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Men’s Soccer Matchday Preview: John Carroll University vs. Wilmington College

| By: Gianluca DiGiacomo, Staff Writer

An Unstoppable Force Met to Face an Immovable Object in Southwestern Ohio

Men's Soccer Matchday Preview: John Carroll University vs. Wilmington College
An Unstoppable Force Met to Face an Immovable Object in Southwestern Ohio

WILMINGTON, Ohio– Heading towards the final chapters of one final Ohio Athletic Conference run, the John Carroll Blue Streaks are back in action this Saturday down south in Wilmington, Ohio to take on the Quakers.

With just about every match in recent memory between these two programs being challenging contests, another battle from Williams Stadium holds a lot of power for how the conference shapes up. The Blue Streaks will have no opportunity to rest, however, as Otterbein and Ohio Northern await Deki's army after this Saturday.

The two sides hold quite the unstoppable force vs. immovable object stipulation with three more conference games remaining. The Blue Streaks have been a team plaguing opposition with defensive masterclasses—shutting out as many teams (9) as goals they have conceded all year.

The Blue Streaks ranked tied-fourth in the entire country for goals conceded, and two Blue Streak keepers are at the top of the Ohio Athletic Conference in Goals Against Average. Brenden Moher also ranks 13th in the country in the category himself, being the booming voice commanding the team.

Meanwhile, the Quakers have smashed through the glass ceiling themselves, currently leading Division III NCAA soccer in total goals scored (67) and goals per game (4.19). Freshman striker Parker Burke leads the Ohio Athletic Conference and ranks second in the nation with 21 goals. Wilmington has three players on the top five leaderboards for goals and assists, and all three points leaders come from their team.

Meet the Opposition: Wilmington College Quakers

Form
A team who was ranked eighth in the OAC preseason polls coming into their 2024 campaign, the Quakers come into their 34th matchup against the Blue Streaks with a 11-2-3 record (4-2 OAC). A couple of bumps in the road have smoothed over what has otherwise proved to be an outstanding year, including one of the most prolific teams the OAC has seen and an undefeated non-conference season.

The team's season opener was a sign of things to come, throttling past Mount St. Joseph ,6-3, inclusive of four goals within the first 15 minutes of the second half. The Quakers were not shut out a single time in their ten games leading up to conference play, scoring more than five goals on four different occasions and tallying 16 goals in a two game span against Earlham and Franklin. Draws against Rose-Hulman, Centre, and Hanover proved the team was capable against higher competition as well.

Wilmington kicked off their OAC journey with a whopping 17 goals in the first two matches with an 8-0 win over Heidelberg and a 9-4 win against Muskingum. Their undefeated spell was finally laid to rest in Alliance, falling 1-0 to the Purple Raiders.

Despite the setback, the Quakers bounced with a huge underdog win over Otterbein, a penalty kick from Kaden Young with twelve minutes remaining secured three points. They have split their last two games, rallying from 2-0 behind with 28 minutes left to beat the Yellow Jackets 4-3, and dropping a narrow 2-1 defeat to an extremely in-form Capital team.

Meet the Coaching Staff
Wilmington Head Coach Cory Bucur enters his third season at the helm for the Quakers. After the team lost their head coach to a Division I program prior to the 2022 season, Bucur stepped up in a big way, leading the team to a 12-6-3 record. After earning the four seed to the OAC tournament, the team burst past Mount Union 4-0, and fought for a massive underdog result in overtime against Ohio Northern to make it to the tournament championship, their first time since 2006.

Despite a great run, the team fell to the Blue Streaks with a 4-1 result in the OAC Championship game at Don Shula Stadium.

After a tough offseason of graduates and transfers, the Quakers rebuilt last season with a 4-11-2 record to show for, finishing 3-5-1 in conference play, and have been a phenomenal side this season.

Before his team in southern Ohio, Bucur spent a few seasons with Lake Erie College followed by Defiance College, who he helped reach the program's best ever record in over a decade and their first ever HCAC tournament victories, ultimately getting to the championship game.

