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John Carroll University Athletics

home of the Blue Streaks
Nicholas Graeca vs. OTT
Sean Finucane
The Blue Streaks endured their first conference loss of the year.
1
Winner Otterbein OTT (9-2-3, 5-0-1)
0
John Carroll JCU (11-3-1, 5-1-0)
Winner
Otterbein OTT
(9-2-3, 5-0-1)
1
Final
0
John Carroll JCU
(11-3-1, 5-1-0)
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Otterbein OTT 0 1 1
John Carroll JCU 0 0 0

Game Recap: Men's Soccer | | Jack Stephens, Staff Writer

Blue Streaks Struggle Returning Home in First OAC Loss to Otterbein

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS - Riding a six game winning streak, the John Carroll men's soccer team welcomed Otterbein University to Don Shula Stadium for a clash between the top two teams in the Ohio Athletic Conference. In a hard-fought, physical contest, JCU dropped their first game since late September, by a score of 1-0, to move the Blue Streaks record to 11-3-1.

A matchup between two of the three highest scoring teams in the OAC had this game shaping up to be an offensive shootout. However, in the first half, the defenses paved the way for both teams. 

John Carroll opened the first half pushing the pace, consistently having the ball in Cardinal territory, but the Otterbein defense withstood the attacks. More specifically, clearing two Blue Streak corner kicks within the first eight minutes. 

Otterbein then responded with a couple of chances of their own, but the JCU defense did their job keeping it scoreless. A physical 45 minutes of play, resulted in a scoreless first half, only the third time that has happened to the Blue Streaks this season.

Otterbein began to really play the game on their accord coming out of the break. Junior forward, Nick Isaac, began to take shots trying to put the Cardinals on top. Isaac took the most open shot of the night, up till that point, but sophomore goalkeeper Brenden Moher made a huge save. The JCU defense would not let up as the Cardinals continued to put pressure on the Blue Streaks back line after their near miss. 

John Carroll's offense then started to create chances of their own. Junior forwards Jack Foht and Jaden Wright linked up but their chance was unsuccessful. The physical play of both teams led to another chance for Otterbein, but senior midfielder Hayden Haffner made a huge team save to help out Moher. 

The offensive struggle finally ended with only eight minutes left in the contest, when Otterbein senior midfielder Carter Ely, broke the scoreless tie with an unassisted goal. The Blue Streaks would not go down without a fight. For the last eight minutes of the contest they put a ton of pressure on the Cardinals, but it wasn't enough. JCU fell just a bit short in an exciting contest, 1-0. 

With this result, John Carroll falls to 5-1-0 in OAC action putting them second behind the Cardinals. 

The Blue Streaks return to the pitch Saturday at 5pm for senior night against the Capital Comets at Don Shula Stadium. 
 
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