Nathan Demian was hit by a stray bullet from a passing car. He sent his squad a video ahead of their national semifinal Friday
B.C. soccer player Nathan Demian sent his Ohio State University teammates an inspirational video ahead of their NCAA national championship semifinal in Cary, N.C., Friday night from his hospital bed while he recovers as an innocent victim of a shooting last Sunday.
“We talked about this from the beginning. We had three goals: Big 10 regular season, Big 10 tournament and now national tournament,” Demian said in the video to his teammates that’s posted on the Ohio State men’s soccer’s Instagram page. “We’ve done two of those so far and now we have the opportunity to go and do the third.
“This is why you come to Ohio State. This is why you play sports. Because you want to play in those games where everybody watches and it matters.”
Demian, who had an Ohio State blanket in the video, said: “This is where we get to show the entire world what we’re made of, what we’re built for. I’m so excited to watch you guys go and do it.”
Demian, who’s a redshirt junior defender, sounded in the video like he was preparing to go to Monday’s national championship game in Cary, telling his teammates: “Two games left, starts today against Marshall, take care of whoever we want on Monday and I’ll be there for that.”
“And all they could do was keep him alive, that was the first word we got from the surgeon,” she added.
According to the Dispatch, Columbus police have not publicly identified any suspects in the shooting.