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John Carroll University Athletics

home of the Blue Streaks
Jaden Wright action at home
Jose Figueroa
Jaden Wright scored the eventual game-winner off an assist from Jack Foht.
2
Winner John Carroll JCU (11-2-1, 5-0-0)
1
Ohio Northern ONU (7-5-2, 3-1-1)
Winner
John Carroll JCU
(11-2-1, 5-0-0)
2
Final
1
Ohio Northern ONU
(7-5-2, 3-1-1)
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
John Carroll JCU 1 1 2
Ohio Northern ONU 0 1 1

Game Recap: Men's Soccer | | Gianluca DiGiacomo, Staff Writer

Men's Soccer Bursts Past Ohio Northern in Ada for Key OAC Victory

Blue Streaks Conquer Ada in Another Brilliant Pursuit of Victory

ADA, Ohio – On Saturday afternoon, the John Carroll Men's Soccer team traveled to northwest Ohio to take on the Polar Bears of Ohio Northern University. With a rich history and fierce rivalry correlated with these two programs, it was bound to be an intense contest from start to finish.

Wenzler's Warriors were hungry for redemption against the Polar Bears after last year's bout, as Ohio Northern tallied their first regulation win over John Carroll since 2015, and giving the Blue Streaks their first conference loss at home since 2015. Last year, Levi King opened the scoring, and despite an equalizer before the half from John Carroll's Nick Felician, a goal in the first 62 seconds of the half from Sam McKee put the game to bed. A loss of this magnitude not only cost John Carroll a regular season championship, but also an opportunity for hosting privileges in the national tournament. With all of this in mind, this Blue Streaks side was quite the motivated bunch.

The Blue Streaks put in a valiant effort to defeat the Polar Bears 2-1 on their home turf in Dial-Roberson Stadium.

An excellent matchup it was bound to be, as both teams would be in great form on the attacking side of the ball. John Carroll tallied 20 goals in their last three matches, while Ohio Northern notched 13 goals in their last two matches, including a whopping ten against Heidelberg on Wednesday.

Both teams started the match being shot out of a cannon, desperate to play the game to their standards. John Carroll came out a bit more composed and methodical, while Ohio Northern looked to establish a much quicker pace of play.

A great contrast being shown in the opening minutes, the Polar Bears showing their incredible rotation, off-ball movement and offensive progression. Meanwhile, John Carroll would be playing with greater stress on long balls and quick linkups moving forward. 

The Blue Streaks had some solid chances, but struggled to take proper care of the ball, meanwhile Ohio Northern would be lacking in the possession game, but proved extremely effective on the ball in chance creation.

Despite some general domination from both teams for short stints in the early minutes, the first half slowly began to level itself out, and John Carroll would open the scoring a quarter of a way through the match.

With some great movement forward, Jack Foht would get a last-ditch effort to find Jaden Wright on the top of the box despite some contact with a Polar Bear defender. Wright burst forward to the right to create some space, and squared it across to Daniel Kalic crashing into the center for a tap-in. With the captain's second goal of the season, the Blue Streaks established their lead.

Despite an eventful first half on the offensive side of the ball, some crucial saves and strong defensive acumen had the game locked in 1-0 going into the half. John Carroll had a bundle of standout defensive players with the likes of sophomores Logan Brown and Nathan Monastra delivering on multiple occasions.

Heading into the second half, both teams largely started back where they left off. With an even momentum spread and hunger from both teams, this was still anyone's game despite John Carroll's lead on the scoreboard.

In the 65th minute, John Carroll increased their advantage further through the center of the pitch. A great sequence through the middle with haste and menace led Jack Foht to play a ball through to Jaden Wright, who slid in and tapped the ball past the grasps of the keeper Lucas Hickey and into the net. A festive celebration in the corner commenced and John Carroll were rolling now, 2-0 to the Blue Streaks.

Now down two goals, one could see a change in the state of the Polar Bears. As the ball kicked back off, Ohio Northern had a much greater pep in their step; cleaner passes, using the wings to attack more efficiently, and a great emphasis on the man-marking on John Carroll's deep-lying defensive midfielder. The swift adjustments created an environment for the home team to slowly chip away at JCU's momentum. In the 80th minute of play, Ohio Northern finally had their moment.

The Polar Bears infiltrated the wing with loads of pace, and an ill-advised tackle from Steven Samuelson tripped up their winger and the penalty was drawn. Will Shaffer stepped up and absolutely buried it bottom right. A confident crack of the ball from the striker gave the men in white a lifeline.

Given the circumstances, this made for quite the gritty final ten minutes. Despite quite the cornucopia of set pieces and a stellar rally from the Polar Bears, they couldn't quite find a second consecutive end product, and John Carroll would get an absolutely massive win away from home to continue their flawless conference record.

John Carroll improves to 5-0 in Ohio Athletic Conference play, while Ohio Northern would drop to 3-1-1, still very much so in the running for an OAC regular season crown.

Some more interesting results from the OAC tonight, here are the final scores from tonight.

(5-0-0) John Carroll University 2-1 Ohio Northern University (3-1-1)
(3-1-1) University of Mount Union 3-1 Capital University (1-3-1)
(1-4-0) Muskingum University 1-6 Baldwin Wallace University (2-2-1)
(0-5-0) Heidelberg University 0-7 Otterbein University (4-0-1)
(1-3-1) Wilmington College 1-2 Marietta College (2-3-0)

John Carroll will be back in action at Don Shula Stadium on Wednesday, October 18th to take on Otterbein University for a rematch of their classic OAC Semifinal contest from last season. Kickoff at 7:00 p.m., with coverage on jcusports.com and OAC TV!
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