The John Carroll men's soccer team wasted no time on a Wednesday, November 2 afternoon as they defeated Marietta College 7-1 in the semifinal round of the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament.
This win advances JCU to the OAC Championship game slated for Saturday, November 5 at 7:00 from Don Shula Stadium. The Blue Streaks have made history by advancing to play in an OAC Championship match for a league-record tying sixth consecutive year.
As a result of their unbeaten season, the Blue Streaks won the OAC regular season, which allowed them to bypass the opening round of the tournament. Their fresh legs were evident from the outset. In the opening half, the Blue and Gold scored four goals, three of which happened in the first 12 minutes of play. Freshman Hayden Parente led the charge with two of the first three, and Myles Taylor added the third.
At the three minute mark, Taylor found Dalton Browsky, who fed Parente in the box for the opening goal. Just two minutes later, Taylor scored one for himself, courtesy of a pass from Jake Lombardo.
Later in the first half, Jarrod McDowell fed Lombardo for the fourth goal in the opening 45 minutes.
John Carroll dominated the second half to carry a 4-0 into the halftime break.
At the start of the second half, the Pioneers tried to get the momentum rolling as Zach Johnson seized upon a rare John Carroll miscue. Just nine second into the period, Johnson placed one between the pipes to bring one goal back for the Pioneers.
However, minutes later, an own goal by Marietta put a stop to their energy.
Late in the second half, Browsky scored the sixth John Carroll goal of the day. Jesse Marinaro and Tim Delaney were credited with the assist. Justin Miller also scored a late second half goal from the penalty spot to increase the lead to six.
Three goal-scorers for JCU also had assists during the game. Parente led the Blue Streaks in goals with two, while Marinaro led the team in assists with two. The Blue Streaks outshot the Pioneers 19-5.
A grand total of 25 Blue Streaks saw time on the field in the contest, and eight of those 25 contributed points.
Earlier this season when these two teams met, the Blue Streaks snuck by the Pioneers in a 1-0 win, courtesy of a Parente goal in the 64th minute of the contest. Dating back to 1986, the Blue and Gold are 27-5-1 when opposing Marietta.
This 7-1 win marks John Carroll's largest margin of victory this season, and set a program record for most goals scored in a postseason match.
JCU will host the winner of #2 Ohio Northern University and #3 Capital University in the OAC Championship on Saturday, Nov. 5th. These teams are scheduled to play Wednesday evening.
The Blue Streaks are 22-16-5 all-time in OAC tournament play, with five titles overall (1993, 2000, 2003, 2005 and 2007). JCU is making the league-record 24th appearance in the 25-year history of the league's postseason, and the league-record 15 championship finals.
