UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio – What a gritty effort and memorable performance it was for the Otterbein men's soccer team up north on Wednesday night, as the Cardinals fought their way to a game-winning goal with under 10 minutes remaining to stun host John Carroll (1-0) inside Don Shula Stadium.

The Cardinals, beating the 5x defending Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament champs for the first time since 2017, vault ahead to grab first place in the OAC regular-season standings with three matches left. JCU (11-3-1) saw its six-match winning streak snapped in the process.

Otterbein runs its unbeaten streak to eight and now stands 9-2-3 overall, 5-0-1 against the league. Additionally, the triumph marks the first victory for the Cardinals in University Heights since way back in 2004.

"We walked in confident just like we have in recent years," head coach Jason Griffiths said. "Our mindset has been the same each time – we feel like we can beat them. Sure, there have been different teams with different players and styles, but our vision has never wavered. Tonight, they were 1 and we were 2… simple as that. The matchup didn't need a lot of extra motivation."

John Carroll moved forward in pushing the pace during a rather lopsided first half, as JCU posted a 12-1 shot advantage before intermission. Otterbein fended off those attacks each time and cleared two corner kicks away in the early going.

The contest turned up a notch in the second half at both ends of the field, where each back line was forced to clear a ball off the line. Drew Holman saw a nice chance thwarted away by a JCU defender, but Mark Wischmeyer did the same for Otterbein in the opposite net at one point.

Otterbein's difference-making sequence came late in the 82nd minute after some jockeying back and forth near midfield. Wischmeyer sent a long ball down toward the box where senior classmate Carter Ely won a battle with JCU All-American Izac Coleman. He promptly beat the goalkeeper lower left to ignite a celebration with his teammates.

John Carroll scraped for an equalizer and nearly salvaged just that after barreling forward in the closing seconds. A loose ball was kicked around a few times in the box before Jaden Wright had space near the right post, but his sliding shot went just wide into the side of the net as time expired.

"We spoke afterward about this still just being three points," Griffiths added. "Yes… this one came against a really good team, but the next game will still be worth the same amount. It's still about taking this one match at a time and seeing where you land come November."

Otterbein held a 10-5 shot margin in the second half while JCU finished with a 17-11 advantage for the entire night. Casey Thompson made five saves in goal for the Cardinals.

The Cards will head right back up 71 North this coming weekend, heading to Baldwin Wallace for a first kick at 2 p.m.