Peter Wangechi

Men’s Soccer Matchday Preview: John Carroll University vs. Baldwin Wallace University

10/16/2024 5:47:00 PM | By: Gianluca DiGiacomo, Staff Writer

Wenzler’s Warriors on the Road for One Final Cuyahoga Derby

BEREA, OHIO – With the final OAC tenure for the Blue Streaks in full stride, the Blue Streaks are back on the road this week to travel to the West Side of Cleveland for their final Cuyahoga Derby, preparing to take on Baldwin Wallace University from Finnie Stadium.

Getting back on track back at home against Capital on Saturday, a hard-fought, gritty win may have been exactly what the Blue Streaks needed to push through the remainder of the regular season. Taking on an iconic foe away from home will never be an easy feat, but in a fight for the last laugh, the team is ready for battle.

Meet the Opposition: Baldwin Wallace University Yellow Jackets

Form
Entering their fourth match in-conference, the Yellow Jackets enter derby day with a 5-6-3 record, winless in their first three matches in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Having a great mid-season out of conference run, Baldwin Wallace split their final three matches, dropping a match away from Wooster, drawing level with Oberlin, and defeating Olivet in Michigan to close things out.

A top-heavy opening three matches aside, the Yellow Jackets are hungry to push through the remainder of their season after losses to Capital, Ohio Northern, and Otterbein respectively.

Meet the Coaching Staff
Veteran head coach Reid Ayers is in stride in his 23rd season at Baldwin Wallace University. Acquiring over 300 wins, two OAC Coach of the Year awards, and entering OCSA Hall of Fame Status, Ayers is the most successful coach in the history of the men's soccer program for the Yellow Jackets, and was the university's first full time soccer coach; coaching both the men's and women's programs from 2002-2017.

During his time with Baldwin Wallace, Ayers has coached an All-American, 17 All-Region honorees, and eight different OAC Positional Players of the Year. Given his vast experience and a considerable tenure with the Yellow Jackets, Ayers' accomplishments and knowledge of the game ought not to fly under the radar.
Ayers was also a standout player at Hiram College, where he was a 3x All-Conference honoree, starting every single game of his collegiate career and winning Team MVP his senior year.

Ayers is assisted on the coaching frontier by Joe Jovanovski (2nd year), Colin Fabian (2nd year), Danny Ruple, Vince Milner, and Paul Viscomi.

A great side note as well, senior assistant coach Jovanovski and Ayers worked together for Cleveland SC in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), where Ayers served as a technical director and Jovanovski served as the head coach.

Team Style/Ones to Watch
With a copious amount of local talent, the team chemistry remains very high with the Yellow Jackets' program, despite a high volume of players on the team. Despite some very promising players on the team, what makes them a tough nut to crack is how they play, think, and move as a unit. The team offers a blend of athletes, fearless defensive minds, and great runs off the ball.

Through their opening 14 matches, junior midfielder Owen Reyes has proven to be one of the best the Yellow Jackets have to offer. Scoring four of his goals in the first five games, Reyes brings a physical, yet composed element to Reid Ayers' midfield. The North Olmsted-native has been tried and tested and will give each Man of Carroll that comes his way a difficult time.

The attacking midfield has loads of talent as well, with long-time threats in Mike Kane and Max Yakym wreaking havoc and players like Cimi Halilaj, Carter Stanaczyk, and Matthew Skladany building up their resumes as well.

From the back, the Yellow Jackets have utilized plenty of talent through their deep pool of personnel, but the Allen, Texas-native Alan Beaney remains one of the more consistent presences, leading the team by well over 100 minutes.

Another local talent Seth Warrick has commanded the goal so far, splitting reps with Diego Teran and earning a 2-2-3 record with a 0.667% save percentage.

Your John Carroll Blue Streaks

Form
The Blue Streaks come into the Cuyahoga Derby with a 8-3-2 record, improving their conference record to 2-1 after a thrilling contest with Capital University this past weekend.

After a strong 5-1 start only marred by a one-goal loss to Kenyon, the Blue Streaks drew two matches in a row and lost another to Case Western. After bouncing back with a win over Calvin to finish out non-conference play, John Carroll won their opener 1-0 over Muskingum.

