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John Carroll University Athletics

home of the Blue Streaks
Michael Kelly goal
Aislyn McQueen
Michael Kelly's goal in the second overtime provided the game-winner in a nailbiter of an OAC Semifinal. 
1
Otterbein OTT (11-3-3, 5-1-3)
2
Winner John Carroll JCU (14-4-1, 8-1-0)
Otterbein OTT
(11-3-3, 5-1-3)
1
Final
2
John Carroll JCU
(14-4-1, 8-1-0)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 OT 1 OT 2 F
Otterbein OTT 1 0 0 0 1
John Carroll JCU 0 1 0 1 2

Game Recap: Men's Soccer | | Paul Raglow-DeFranco, Senior Staff Writer

Overtime Heroics Carry Men's Soccer into the OAC Tournament Championship

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS – On a night filled with Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament games for John Carroll Athletics, the JCU Men's Soccer took center stage at Don Shula Stadium on Thursday.

The Blue Streaks pulled off a nail-biting 2-1 victory over Otterbein in a double overtime thriller.

With the triumph, the Blue Streaks advance to the OAC Tournament Championship for the fifth straight season.  

Otterbein came out of the gates swinging with a couple of early scoring attempts. Not even 90 seconds into the game, Otterbein's Jacob Irani had a shot on goal but missed high. A few minutes later, Otterbein's Carter Ely had a crack at goal but missed wide right. 

The Cardinals' early attack finally paid off with the match's first goal of the game. In the 13th minute, midfielder Drew Holman finessed his way through the Blue Streak defense before placing a perfect shot into the bottom left corner of the net.

Following Holman's goal, the match began to even out as both teams struggled to gain possession. A shot by Blue Streak Jack Foht broke the dry spell with a tough shot to the bottom right corner of the net but was turned away by Cardinal goalkeeper Casey Thompson. 

Despite the fast start from the Cardinals, the first half of play was fairly even as both teams finished the half with four shots a piece. 

Otterbein took a 1-0 lead into the break. 

The second half began with some early scoring chances for the Blue Streaks. Following an Otterbein foul, John Carroll's Patrick Koenig delivered a scorching free kick on the net. Thompson was not able to field it cleanly, allowing for John Carroll's Daniel Kalic to crash in for the rebound. Yet, Thompson recovered with an incredible diving save to preserve Otterbein's 1-0 lead. 

Moments later, the Blue Streaks were threatening once more. Andrew Ruggiero played a ball forward to Patrick Koenig. Koenig proceeded to send a no-look pass to Logan Penton, who made his way up the far sideline. 

Following a couple of nice moves, Penton sent a perfect cross over to the North Royalton native Hayden Haffner, who left-footed the ball into the left side of the net to tie the game up at 1-1.

The goal sparked a Blue Streak surge. Ben Brucken tried to make it two goals in under ten minutes but missed just high. Foht had his second chance of the night but again Thompson denied him. The shots continued to rain down as the Blue Streaks outshot Otterbein 11-4 in the second half but were left with just the lone goal by Haffner.

It was only fitting that a game with so much intensity and a trip to the OAC finals on the line could not be resolved in regulation. 

The initial overtime period was dominated by the Cardinals. Just two minutes in, Otterbein Will Isaac aimed for the top right but was denied by Blue Streak keeper Jake Vogrin. A couple of minutes later, Vogrin came through yet again with another clean save off of Isaac's shot. 

Despite the scoring chances, the score remained at 1-1 heading into overtime period number two.

The aggressiveness ramped up in the second overtime period, as both teams were desperately searching for the game-winning goal. As a result, the fouls began to pour in on both sides.
John Carroll finished with 13 fouls while Otterbein finished with 11.

The play of the game occurred just over one minute into the second overtime period. Logan Penton sent a picture-perfect through ball to a sprinting Michael Kelly who was able to head the ball up and over Cardinal keeper Casey Thompson for the game-winning goal. 

"It felt amazing," says Kelly, "I was just running and the ball came across so I went up for it and it hit off my head and went in the goal. I got a little lucky I guess."

The Blue Streaks were able to hold off the Cardinals for the remaining eight minutes of overtime play to advance to the OAC Championship.

John Carroll will host Wilmington on Saturday, November 5, as the Blue Streaks look to win their fifth consecutive OAC Championship.
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