Bucur is assisted by Anton Niklasson (7th season), Nick Stifel (3rd season), and former players in Casey Miller (2nd season), and Grant Murray (1st season).

Team Style/Ones to Watch
A breath of fresh air compared to recent matches for the Blue Streaks, the Quakers enjoy their high-energy, high-intensity, attacking-oriented team that has reaped the benefits, becoming the most prolific team in the country. After a season to rebound from last year, the team has turned the ship around with arrivals from the freshmen class and in the transfer portal alike.

As it stands, three players are in the top five of goals, assists, and the Quakers have all top three spots for total points monopolized this season. A handful of great talents for the Blue Streaks to keep tabs on this year, it will be a fascinating contrast to explore.

Spearheading the attacking efficiency has been an unlikely source in the form of the freshmen Parker Burke. Coming from a K-12 school of 500 in Xenia, he was clearly a player to fly under the radar for many Ohio coaches.  In 16 games on the pitch, Burke has bagged 21 goals and assisted six more, placing him tied first in the country in total goals scored and second in the country in points across all of Division III soccer. Burke has scored in every OAC match to date excluding their shutout against Mount Union, including a hat trick against Muskingum. Certainly in a bid for All-American status as just a first-year player.

The junior Oregon-native Kaden Young and attacking transfer from Malone University Randy Harris accompany Burke up front as massive attacking threats. Both fighting behind Burke for points with 29 and 30 respectively, the two have combined for 22 goals and 15 assists, predominantly playing on the wings of the team's typical 4-3-3 formation. Young's lucrative season has yielded more goal involvements than in these first two seasons combined, scoring 13 and assisting another three.

Meanwhile, the former Malone player Randy Harris has been more balanced in his attacking numbers, scoring nine goals while assisting another twelve. After three years and over 1,400 minutes on the pitch at the Division II level, Harris has settled very nicely into Bucur's system.

The attacking midfield is also important to acknowledge, as the sophomore midfielder Jace Houck has also been a force to be reckoned with, being a visionary in the center of the park while tallying ten assists up until this evening's bout.

The box-to-box midfield infantry in team veteran Alfie Harris and sophomore Aidan Barnishin serve as the engines of the middle, both starting all 16 games to date for the Quakers.

The back line has also been stellar for the Quakers, anchored down by freshmen goalkeeper Oliver Metz, who leads the team in minutes while earning a 0.671% save percentage.

Your John Carroll Blue Streaks

Form
Running rampant against the OAC in recent weeks, the Blue Streaks head down for tonight's battle with a 11-3-2 record (5-1 OAC). A topsy-turvy season for certain, the Blue and Gold need to be in the shape of their lives, both physically and mentally, for this final run of matches in the team's last dance in the Ohio Athletic Conference.

The beginning of non-conference play begged some great results, winning five of their first six games, only marred by a loss in the squad's home opener over Kenyon thanks to a goal conceded in the 83rd minute.

After McCarthy Weekend, the team took a slight decline, drawing an incredible game with Ohio Wesleyan and getting a scoreless draw result in Pennsylvania the following weekend. Coming back to Cleveland the following Wednesday, the squad dropped a 2-0 game against Case Western Reserve. Facing adversity, Wenzler's Warriors rallied back home, taking home a 3-1 victory over Calvin University.

Conference play has been a mixed bag for the Blue Streaks, getting results but perhaps not with the flying colors they may have been planning on for a few matches. Before their 7-0 thrashing of Heidelberg this past Wednesday, every Blue Streaks victory in OAC play has only been within one goal, with a loss to Mount Union in Alliance their only true setback.

With a flurry of goals courtesy of Patrick Koenig and friends this past week, it is hopefully a sign of things to come for some more comfortable wins in the future.

Meet the Coaching Staff
Athletic Hall of Famer and Head Coach Dejan Mladenovic has been taking 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 55-18-9 record to date. He was recently 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
Continuing their run of form, the Blue Streaks' identity has stayed true through and through, putting faith in their players in the attacking third and blending team play with individual brilliance.

