Box Score On a frigid night in University Heights, the John Carroll Blue Streaks men's soccer team entered Shula Stadium seeking their ninth consecutive win and full control of the Ohio Athletic Conference.

To do so, the Blue Streaks would have to break a six year winless streak against the Polar Bears of Ohio Northern University. An intense battle was to be expected between the two squads occupying first and second place in the OAC.

Alas, it was not to be for the home squad as John Carroll yielded its advantage in the conference standings to hard-charging Ohio Northern by a 2-1 count.

A very physical start to the game, in which the sounds of whistles could be heard all over campus, made it very hard for either team shift the momentum of the match in their favor. In the 25th minute, to the dismay of many of the Shula Stadium faithful, Matt Kinkopf broke through the Blue Streaks defense for his 13th goal of the season. The top goal scorer in the OAC was fed on the play by Jeremy Barnes.

John Carroll had a number of scoring opportunities late in the first half, but were unable to convert them into goals. Ohio Northern took their 1-0 lead into the halftime break.

In need of a quick equalizer, JCU stayed aggressive on offense to start the second half. However, the Polar Bears' defense continued to seem near impermeable.

Yet, for a brief moment, it appeared the equalizer would be found. JCU senior Mariusz Trzeciak eluded a defended at 40 yards, broke toward the Ohio Northern goal and appeared to make Polar Bear keeper Evan Bader commit early.

Symptomatic of the night, however, Trzeciak lost control and, despite an open net, could only watch helplessly as the ball rolled away and over the end line.

Then, as the rain began to fall, Austin Horton snuck a shot past JCU goalie Chris Garbinsky to take the 2-0 lead. Horton's goal in the 77th minute was unassisted.

The Blue Streaks finally broke through to score their first goal of the match in the 86th minute with a goal from Thor Erikson, assisted by Brian Potocnik to keep their hopes of victory alive. Unable to add a second goal in the final two minutes of play, John Carroll lost the match by a final score of 2-1.

The Blue Streaks' first loss in the month of October brought there record to 13-2, 6-1 in the OAC and surrendered their solo lead in the conference standings. In contrast, with the win, the Polar Bears improve their record to 14-3, 6-1 in conference.

The loss also snapped JCU's 18-match home unbeaten streak dating back to a 2-0 loss to tehse same Ohio Northern Polar Bears on October 22, 2011.

The two teams are now tied with each other for first place in the OAC with just two more regular season games to play. Both the Blue Streaks and the Polar Bears will control their own destiny as they look ahead to position themselves for the start of the conference tournament.