Wellington’s Christian Huelsman and six other Ohio Northern soccer players were named All-Ohio Athletic Conference for 2010 in voting conducted by the league’s 10 head coaches.

Joining Huelsman on the first team were Nate Bascom, Cameron Johnson and Austin Windsor.

Chris Matejka and Mac Church were named Second Team All-OAC and junior Abrim Mueller was selected Honorable Mention.

ONU bowed out on Friday in its third-straight NCAA postseason appearance, losing 2-0 to host No. 18 Calvin (Mich.) at Zuidema Field in the first round of the NCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament.

The Polar Bears wrapped up the season with a 17-5-1 record overall.

Huelsman, a 22-game starter at forward, led the Polar Bears’ offense this year with 32 points on 11 goals and 10 assists.

He has earned a .515 shot-on-goal percentage and has knocked in two game winning goals this season. In 2009, Huelsman was named Second Team All-OAC.

swalker@MorningJournal.com

Two second-half goals by Wellington’s Greg Stawicki led the Ohio Northern soccer team to a 2-1 win over Baldwin-Wallace in the semifinal game of the Ohio Athletic Conference men’s soccer tournament.

With the win, the Polar Bears improve to 16-4-1 overall and advance to the tournament championship game.

Stawicki’s first goal (third on season) tied the game in the 56th minute. His goal was set up when Austin Windsor used a free kick to set up a shot by Nate Bascom. Bascom’s shot hit off the right post and a streaking Stawicki put the rebound in to tie the game at 1.

Stawicki scored his second goal of the day (fourth of season) in the 74th minute when he finished a pass from high school teammate Christian Huelsman into the goal to put Northern up 2-1.

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Wellington’s Christian Huelsman was named the Ohio Athletic Conference Men’s Soccer Player of the Week for his play for Ohio Northern last week.

Huelsman led the Polar Bears (12-3-1 overall, 4-0-1 OAC) to a 7-0 victory over Otterbein and a 1-1 tie at Baldwin-Wallace last week.

He scored twice in the shutout win over Otterbein.

This marks the second time this season and the fourth time in his career that Huelsman has won the award.

Through 16 matches this season, Huelsman leads the squad in scoring with 26 points on 10 goals and six assists.

swalker@MorningJournal.com

Wellington’s Christian Huelsman was named the Ohio Athletic Conference Player of the Week in men’s soccer for the week of Sept. 7-12, announced Monday.

Huelsman earned the honor for scoring four goals and assisting on another in the Polar Bears’ three wins last week. He recorded a goal and an assist in a 2-1 win at Earlham (Ind.), then followed up with his hat trick against Hanover (Ind.) in the ONU Invitational last Friday.

He leads Northern so far this season offensively with 12 points on five goals and two assists.

Last season as a sophomore, Huelsman was named OAC Player of the Week twice.

swalker@MorningJournal.com

From L to R: Mark Mazzone, Greg Stawicki, Christian Huelsman
Mazzone

Huelsman

Stawicki

Three Wellington Dukes teammates thought it would be fun to continue playing soccer together after high school.

Sophomore standouts Christian Huelsman and Greg Stawicki, along with junior Mark Mazzone have known each other and played soccer together since elementary school all the way high school.

The trio made their dream a reality when they joined each other at Ohio Northern University, where they even helped lead the Polar Bears to their first-ever trip to the Elite-8 in the NCAA Division II National Tournament last season.

"It definitely makes the transition to college soccer a lot easier when you're comfortable with the players already," said Mazzone, who transferred there after playing at Guilford College in North Carolina his freshman season. "We have really good chemistry after playing so long together."

Huelsman, who is the all-time leading scorer in Dukes' history, couldn't be happier.

"I love it, it's so fantastic," Huelsman said. "We're in this together. We've always be doing this together. We're just so happy and so glad that we can share this experience. We've been through so much together. To see a lot of success out of all of our careers — is just amazing."

Huelsman leads the Polar Bears in goals (10) and points (23) for the second-straight year and is tied for second in assists (three). ONU currently stands at 10-3-2 and 4-0-1 in the Ohio Athletic Conference.

"Our main goal is to be national champs," Huelsman said. "We have other goals to be conference champs and obviously win the OAC tournament. By doing that, it'll get us in the national tournament and then we can hopefully win it this year. We just have to take the steps along the way."

Last week, Huelsman recorded his second college-career hat trick in a 7-0 win over Defiance and then notched a goal and an assist in a 2-1 win over Muskingum. That earned him OAC Soccer Player of the Week honors.

"It's such a huge accomplishment, personally and as a team," Huelsman said. "When one of us wins player of the week, it's great because we all know that the whole team had something to do with it. You can't play this sport by yourself."

Last year, he started all 27 games and led the team with 18 goals and eight assists and broke the school record for most goals by a freshman. He was also selected first-team All-Ohio Athletic Conference, along with second team All-GLIAC. He's now in ONU's all-time top 10 in goals scored (27) and his 65 points is four shy of cracking that top 10 list.

