The Streaks struck early. The Streaks struck late. And thankfully for John Carroll, the clock never struck midnight on the 2011 season.

A goal in the first 30 seconds gave JCU the early advantage, and a second goal in the final five minutes secured a 2-1 victory over Baldwin-Wallace in a quarterfinal round match of the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament Tuesday evening at Don Shula Stadium.

Box Score



If there is a way of starting off a playoff run, it is the way the Blue Streaks started off their night.  Thirty seconds into the contest, senior Rachel Grdina netted her fourth goal of the year off a feed from Colleen Harmon. Grdina popped a shot toward the keeper that was mishandled and wound up tucking inside the near post.  

With momentum on their side, Carroll dominated the game into the 30th minute until the tables turned.

Late in the first half, the Yellow Jackets upped their play and began to work as a unit.  In the course of the last 15 minutes, Baldwin-Wallace churned out many scoring chances, with only a brilliant save by JCU Goalie Haley McDonald keeping the one-goal advantage intact. John Carroll opened the game with an 8-0 shot advantage, but by the end of the half, it was down to 9-7.

After a strong finish in the first half of play, Baldwin-Wallace continued to pressure Carroll's defense.  Just 9:44 into the second half, forward Kari Trivisonno put the Yellow Jackets on the board when she redirected a ball from Hanna Cavalier past JCU freshman keeper Lexi Korczynski. 

Trivisonno's goal would tie the game at 1-1 and ignite the physical play that is expected from a playoff matchup.

For the remaining time on the clock, the teams traded jabs with a "whatever it takes" mentality, with numerous narrow misses piling up on the stat sheet. 

However, in the 86th minute of the match, John Carroll freshman forward Kaylin Akerly headed the game winning score into the net off a perfectly lofted pass from fellow rookie Gabby Corwin. 

 A defender who had limited playing time in the regular season, Corwin proved her abilities when it counted. 

"I was unaware of the amount of playing time I would get today ," said Corwin. "I just knew I had to be ready to play.”  Corwin and Akerly both have bright futures in the upcoming seasons throughout their years at Carroll.

In the first postseason match-up between the two OAC and Cleveland-area rivals since 1992, John Carroll held the slight edge in shots (18-15) while Baldwin-Wallace had four corner kicks to the Blue Streaks' two.

"It was not always pretty tonight, but our team persevered," said John Carroll head coach Tracy Blasius. "Postseason soccer is about advancing, not about beauty points. Last year, we played very well against Wilmington but could not score and we wound up not moving on. Tonight, we scored when we had to, and now we get a chance to play Ohio Northern."

John Carroll advances to the OAC Tournament semifinal round where it will visit the top-seeded Polar Bears. In their last matchup, ONU defeated John Carroll at Don Shula Stadium by a score of 2-1 as part of an undefeated run through the conference regular season schedule.

The semifinal takes place on Thursday, November 3, at 2:00 pm