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WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The No. 25-ranked Otterbein men's soccer squad secured a dramatic 2-1 win over No. 9 John Carroll on Tuesday night at Memorial Stadium, inflating its winning streak to 10-straight games. The result gives Otterbein its first win over the Blue Streaks since 2004.
The Cardinals (12-2 overall), recently earning their way into the latest national poll for the first time since 2003, are now 6-0 in Ohio Athletic Conference play and have a six-point advantage over JCU in the conference standings with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season.
The two teams played to a scoreless first half of action as John Carroll, the defending OAC champion, held an 8-3 advantage in shots. Otterbein goalkeeper
Collin Hoffmann stopped a pair to help aid the Cardinal defense.
An action-packed second half was on display for both sides with the Blue Streaks inking the scoreboard less than five minutes into the frame on a rare double-assisted goal. JCU's Hayden Parente had the initial touch to Dalton Browsky in setting up the fifth score of the year for Jake Lombardo, who fired a shot far post and past the diving reach of Hoffmann.
Otterbein struggled to gain any ground offensively for a solid amount of time as JCU limited its opportunities on goal, before physical play involving a yellow card on the Blue Streaks and a red card on the Cardinals shifted the mentality.
Despite playing down a man, the Cards earned a prime opportunity in the 72nd minute after sophomore
Eric Stucky ran down a ball John Carroll's end of the field, which led to classmate
Pau Piang's corner.
Piang promptly launched a ball to the far side of the Blue Streaks box right in line for junior
Zach Lewis, who headed the ball to senior
Jaden Lunger on the fly to tie the game. Lunger's score was his second of the year, while Lewis tallied his third assist.
Only two shots were totaled over the final 18 minutes of regulation, both credited to Otterbein, while JCU saw one of its players receive their second yellow card. The sequence resulted in an early exit and led to a 10-on-10 matchup as overtime approached.
The Cardinals didn't take long to escape with the win, as junior
Toby Varland was called on in the 93rd minute to take what proved to be the decisive corner kick. His ball sailed through the box, where Lewis snuck a header inside the post and erupted the grandstands.
"Jaden usually goes back post, but he looked over and told me to go instead," Lewis explained. "I just tried to lock my eyes on the ball and keep it alive. Next thing I knew it snuck inside and hit the net. I saw a new piece of character from our team heading into overtime. We continue to learn more about ourselves and what we are capable of."
"We stuck to our game plan, continued playing for one another and maintained the passion of defending our home field," added Lunger, whose team remains undefeated at Memorial Stadium this fall. "The crowd tonight was inspiring and that's what it's all about."
Hoffmann picked up his 12th win in goal after saving four shots, while the Cards made the most of their shot total with four of eight coming on goal. When asked about where the team goes from here with three regular-season contests remaining, Lewis remarked, "Next game baby."
