PHOTO GALLERY
WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein men's soccer team battled the University of Chicago and mother nature Sunday afternoon in the second round of the NCAA Division III Championships, hosted at a cold and slick Memorial Stadium.
A nationally-ranked slugfest was on the menu, as the No. 9-ranked Cardinals and No. 10-ranked Maroons returned to meet after convincing victories in their respective openers. Roughly two hours before first kick, snow began falling around the area and morphed the turf into a slush-filled surface.
Both sides began feeling the new environment out as best they could, with each team winning a handful of corner kicks and set pieces by the midway point of the first half. The scoreboard remained intact despite the footing of most players remaining off-balanced.
Chicago took the lead for good near the end of the 30th minute on a double-assist sequence. Maina Ngobia won possession on the right side and fed a pass over to teammate Sahil Modi at the top of the box. He made an extra pass to a nearby Lyndon Hu, who finished a shot lower right after Otterbein goalkeeper
Andrew McIlvoy seemed to have been shaded by some traffic.
The Maroons, playing their seventh nationally-ranked opponent of the season, added an insurance goal less than eight minutes later on a perfect corner sequence. Jack Leuker sent a ball far post, where Richard Gillespie headed it home to give Chicago a 2-0 lead at intermission.
Otterbein turned up the offensive juice and controlled majority of possession throughout the second half, motivated to push forward and get that first goal. The Cardinals saw multiple opportunities on that side of the field (including a few up-close looks down the stretch) but nothing would end up hitting the back of the net.
Chicago, NCAA semifinalists in both 2017 and 2018, moves on to the Sweet 16 while Otterbein ends its season with a strong 15-2-4 record. The Cardinals were initially picked to finish SIXTH in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) preseason poll.
Otterbein finished with a marginal 10-7 shot advantage and the match saw a combined 13 corner kicks. The Cards will enter the offseason after sharing the OAC regular-season crown and then settling for runner-up status in the league tournament.
