John Carroll had not lost a game it had led since the 2014 OAC Championship match. John Carroll had lost to Otterbein since 2004.

Both streaks came crashing down Tuesday night.

Lapses in defensive coverage can be the difference in the Ohio Athletic Conference, and what happened in Westerville justified that notion. Two corner kicks executed to perfection by the host squad proved the difference as the battle for first place went to Otterbein, 2-1, in overtime. The Cardinals now own a two-game lead with three matches to play, dimming John Carroll's hopes to repeat as league regular season champions.

The Cardinals extended their winning streak to 10 games, maintaining a perfect conference record under head coach Jason Griffiths.

The ball primarily stayed in the middle of the field through the first 20 minutes, as only Eric Rozsits, Lombardo and Brian Lutz would each fire errant shot attempts. Lutz's kick clanged off the crossbar, his fifth shot on goal this season.

JCU featured its stout defense throughout the first half, holding the opposition to zero shots until the 38-minute mark, when Pau Piang missed wide of the mark.

Tristan Lyles and Jared Vidika tag-teamed on a handful of sequences, forcing turnovers in the low-scoring affair.

Goalkeeper Collin Hoffman fended away a valuable scoring opportunity off the foot of Jesse Marinaro – one of his two first-half saves – before the Cardinals took an offside penalty in transition, securing the deadlock heading into the intermission.

More of the same back-and-forth, unsustainable possessions transpired in the early stages of the second half, with neither team snapping out of an offensive funk.

One crease in the defense opened head coach Hector Marinaro's first and only lead of the contest.

Dalton Browsky and Hayden Parente were able to thread the needle on a pair of touch passes before Jake Lombardo sunk his fifth goal of the year on a diagonal shot directed at the left side of the net.

Optimism raged even higher for the Blue Streaks when a red card left Otterbein down a man for what looked to be for the remainder of the match.

Which made Otterbein's equalizer all the more remarkable. Jaden Lunger slithered his way through the middle on a corner kick in the 72nd minute, knocking his second goal of the campaign off his head and past the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Liam McIntosh.

Each team kept the offense at bay for the remainder of regulation, but along the way, Lombardo picked up a red card, leaving both teams with 10 players for the final nine minutes of regulation and overtime.

Just two minutes, 45 seconds into overtime, the corner kick proved to be problematic once again for the JCU defense, with Zach Lewis leaping to a peak elevation, lacing the ball perfectly into the top-right corner of the goal.

Otterbein, which reappeared in the national rankings for the first time since 2003 at #25 in the United Soccer Coaches poll, justified its position as it improved to 12-2 overall and 6-0 in the OAC, while JCU slipped to 12-2-1 and 4-2 in league play.

The Blue Streaks take on the Capital Crusaders (9-5, 3-2 OAC) on Saturday at 7 p.m. from Purmort Field at Bernlohr Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.