Traveling to Alliance just a week ago, the team would suffer an excruciating defeat to Mount Union from Kehres Stadium. Fueled by motivation, the squad bounced back in a neck-and-neck matchup with Capital, won in the 70th minute of play as first-year Dylan Halm buried one from distance to secure the three points.

Meet the Coaching Staff
Athletic Hall of Famer and Head Coach Dejan Mladenovic takes on his fourth season as head coach after 15 years as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. Through his first three seasons, Mladenovic has captured two OAC Tournament Championships, one OAC Regular Season Championship, and three NCAA Tournament berths to complement a 52-18-9 record to date. He was inducted into the JCU Athletic Hall of Fame last season for his playing career.

Accompanying Mladenovic on the coaching staff are assistant coaches Ante Pilekic (4th year) and Michael Adelman (3rd year), as well as Athletic Trainer Eddie Dobrowolski.

Team Style/Ones to Watch
With a vast pool of personnel and plenty of technicality, the Blue Streaks bring a great combination of team play and individual brilliance to keep opponents on their toes. The most apparent example is within their attack, where no single player has dominated the ranks. With 21 goals on the season, many different players have stepped up to put the ball in the back of the net.

From a tactical perspective, the Streaks have become a far more pragmatic team in a formational sense, going from 5-6 different systems last season to sticking with one gameplan through the entire campaign this fall.

The fifth-year wingers in Jaden Wright and Logan Penton will bring the pain this evening for Mount's defense, certainly a clash for the ages as the two have combined for ten goal involvements to date. Both extremely pacey, silky smooth, and ravenous when attacking the goal, their roles will be dependent on the Purple Raiders' defensive approach and how much space they have to attack the center or to maximize the width of the pitch. Fifth-year Hayden Haffner has also been a force up top, and has shifted between the front line and the wings this season.

Off the bench, the Blue Streaks have a great rotation of first-team quality attackers with Jack Foht, Patrick Koenig, Dylan Halm, and Luka Pranjeta ready to pounce on any given occasion.

The midfield has also been in a great swing of talent, Nicholas Graeca being the top performer with two goals and four assists to compliment a tireless mentality and a newfound sense of composure.

Newcomers such as the first year Nicholas Mikulec and the Brazilian Notre Dame College transfer Gui Wanderley have also been great additions, and senior Andrew Ruggiero has been in a great run of form in the last few games to bring another element.

As mentioned before, the back line has been the glue holding many operations together, with graduate student Izac Coleman and fifth-year Daniel Kalic being the constants in a defense constantly changing due to tactics or injury.

To top it all off, the goalkeepers have been on top of their game—both Brenden Moher and Dominc Grobler standing atop the Ohio Athletic Conference on Goals Against Average.

Matchup History
The John Carroll Blue Streaks currently hold a record of 38-9-2 over the Yellow Jackets in all competitions. It was a shocking result last year as the Blue Streaks traveled to Berea to take a commanding 8-1 win over the Yellow Jackets on their home turf.

The match was replete with everything you could ask for from the Blue Streaks, from an Olimpico goal from Izac Coleman to open the scoring to Logan Penton scoring a hat trick in a four-minute window.

In the grand scheme of things, here are some quick facts about the historic matchup:

The Yellow Jackets have not seen victory over the Blue Streaks since 2010 in a 2-1 defeat at Finnie Stadium
The Yellow Jackets have not scored more than one goal on John Carroll against the Blue Streaks since a 3-2 overtime defeat in 2018, and only did it one other time dating all the way back to 2010
The Yellow Jackets' last three wins over John Carroll all came in succession; taking regular season and tournament wins in 2009 and a regular season victory in 2010
Last year's 8-1 result gave the Blue Streaks their greatest margin of victory over the Yellow Jackets in 42 years, dating back to a 12-1 win on 9/27/1982

Up Next
The Blue Streaks will be back at home on Saturday, October 19 to take on Marietta College from Don Shula Stadium, kickoff set for 7 p.m.

For the Yellow Jackets, they travel to Wilmington on Saturday for a 7 p.m. kickoff to take on the Quakers in southern Ohio.

Where to Follow
Coverage of today's match will be available on @jcusports and @jcumenssoccer accounts on X, Instagram, and Facebook. The stream for the match will be located on the Baldwin Wallace athletics website and OAC TV.

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