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WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein men's soccer team earns an automatic bid into the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) tournament, following a 1-0 victory over Ohio Northern (11-6-1 overall, 4-4 in the OAC) Wednesday night inside of Memorial Stadium.

Junior midfielder Pau Piang played the role of hero for the Cardinals by scoring the decisive goal.

Otterbein (8-6 overall, 5-3 in the OAC) currently sits alone in third place with 15 points after the triumphant win. Ohio Northern, entering the match deadlocked with the Cardinals, is now tied for fifth in the OAC with one game left before the tournament. CLICK HERE for full standings. 

The Cardinals and the Polar Bears shared possession time on each other's side of the pitch in the first period. Ohio Northern went into the break holding a 16-7 edge in total shots, while Freshman goalkeeper Andrew McIlvoy recorded six saves. 

With both teams fighting for home-field advantage in the first round of the OAC Tournament, the game would become more physical in the second half as three yellow cards were issued.

In the 80th minute, Erick Juarez-Manning crossed the ball to Kohei Adams and  Adams played a soft back heel touch to Piang. The shifty forward, danced around two Ohio Northern defenders before ripping a shot past goalkeeper John Lombardo in the lower-left corner. Memorial Stadium erupted, and the Cardinal sidelined rejoiced with the junior as they owned a 1-0 edge.

With time still on the clock, Ohio Northern knew the importance of the three points and started to aggressively attack the Cardinal's net. The Polar Bear's best chance came in the 86th minute, as Bryan Kern took a shot a few feet away from McIlvoy. The 6'4 freshman stood tall and made the save, keeping the Polar Bears off of the scoreboard.

With time running low, Kennedy Mensah showed great intelligence by playing the ball into the Ohio Northern corner which continued to chew at the clock. As the scoreboard buzzed, the Cardinals celebrated the victory.

Ohio Northern owned a 28-13 edge in total shots, but only a slight 10-6 advantage in shots on goal. McIlvoy finished the night with a career-high 10 saves.

The Polar Bears will wrap up the regular season on the road taking on Mount Union, while the Cardinals will look to take down, rival, Capital in Bexley Saturday night at 7 p.m.