It has been evidently hard to nail down who exactly are the "go-to" guys for the Blue Streaks, which can be met with a simple response—there aren't any. Offensive leaders shift on a match-by-match basis, and no one player has dominated the ranks in any regard.

Fifth year striker Jaden Wright currently leads the charge, scoring four goals and adding on three assists. Wright's foot has been the hand of three game-winning goals, including two separate occasions of scoring the sole goals with ten minutes left (1-0 wins against Carnegie Mellon and Baldwin Wallace).

Following close behind Wright's footsteps are the fifth year Patrick Koenig who jumped the ranks with his hat trick in the last affair as well as freshman Dylan Halm, who has one of the many excellent additions from the freshmen class.

Logan Penton, Luka Pranjeta, and Hayden Haffner follow with three goals each, all respectively coming up huge in games to secure victories.

Coming into the midfield, senior Nicholas Graeca leads the charge, being one of the vital organs of this Blue Streaks team. With consistent high energy and a newfound sense of composure, the DuBois, Pennsylvania-native will make his mark on both sides of the ball this evening.

Other midfielders such as Guilherme Wanderley, Andrew Ruggiero, and Logan Brown also use their dynamic playstyles to control the middle third and push momentum forward.

Perhaps the most important piece of this John Carroll squad on the year, however, is their defensive line. Constantly switching personnel due to injury, the Blue Streaks have never lost the form on their back four, only conceding nine goals on the year.

Both of the team's goalkeepers lead the OAC in goals against average, and junior keeper Brenden Moher sits 13th in the country in the statistic. The Blue Streaks have shut out nine different opponents this year, including four of their six OAC games.

Despite trial and tribulation, the defenders of Izac Coleman, Nathan Monastra, and Daniel Kalic have all been the loyal subjects of one of the most impenetrable defenses in the region. Freshmen Nick Mikulec has also shifted to be back with injuries and settles in nicely along with a fellow former Saint Ignatius center back in Kalic.

Matchup History
The John Carroll Blue Streaks currently hold a 25-5-3 against the Quakers in all competitions. Despite an overwhelming advantage historically for the Blue Streaks, recent years have shown extremely valiant efforts from the Quakers.

John Carroll matched up against the Quakers on two different occasions in 2022, with the regular season contest finishing 1-0—Patrick Koenig firing a shot from the top of the 18 that took quite the deflection off of a Wilmington defender for a dagger through the heart of the Quakers. The second time, of course, was the OAC Championship, where the Blue Streaks would find their stride offensively for a comfortable 4-1 win.

Last year, the team was in Wilmington for a thrilling 3-2 victory. An opening goal from Jaden Wright was quickly leveled with a goal from the Quakers' Kaden Young right before the half. In the 64th minute, Daniel Kalic fired a missile volley from 30 yards out into the back of the net, but the home team would just not go away, with Connor Neidemire scoring off of the long throw.

Jaden Wright was the man to pull the Blue Streaks through, scoring in the 82nd minute to give John Carroll the three points in the OAC opener.

Here are some more quick facts about the historic rivalry:
  • The Quakers have not defeated the Blue Streaks since 2004, where they took consecutive wins over the Blue Streaks in a two-week span.
  • Since their 2004 win, Wilmington has only scored more than one goal on the Blue Streaks on four separate occasions.
  • The Quakers have never defeated the Blue Streaks at home.
  • Despite all victories, the Blue Streaks have only been able to shut the Quakers out four times since 2014
  • The Blue Streaks have not shut out the Quakers in Wilmington since 2019.

Up Next
John Carroll comes back to Don Shula for one final time during the regular season for a faceoff with Otterbein University on Wednesday, kickoff set for 7 p.m. on what has been a generational soccer rivalry in recent years.

Meanwhile, the Quakers will also stay at home for a challenging affair with Ohio Northern University on Wednesday, kickoff set for 7 p.m. from Williams Stadium.

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 Wilmington's athletics website and OAC TV.

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