenyon, with that game set for a 5 p.m. kickoff.

Ohio Wesleyan and Olivet battled through a scoreless, physical first half which did not produce many scoring chances. The Bishops' best chance came midway through the period, when sophomore midfielder Chad Baker (Dublin/Jerome) took a through ball from Tyler Wall but saw his shot ricochet off the left post.

The physical play reached its peak early in the second half, when Olivet's Ross Cutler was assessed a yellow card and a red card.

With a man advantage, the Bishops turned up the offensive pressure. Wall eluded a Comet defender and moved into the box alone on Olivet keeper Ethan Felsing. Felsing came off his line and took down Wall to break up the play, earning a yellow card. Wall converted the ensuing penalty shot to give Ohio Wesleyan a 1-0 lead with 15:32 left in regulation time.

The Bishops increased their lead to 2-0 in the 79th minute when Greene headed home a corner kick from sophomore back Eric Laipple (Westerville/South), and finished off the scoring in the 83rd minute, when Travis Wall finished off another corner kick, with sophomore midfielder Ryan Harmanis (Hilliard/Davidson) and senior forward Todd Ufferman (Delaware/Hayes) credited with assists on the play.

The Ohio Wesleyan defense held Olivet without a shot during the second half, and limited the Comets to 3 shots during the game. Meanwhile, the Bishops collected 33 shots at the Comet goal.

Senior Ben Boynton (Claremont, Calif.), making his first collegiate start in the Ohio Wesleyan goal, had 1 save before leaving the game after a collision late in the first half. Freshman Steve Gobel (Wilbraham, Mass./Loomis Chaffee (Conn.)) was not tested during his 48-minute stint in the Bishop goal.

Felsing finished with 7 saves for Olivet.

In Friday's opener, Kenyon's Felix Hoffman took a through ball from Reiner Bauerfeind and scored on a breakaway to give the Lords an overtime win over Texas-Dallas.

The Lords had taken a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute on Keith Dangarembwa's goal, but the Comets rallied behind Jess Mitchell, who scored on a restart in the 50th minute and set up Kevin White for the go-ahead goal in the 65th minute.

Kenyon answered shortly thereafter, with Jeremy Fischer heading home a corner kick in the 68th minute.

The Lords had a couple of chances to win the game in regulation time, but Bauerfeind had a pair of shots hit the left post during the last 3 minutes of play.

Texas-Dallas outshot Kenyon, 16-14. Jamie White had 6 saves for Kenyon, while Jake Brandon had 4 saves for the Comets.

Ohio Wesleyan-Olivet Box Score
Kenyon-Texas-Dallas Box Score