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WESTERVILLE, Ohio- Otterbein men's soccer soared past Wilmington Wednesday night, 4-2, keeping pace with the top of the OAC. The victory puts the Cardinals at 10-5 and 4-2 in the conference. Wilmington suffers just its second OAC loss, falling to 10-4-2 and 3-2-1 in conference play.

The Cardinal offense has struggled to manufacture goals in the first half of games this season, Wednesday night was a different story. At 23:39 Pau Piang sent a high arching pass from the 35 yard line into the box, like a flash Zach Barwick slipped behind his defender and headed the ball home for his first tally of the season. Otterbein road the lone goal into the break, holding a 5-0 shot advantage at the half.

Not to be outclassed, defender Seth Smith was able to find the back of the net on a header of his own, coming from the foot of Tiger Pham just three minutes into the second half. After battling for possession and drawing a free kick at the 25 yard line in their attacking zone, Nicholas Flury found the back of the net on a rocket free kick shot into the upper ninety of the net, putting Otterbein ahead 3-0 at 56:23.

Wilmington would not go away without a fight though, Michael Owusu played a ball into the box at 57:02 that found the foot of Zach Burgmeier who buried the shot to cut the Cards advantage to 3-1. Wilmington again found the scoreboard at 79:00 to make things interesting, this time with Kevin Kamara finding an open Ian Molfenter for his 9th score of the season.

It was Liam Heard who would put the Quaker threat to bed though, scoring his first goal on American soil at 81:11, thanks to a nifty pass from Harrison Eckels.

Quaker goalkeeper Felix Maurer was called upon plenty tonight, as the Cardinals outshot the visitors 14-7, Maurer made five saves in frame.

The Cardinals will return to action on Saturday, traveling to New Concord for a 2 p.m. slate with the Muskingum Muskies.