ALLIANCE — The Otterbein men's soccer team won the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament championship with a 1-0 victory at Mount Union on Saturday night. This is the Cardinals' seventh OAC Tournament title and first since 2017, and the championship earns them an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament. Junior Kasdin Hale provided the game-winning goal as senior Nick Isaac broke the program's single-season assists record.

The Basics

• Records: Otterbein (12-6-3 overall), Mount Union (15-5-1 overall)
• Venue: Kehres Stadium - Alliance, Ohio
• Otterbein is the No. 3 seed in the tournament, and Mount Union is the No. 1 seed.
• OAC Tournament page
• Entering play Saturday, Mount Union was ranked No. 30 in the in the NCAA Power Index, which is used to select at-large bids for the Division III Tournament. Otterbein was ranked No. 70. The NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Selection Show will air Monday, Nov. 11, at 1:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.

The Game

• A Mount Union shot went just wide left of the goal 14:20 into the game. Otterbein also had an early scoring opportunity when a header from junior Jacob Irani sailed just high of the goal about a minute later. The Purple Raiders' Alex Depperschmidt had a run at the goal in the 25th minute, but his shot went off target. Another Mount Union shot, this time from Adam Kalvitz in the 29th minute, went wide left. A close-range shot from Mount Union's Emilio Spetic sailed high in the 31st minute. Otterbein junior Colm Oneacre attempted a shot from about 20 yards out that went high in the 39th minute.
• The Cardinals broke through on the scoreboard in the 42nd minute. With Mount Union goalkeeper Lucas Fields caught out of position wide of the goal, Isaac gained possession of the ball and passed it to Hale in front of the goal. Hale subsequently found the back of the net to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.
• Otterbein took that 1-0 lead into halftime. Both teams attempted six shots, with one on goal, and had one corner kick in the first half.
• Irani took a shot off a pass from graduate student Carter Ely that was saved by Fields in the 58th minute. Irani's shot off the subsequent corner kick was blocked. A Mount Union free kick from the 15-yard line by Reese Utter sailed wide left in the 66th minute as Otterbein held onto its lead. At the other end of the field just over a minute later, shots from graduate student Drew Holman and Hale were saved by Fields.
• A last-second shot from Mount Union's Carter Hancock was knocked away by Otterbein freshman goalkeeper Jason Villalobos to preserve the 1-0 victory for the Cardinals.
• Villalobos played all 90 minutes in goal for Otterbein and recorded two saves in the shutout.
• Both teams finished with 10 shots in the game. Four of Otterbein's shots were on target to Mount Union's two. The Cardinals finished with a 3-1 edge in corner kicks. There were a combined 15 fouls and six yellow cards in the game.

Quotes

• Head coach Jason Griffiths: "The guys grinded it out. We had a few really good looks on goal, and I thought we limited Mount Union to few chances. The goal we scored was kind of a scrappy one that we took advantage of. I'm happy for Kasdin to get the game-winner. He has battled for playing time all season and comes in and scores in a huge game, and Nick breaking the single-season assists record is awesome. We grinded it out in the second half, and the guys worked really hard. I'm super proud of the guys. They deserve to be in the NCAAs.
• Senior Nick Isaac: "This is pretty incredible. I've never experienced this, and neither has a lot of the guys, so we're having a great time. We battled from the first minute of the game, and we knew we were going to come out as champions. Our mentality was to come in and get it done and keep moving on."
• Freshman Jason Villalobos: "It feels great being a champion, especially as a freshman pulling my weight with the team. I'm glad to be here enjoying the moment with everyone. We've worked so hard for it. We knew what we had to do, and we did it. Over those last 10 minutes, I was just praying for time to go quicker. That was the slowest 10 minutes of my life, but it feels amazing to win."

  Notables

• Otterbein fell 2-1 to Mount Union in the teams' regular-season matchup on Oct. 5. The Cardinals are now 11-7-1 against the Purple Raiders dating back to 2008. In the teams' two previous OAC Tournament matchups, Otterbein advanced on penalty kicks in 2003 and won 1-0 in 2019.
• This marks Otterbein's 15th appearance in the OAC Tournament. The Cardinals have a record of 17-7-2 in tournament play. Saturday marked the team's 10th finals appearance.
• The Cardinals avenged all three of their conference regular-season losses during the tournament, defeating Wilmington, Ohio Northern and Mount Union.
• Hale's goal was his second of the season. He has 10 career points on four goals and two assists.
• Isaac's assist was his sixth of the past four games and OAC-leading 14th of the season. He is now the program's record-holder for single-season assists, which was previously 13 set by Rod Borah in 1999.
• The shutout marked Villalobos' 12th of the season.
• In his eighth season with the program, Otterbein head coach Jason Griffiths holds an overall record of 94-38-15.