Box Score
MARIETTA, Ohio – The Otterbein University men's soccer team found a late charge Wednesday afternoon at Marietta, but ultimately came up short in falling, 4-2, in Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) action.

The loss eliminates the Cardinals' chances of qualifying for next week's six-team OAC Tournament, bringing their record to 8-9 on the season, 3-5 within the league. Otterbein sits just one game behind both Baldwin-Wallace and Heidelberg, but unfortunately lost to both teams earlier this season and would not hold the tiebreaker.

Marietta picks up its first victory since Sept. 21, improving to 4-12-1 overall and 1-6-1 against conference opponents.
The Pioneers struck almost immediately, scoring 36 seconds in as Wesley Riley finished lower right during a 1-on-1 opportunity with Cardinal goalkeeper Kyle Ripma.

Marietta tallied two more first-half goals en route to a 3-0 halftime lead, surviving shots from Otterbein's Jared Pulliam and Luis Rivas that hit the post just prior to intermission.

Marietta bumped the lead to 4-0 early in the second half, but the Cards refused to quit and eventually got on the scoreboard in the 76th minute. Sophomore Reid Wolfe's previous shot had deflected off the crossbar, but Pulliam was there to charge in and finish the sequence.

Pulliam brought Otterbein within two less than six minutes later on a penalty-kick goal, bumping his season total to 15 goals scored. He now leads all conference players in scoring with 34 points.

Unfortunately, Otterbein was not able to claw any closer in the last five minutes of play in suffering the defeat.

The Cards finished with a 10-6 shot advantage, taking six of the eight corner kicks awarded throughout the match. Ripma went the first 45 minutes in goal before giving way to classmate Kiley Gessner.

Otterbein will close out its season Saturday afternoon, traveling to play crosstown-rival Capital University at 2 p.m.