Heidelberg's men's soccer team scored three goals in the first half, giving it enough offense to prevail in the Ohio Athletic Conference quarterfinals against Capital.
Ryan Smith, Hamid Shariff and Nico Samaniego all scored in about a six-minute span, pushing the Student Princes to a 3-2 victory and a ticket to the semifinals. HU will play a yet-to-be-determined opponent Friday in Ada.
Capital (9-6-4) scored first, when R.G. Florey notched an unassisted goal 3:35 into the game.
Ninety seconds later, Heidelberg answered. Smith got a pass from Christopher Koczak and found the net, making it 1-1.
A little more than five minutes after that, Heidelberg took the lead when Shariff scored off an assist credited to Smith and Jacob Hetrick.
Heidelberg added to it's advantage about a minute later - at 11:24- when Samaniego got a pass from Shariff and beat the defender in front of the net. His goal made it 3-1.
The only scoring of the second half came when Capital's Tim McCarthy scored off a Florey assist.
Heidelberg (10-6-3) outshot the Crusaders 20-15, while HU goalkeeper Matthew Stevens had five saves.
Capital's Bob Weisgarber made eight saves in the loss.
Heidelberg volleyball gets payback in OAC tournament
MARIETTA - For Heidelberg's volleyball team, Wednesday's Ohio Athletic Conference tournament win over Marietta was payback.
On Sept. 28, the Pioneers came to Seiberling Gymnasium and swept the Student Princes. The loss meant that HU had to travel to Marietta for its postseason opener.
The Student Princes (19-13) exacted some revenge on the Pioneers. After dropping the first set 21-25, they responded by winning the next three, 25-21, 25-21, 25-19.
Heidelberg advances to play top-seeded Mount Union Friday, a rematch of last year's OAC tournament final, which the Raiders won.
As for Tuesday night against Marietta, Heidelberg coach Jason Miller said his team just needed to play to its capability.
"Revenge is kind of a harsh word," Miller said. "We did not play well when they came to our place, and the girls wanted to rectify that."
Still, after losing the first set, Miller said his squad was a bit sluggish.
"That second game, we were down and we weren't fighting," Miller said. "And I just reminded them, 'this could be it.' This team isn't gonna stop playing we just got to continue to fight."
Four Heidelberg players finished in double digits in kills, led by Amber Welfe, who had 16 to go along with nine digs. Marian Bevington had 15 kills, while Jacki Street added 13. Jamie Kluding had 10 kills to go with 18 digs.
"I told our setters we had to distribute the ball, we had to have a balanced offense," Miller said. "Jacki Street had a monster night for us."
Rachel Ferguson led Heidelberg with 28 assists, while Calvert graduate Alexa Frank added 18. Tessa Benanzer had a team-leading 28 digs, while Jubilee Haase registered 17.
Miller was asked what HU has to do to upset Mount Union, which is unbeaten in OAC play and beat the Student Princes in four games last week.
"I feel if we attack it with that whole team effort like we did tonight, we can put ourselves in a position to win the match," he said.
Marietta (17-12) was led by Paige DeVriendt's 11 kills.
Akron's rebounds key in exhibition win over TU
AKRON - In its exhibition opener, Tiffin University's men's basketball team was able to hang with the University of Akron for about a half.
But the Division I Zips used their size advantage to dominate rebounding in the second half, turning a 55-46 halftime advantage into a 111-72 victory.
Tiffin's Joe Graessle led the Dragons with 25 points. Akron outrebounded TU 61-31.
"(The Zips) are huge, they killed us on the boards in second half," said Dragons coach John Hill.
Despite the lopsided final, Hill was generally pleased with Tiffin's effort.
"It was positive for us, because we started off well, played a very good first half," he said. "That just showed - with so many young guys - it showed them we could play, showed them we can compete."
TU will play another exhibition game Saturday, when it travels to Detroit Mercy for a 7 p.m. contest. The Dragons open the regular season Nov. 10 at the GLIAC/GLVC Challenge in St. Louis against McKendree University.
