As the regular season begins to wind down, the No. 18 Kenyon men’s soccer team continued its triumphant season with a pair of games against Wabash College and Oberlin College. Facing off against the Little Giants, the Owls brought home a 2-0 win, before defeating Oberlin College 3-0 on Tuesday to gain sole possession of the conference crown. 

The Owls celebrated their seven seniors in a pre-match ceremony that included parents and program alumni on Saturday, prior to the match against the Little Giants.The action began in the twelfth minute of the first half with a goal-of-the-season award-worthy effort from NCAC leading-scorer Alem Duratovic ’25. Just as a Wabash defender headed away a far-post pass from Isaac Cortez ’26, Duratovic quickly regained control of the ball, booting it into the air before swiftly bicycle-kicking it into the far-left end of the Wabash goal. That amazing goal was the 34th of his career and his 10th of the season. Kenyon controlled possession for the remainder of the game, keeping the ball mostly in the Wabash half and ultimately outshooting the Little Giants 13 to five. Kenyon’s security blanket came in the 85th minute thanks to Eamon Dujakovich ’25’s eighth goal and 18th point of the season.

On Tuesday, Kenyon closed out its 2023 regular season with a home win for the books. The Owls came away with a 3-0 shutout against the Yeomen and clinched the 2023 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) regular-season championship for the eight season in a row.

The game quickly went the way of the purple, as the Owls scored three goals in only a three-minute span. Joey Martens ’24 opened the scoring in the 14th minute, rocketing the ball into the top-right corner from 25 yards out to score his fifth of the season in spectacular fashion. Then 38 seconds later, the Owls extended their lead, thanks to the first of a pair of goals from Dujakovich. After a mistake at the back by the Yeomen defense, Cortez won the ball back high up the field and chipped a ball in to Dujakovich, who doubled Kenyon’s lead. Finally, in the 16th minute, Dujakovich buried the ball into the bottom-left corner after a slaloming run past three Oberlin defenders to make it 3-0. The Owls saw the game out without much fuss, outshooting the Yeomen 19-7, finishing out a perfect conference season.

After a big win to clinch the NCAC championship, the Owls (14-3, 8-0 NCAC) are preparing for the 2023 NCAC postseason tournament. Kenyon will host the first round of the four-team bracket on Nov. 1, looking to win the team’s first NCAC Tournament Championship since back-to-back wins in 2018 and 2019.