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John Carroll University Athletics

home of the Blue Streaks
Patrick Koenig from 2023
Jose Figueroa
2
Winner John Carroll JOHN CAR (1-0-0, 0-0-0)
0
Oberlin OBERLIN (0-1-0, 0-0-0)
Winner
John Carroll JOHN CAR
(1-0-0, 0-0-0)
2
Final
0
Oberlin OBERLIN
(0-1-0, 0-0-0)
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
John Carroll JOHN CAR 0 2 2
Oberlin OBERLIN 0 0 0

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

Blue Streaks On Fire: Men's Soccer Picks Up Massive Season Opener on the Road

The Team Now Looks to Sunday for a Nationally-Ranked Contest

OBERLIN, Ohio – To Kahn Track and Shults Field, the John Carroll Blue Streaks traveled for their season opener for a highly-anticipated 60th year of the program's history. With a massive increase in team morale and energy through the course of the preseason, expectations were high for the first taste of John Carroll Soccer the outside world would get.

In a true testament of toughness on both sides of the ball, the Blue Streaks edged out their opposition with a stellar 2-0 victory away from home.

The Blue Streaks opened exactly how many anticipated; playing with more pragmatic tactics and allowing the creative flow of their attacking third to work their magic.

It did not take long for the Blue Streaks to knock off the ring rust, forcing a corner just four minutes in, and two minutes later Jaden Wright led a blistering run down the line to create some havoc within the 18-yard box.

Within the opening ten minutes, Oberlin began to push back, capitalizing on a handful of blunders on the back and applying some heavy pressure to John Carroll's back line. Both sides began to see weaknesses to exploit not long after; John Carroll attacking the wings seeing a more compact defense, while Oberlin began hammering home on long balls with JCU's high defensive line.

Despite these enlightenments, neither team made any real progression on the offensive end. John Carroll moved the ball extremely well and kept constant movement off the ball, but Oberlin's tactical structure made it very difficult to promote advancement. Through the opening 45 minutes, neither team could break the deadlock and we would go into the halftime break scoreless. A couple of stellar saves from the Liechtenstein-born goalkeeper Lukas Verling kept Oberlin in the running, and his heroics continued through the second half.

After the break, the Blue Streaks got their much-needed rest and began to lay on more pressure to exploit the creaks and crevices on the Yeomen's team. Just 90 seconds into the back half of the match, the Blue Streaks drew a corner and Hayden Haffner sent a solid effort over the bar from 20 yards out.
Five minutes later, Patrick Koenig had a breakaway 1v1 chance with the keeper. With an off-balance strike of the ball, Koenig sent it rolling just wide of the left hand post, building frustration. Senior Nicholas Graeca dashed down the line and created a golden opportunity and froze in front of goal and forced another incredible save by the Oberlin keeper Lukas Verling. The squad applied every morsel of duress possible, and just needed that finishing touch.

Enter the first-year Dylan Halm. After getting some contact on a corner whipped in not long before, the High School All-American made his proper mark at the perfect time.

Receiving the ball in the box in the 57th minute of play, Jaden Wright's attempt at goal would once again be denied by Lukas Verling. Off of an additional deflection off of a defender, Halm crashed into the box and slotted away the first goal of the 2024 campaign. A special performance from a very special talent.

It was at this point that the Blue Streaks really began feeling themselves. For the remainder of the match, attacking activity never seemed to dwindle, and every player up top began sinking their teeth into opportunities in the attacking third.

Much to Oberlin's credit, however, they were sure to bend but not break. The team's organization and collection of well-calculated challenges had them holding on quite nicely. The Yeomen continued their trend of balls over the back line, but John Carroll's incredible recovery defense did not allow for anything of serious menace.

Floodgates of looks on goal began to worsen for the home side as the half progressed, with Andrew Massucci forcing yet another tremendous save from the keeper in the 70th minute. The Yeomen fought back with some pushes into JCU's defensive third, but failed to capitalize.

In the 80th minute, the Blue Streaks secured their victory with a second goal to lay on the emphasis. Fifth year senior Logan Penton excelled down the sideline and delivered an off-balance cross to the back post. The keeper Verling reached up for it, but spilled it in the air to make it up for grabs for Patrick Koenig galloping in at the back post. A smooth touch on the ball sent it in and sent the bench into quite the whirlwind, still trying to adjust to the new bench regulations.

Verling was unfortunately injured on the play and forced him out of the match—an impeccable match from the keeper outside of the mishap.

The Blue Streaks chugged along for the final ten minutes, and maintained their undefeated streak over the Yeomen dating all the way back to September 1988. A great night for seasoned veterans and first-year debuts alike, making it quite the fun ride back to University Heights.

The first-year winger and man of the match candidate Dylan Halm was particularly amped up about the opener. "I feel amazing and it was a great play all around. Getting the first goal of the season and my career was something really special to me…I just wanted to keep it going," he said after the game.

John Carroll's celebrations will certainly have to be cut short, with the team having quite the quick turnaround with their home opener on Sunday afternoon against #19 Kenyon College from Don Shula Stadium, kickoff at 1:30 p.m.

Here are the other results from around the Ohio Athletic Conference:

Heidelberg University 0-1 Transylvania University
Capital University 1-1 Bluffton University
Otterbein University 1-0 #22 Case Western Reserve University
#15 Ohio Northern University 2-3 #19 Kenyon College
Wilmington College 6-3 Mount Saint Joseph University
University of Mount Union 1-3 #23 Ohio Wesleyan University
Marietta College 0-1 Chatham University
Muskingum University 0-3 Franciscan University
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