Men's Soccer Final Release :: OSU advanced to National Championship game

Dec. 21, 2007

Ohio State's National Championship run came to a close after a slim 2-1 defeat in the NCAA title game. OSU claimed national runner-up honors, thus concluding the 2007 soccer season. The Buckeyes compiled their best season in school history breaking numerous records, including a program-best 17 wins.

Entering the National Championship game, OSU rode a 15-game unbeaten streak (12-0-3), serving as the new school record. During this span, the Buckeyes outscored their opponents 22-7, while collecting 11 total shutouts. Five of these shutouts were consecutive breaking the old program-best of four. The Big Ten Tournament Champions advanced past the third round for the first time in school history this year. Prior to entering its fifth NCAA Tournament, OSU owned two all-time wins in NCAA play. This season the Buckeye went 4-1-0, tripling their all-time NCAA win mark to six.

Navigating Ohio State's success this season was first-team All-Americans Xavier Balc and Eric Brunner. Balc racked up 14 assists this season and totaled 35 for his career, ranking him first at OSU all-time in the category. Brunner led a tenacious Buckeye defense which paced all conference teams with 15 shutouts.

Indiana's Brad Ring and Northwestern's David Roth were honored with second team All-American status. Ring aided the storied Hoosier program into their 21st consecutive NCAA appearance. After finishing the season ranked ninth in the polls and racking up a 12th Big Ten Championship, Indiana dropped a second-round contest to Bradley. Roth helped Northwestern to its third post-season in four years. He tallied 19 total points (6 goals, 7 assists) this season, placing him third in the conference. The Wildcats suffered a second-round loss to city rival Illinois-Chicago by a 2-0 margin.

In all the Big Ten fielded four teams in the NCAA Tournament, the final squad being Michigan State . The Spartans returned to NCAA action after a two-year hiatus but fell in round one to Oakland. MSU now ranks second in the conference in total NCAA appearances with 11.