Buckeyes Host The Crew Wednesday in Sixth Annual Connor Senn Memorial Match

Crew midfielder Danny O'Rourke will wear No. 22 in honor of Senn and give jersey to impressive lineup of silent auction items

May 1, 2007

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio State men's soccer team hosts the Columbus Crew at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in the Sixth Annual Connor Senn Memorial Match. All proceeds from the match will benefit the Connor Senn Memorial Scholarship Fund, which has raised nearly $76,000 to date.

Tickets for the event are $5 for adults and $3 for children and can be purchased at the gate, online at www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com or by calling 1-800-GO-BUCKS.

Once again, a silent auction will be held in the stadium during the game and this year will feature the jersey worn in the game that night by Crew midfielder Danny O'Rourke, who graduated from Worthington Kilbourne High School and played club soccer with Connor Senn.

Other items in the auction come from the U.S. National Team, Mike Nugent, Mike Vrabel, Archie Griffin, Jim Tressel, Thad Matta, Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr. and Daequan Cook, among many others.

Ohio State's student radio station will call the game live on its Web site at www.OhioStateSports.com.

The event raised a record $20,000 last year and will again include a silent auction that includes a wide array of Ohio State memorabilia, including many autographed items.

"We greatly appreciate the support of the Columbus Crew in helping us stage this match in Connor's memory," John Bluem, Ohio State head men's soccer coach, said. "The match continues to be a great revenue stream for the Connor Senn Memorial Scholarship Fund that has been established here at Ohio State, and it is always a pleasure and a great opportunity for our players to measure themselves against the Columbus Crew, one of the finest professional soccer teams in America."

"The annual Connor Senn Memorial Match is an event that we are proud to be associated with," said Crew General Manager Mark McCullers. "It is important to us to support Ohio State's efforts to honor Connor's memory and help it raise money in his name for a great cause."

REMEMBERING CONNOR
Connor Senn, a freshman defender on Ohio State's 2001 team, collapsed during the Buckeye's match at Akron Sept. 26, 2001 and died that night from a congenital heart defect. Connor, a walk-on from Granville, Ohio, had earned a starting position midway through the 2001 season. He saw action in eight of 10 matches, starting five. After winning the Big Ten in 2000, Ohio State finished the 2001 season 10-7-2 and received its first-ever at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

The Connor Senn Memorial Fund was established by Dr. Lance Senn, Connor's father and a former member of the Ohio State tennis team.

KIRBY PICKED IN MLS SUPPLEMENTAL DRAFT
Ohio State senior defender Dustin Kirby was selected by Real Salt Lake in the fourth round of the Major League Soccer supplemental draft Thursday, becoming the seventh Buckeye since 2003 to have his name called by an MLS team. A co-captain and four-year starter, Kirby (Mentor, Ohio/Mentor) was a first-team All-Big Ten selection last fall for the Buckeyes, who went 11-7-3 and finished second in the Big Ten.

Kirby played in all 82 games in his OSU career, starting all but one, and played 7,173 minutes of a possible 7,489. At Salt Lake, Kirby joins a team that will be in its second year of existence this summer and includes forward Freddy Adu on its roster and former OSU assistant coach Brian Johnson on its coaching staff.

A Look Back At THE 2006 SEASON
By the time November arrived last season, Ohio State was one of the hottest teams in the country. The Buckeyes secured the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Championship and advanced to the title games as hosts in Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. That, and an 8-2-1 record in their final 11 games, should have been enough to put Ohio State in its third-consecutive NCAA tournament. But when the 48-team field of the national tournament was announced Nov. 6, Ohio State's name was not called. And with it, the Buckeyes' season came to a halt with an 11-7-3 overall record. OSU was 3-2-1 in the Big Ten and its No. 2 seed was its third in a row.

The Buckeyes moved up to No. 5 in the NSCAA Great Lakes Region following the Big Ten Championship, and although polls have no impact on which teams are selected for the NCAA tournament, Ohio State was ranked ahead of No. 6 Illinois-Chicago, No. 8 Northwestern and No. 9 Loyola-Chicago, all of which found a spot in the NCAA tournament. During the regular season, Ohio State was ranked as high as No. 20 in the country in 2006 (Sept. 5).

A LOOK AHEAD TO 2007
In the fall, Ohio State will return 12 letterwinners, including seven starters and its top five scorers from 2006. Starters back include GK Casey Latchem, D Eric Brunner, D Tim Gabel, M Geoff Marsh, M Danny Irizarry, F Xavier Balc and F Ryan Kustos.