A battle between two undefeated and nationally ranked teams at the front of the Ohio Athletic Conference delivered on the drama front.
It also delivered John Carroll its first loss of 2017.
The Blue Streaks, ranked #4 in both the United Soccer Coaches and d3soccer.com polls, fell to Heidelberg, ranked #20Â according to d3soccer.com, by a score of 3-2Â in Tiffin, Ohio, Tuesday afternoon..
Despite outshooting the Student Princes 11-10, the Blue Streaks could not connect as frequently as Heidelberg as the Student Princes led wire to wite in handing JCU its first regular season league loss since a 2-1 setback to Capital on October 24, 2015.
Jesse Marinaro scored his team high sixth goal in the contest.
The Student Princes caught the Blue Streaks off guard, scoring first in the sixth minute. Rodrigo Meza, put one behind
Liam McIntosh
John Carroll found back-to-back opportunities in the 20th minute,
Dalton Browsky ripped a shot right outside the box, but Jake Kress made the save.
The ensuing possession
Hayden Parente took a corner for JCU. Playing the ball into the box, finding the head of
Jesse Marinaro, that went just over the bar.
In the 36th minute, Heidelberg found another goal, going up 2-0. Two goals had been the largest deficit for John Carroll all season.
John Carroll did not panic, as 34 seconds later
Jesse Marinaro put one between the pipes, making the score 2-1 which held up to the break.
The Blue and Gold outshot the Berg 5-2 in the opening half, but found themselves behind.
The second half started extremely similar to the first. Heidelberg scored within the first 10 minutes of the half, going up 3-1.
Following the Heidelberg goal JCU would answer the call again, this time on a corner kick.
Brian Lutz, played the corner perfectly, finding
Eric Rozsits for the goal, cutting the Heidelberg lead down to one goal.
John Carroll, however, could not find any late game magic as Heidelberg improved to 10-0-0 -- a dramatic improvement from a 7-10-1 record in 2016.
The Blue Streaks will remain on the road later this week, traveling to Marietta, Ohio, where they will take on the Pioneers of Marietta College. A rematch of the 2016 OAC semifinals is set for 4 p.m.
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