Box Score

WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein University men's soccer team picked up a much-needed Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) victory Tuesday evening, getting a late goal from senior Jared Pulliam to take down visiting Ohio Northern, 2-1, in the rain at Memorial Stadium.

The triumph gives the Cardinals their first OAC win of the fall after three tough losses to open the league schedule. Otterbein had previously lost a tough, 1-0, match at Heidelberg before a pair of overtime defeats to John Carroll and Capital.

The Cardinals, now 8-6 overall, got on the board relatively early against the three-time defending league champions after junior Luis Rivas scored his fourth goal in the last week during the 10th minute. Senior Conor Holland started the sequence on a breakaway, feeding a slick pass through a pair of defenders and watching Rivas beat ONU keeper Dean McNeil.

Otterbein took the 1-0 advantage into halftime before the Polar Bears (8-6-1, 1-2-1 OAC) drew even, playing a short corner to begin a scoring sequence that saw Dustin Lorenzo set up a header goal for Austin Horton on a cross from down near the baseline.

Ohio Northern, playing without leading-scorer Matt Kinkopf for a third-straight match (injury) thought it scored two times shortly after but both goals were quickly disallowed after the offside flag went up on the sideline.

Pulliam tallied the game-winner in the 79th minute, when Rivas maintained possessing and flicked a back-heel pass to Josh Kellner, who found Pulliam wide open in the middle of the box. Otterbein's leading scorer had no problem finishing for his ninth goal of the season.

Otterbein finished with a marginal 12-10 shot advantage throughout the matchup. The Cardinals will finish out the week Saturday evening, hosting Muskingum for a 7 p.m. start time.