"Not a lot of teams knew who I was so I got away with a lot more," Huelsman said. "This year, they know my number so I'm getting double-teamed more. This year I have to work harder. Every game is a different puzzle."

Last year, the trio helped Ohio Northern (20-6-1) make its first-ever trip to the Elite-8 in the NCAA tournament. Three wins in the tourney earned them a spot in the final eight, but a 4-1 loss to Loras (Iowa) ended their dreams of a Final Four appearance and a chance at a national championship.

"I knew Ohio Northern was going to be a perfect fit for me when I came here," Huelsman said. "Ohio Northern's style is what I was used to. I knew it was going to be great when I came to visit here."

Stawicki has played in 15 games, including six starts this season. He has seven goals, good for third on the team. He also has two game-winning goals.

"I got a lot of experience from last year and I'm getting more playing time this season," Stawicki said. "After going so far in the tournament and having that pressure, now we have to keep it up, because every team is targeting us and wanting to beat us."

Stawicki also enjoys playing with his two good friends.

"It's awesome," Stawicki said. "We all know how each other play and what runs we makes. We know where each of us will be at. If one of us is feeling down, we pick each other up. We're like a family. (Christian) is a great player. I've learned a lot from him. He's an amazing finisher. He's made me a better player."

Stawicki is more focused than ever. He has his team's goals on his mind.

"As a team, we want to win conference, win the OAC tournament, make it to the final four and win the whole thing," Stawicki said. "Personally, I want to get better, score my goals, get more assists and just do my part to help the team."

Mazzone, a junior midfielder whose played in 12 games this season, is also focused on helping his team.

"I'd rather win than anything," Mazzone said. "Our biggest goal is to win the national tournament."

swalker@MorningJournal.com

Stawicki heads the ball last Tuesday.

A pair of Wellington Dukes’ graduates, Greg Stawicki and Christian Huelsman, helped lead Ohio Northern's soccer team to a record-breaking weekend by defeating Trine (Ind.) 3-0 Saturday afternoon and Kalamazoo (Michigan) 7-0 on Friday, to win its fifth OAC-MIAA Shootout.

On Saturday, Huelsman sent one into the back of the net for his fifth goal of the season to give ONU a 1-0 lead at the 29:27 mark.

Shortly after that at the 35:50 mark, Stawicki beat the keeper one-on-one to score a goal and give the Polar Bears a 2-0 lead and then added an insurance goal when he beat the goalkeeper at the top of the box and tapped the ball into an empty goal for his fourth goal of the season.

On Friday night, Huelsman beat the goal keeper high for a goal at the 51:19 mark to push the Polar Bears to a 4-0 advantage.

Stawicki also added a goal at the 80:26 mark for his third goal in a three-game span.

Stawicki had scored Ohio Northern’s game-winning goal against Wittenberg, as the Polar Bears won it’s third-straight home-opener Tuesday afternoon 1-0 at the ONU Soccer Field.

The game was scoreless until the 39:29 mark of the first half when sophomore Abrim Mueller crossed the ball into Stawicki, who shot the ball and had it blocked. Stawicki then followed his own rebound and hit the ball to the upper half of the net for the goal.

Ohio Northern (5-3-1), who just had its three-game losing streak snapped to Ohio Wesleyan on Wednesday, will host Defiance this Tuesday.

swalker@MorningJournal.com

Wellington’s Christian Huelsman has helped the No. 11th ranked Ohio Northern men's soccer team get off to a 2-0 start.

In a 7-0 victory over Bridgewater (Va.) in the Roanoke Tournament Friday night, Huelsman scored a goal and assisted on two others.

Last week in the season opener, Huelsman scored a goal in a 2-0 victory at Manchester (Ind.).

Huelsman scored on a penalty kick with 1:05 left in the first half to break a scoreless tie and send the Polar Bears into intermission with a 1-0 lead.

Last year in his freshman season, Huelsman started all 27 games and led the Polar Bears with 18 goals and eight assists. He also helped lead Ohio Northern to its first-ever trip to the elite-8 in the NCAA tournament.

Huelsman and the Polar Bears finished the season with an impressive 20-6-1 record and defeated Marietta, 3-0 in the finals to qualify for the NCAA tournament.

In the first round of the playoffs, they defeated Wheaton (Illinois), 4-1 and in second round action they beat Carroll (Wisconsin), 2-1 in two overtimes, and got by previously unbeaten Hobart (New York), 2-1 to make it to the Elite-8 for the first time in school history. A 4-1 loss to Loras (Iowa) ended their dreams of a Final Four and a national championship.

Huelsman broke the school-record for most goals by a freshman, while being selected first-team All-Ohio Athletic Conference, along with second team All-GLIAC.

Huelsman was originally a ball boy on Wellington’s soccer team before, stamping a legacy as a player by becoming the all-time leading scorer in Dukes’ history.

swalker@MorningJournal.com