MARIETTA, Ohio – The Otterbein men's soccer team returned to its winning ways Wednesday night by defeating Marietta, 2-1, in overtime.
Kennedy Mensah was in the right spot at the right time scoring the game-winning goal for the Tan and Cardinal and snapping a brief three-match losing skid.
This was the second-straight matchup between the schools that went to extra time, as Otterbein prevailed with an identical 2-1 triumph over the Pioneers during last year's Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament semifinal showdown in Westerville. Former Cardinal
Nate Norris scored in the 92nd minute to help the team escape.
The Cardinal attack ramped up in the 27th minute this time around, with multiple shots being blocked by the Marietta defense, as
Kohei Adams finally put one past goalkeeper Trevor Dykstra to give Otterbein an early 1-0 edge.
It was an even match between both sides in the first half, as each team attempted nine shots with Otterbein owning a slight 4-3 edge with shots on goal. Goalkeepers Dykstra and
Collin Hoffmann each registered three saves by the intermission.
Marietta (6-5, 0-2 OAC) would come out in the second half aggressive, attempting the first four shots of the new period. The Pioneers would tie the score in the 71st minute as Robert Phillips took a shot from just outside the box that was placed perfectly in the upper-right corner of the net.
Each team would trade chances over the next 19 minutes, but neither squad could find the deciding goal and headed into overtime. This would be the third time Otterbein went into an extra session, holding a 1-1 record, while Marietta won its lone overtime match earlier this year at Wittenberg.
Otterbein capitalized on its lone opportunity early in the golden-goal format.
Erick Juarez-Manning attempted a shot that Dykstra stopped but could not corral, as Mensah would be there for the follow up to culminate the evening.
The Cardinals showed that quality is more important than quantity, as Marietta owned an 18-15 edge in total shots, but Otterbein held a 9-6 advantage in shots on target. The Tan and Cardinal, now back to even records of 4-4 overall and 1-1 within Ohio Athletic Conference play, will return to Westerville on Saturday and play host to Baldwin Wallace at 7 p.m.
