Box Score

Despite playing a man short for a majority of the second half, the John Carroll Blue Streaks came up with a late goal then held off visiting Marietta College for a hard-fought 3-2 victory Saturday at Don Shula Stadium.

In the opening eight minutes of today's contest, offense looked like it would not be a problem for either team.  David Hickey was in the right place at the right time at the 6:18 mark. On a quick play off a short corner kick. #Louis Kastelic hooked the ball toward the left post. Hickley followed the ball as it moved toward the pass and poked the ball into the left side for his first goal of the season.

Less than two minutes later, on yet another corner kick, Kastelic and Joe Ciacchi played a little give and go in the right corner and played a ball to a wide open Jacob Milli near the center of the box. Milli rifled a shot into the net for a 2-0 John Carroll lead.

The Blue Streaks rested on those laurels, and paid dearly for it. Marietta took the restart and needed just 26 seconds to slice the John Carroll lead in half. Deric McDonald burst past the JCU defense to chase down a Kyle Muth through ball and fired a shot past Matt Demarchi for Marietta.

In less than nine minutes of game play, the teams combined for three goals, For the remaining 36 minutes of the opening period, there would be no more goals scored, keeping JCU in the lead by a 2-1 count.

The match would change dramatically in the 56th minute of play. JCU senior captain Mike Pinter would receive a red card when he tackled Kyle Muth on a breakaway heading toward the John Carroll goal. Dele Adepapo converted the ensuing free kick for a goal at the 55:20 mark that knotted the score at 2-2.

The Blue Streaks would have to weather a Marietta storm playing one man down as a result of the Pinter ejection. But it would be an marietta miscue that opened the door for a JCU victory.

With just under 14 minutes to play in regulation, Scott McKinney gave chase to a ball played down deep in the Marietta side. Robert Vasquez got there first, however, and played a ball back to his keeper, Steven Hagenauer. Whether the pass was misplayed or Hagenauer was not expecting the pass, the ball rolled past Hagenauer. McKinney, who had never stopped running, had momentum and speed on his side. He got to the ball first and flicked a short short from two yards away for the winning point.

JCU withstood several charges by the Pioneers over the final 13:54 to emerge with the win.

By virtue of its victory, John Carroll is now 6-4-1 overall and 2-1 in the OAC, while Marietta falls to 6-3-3 overall and 1-1-1 in league play.