The Otterbein Cardinals men’s soccer team, now 6-6 overall and 1-2 in OAC, received their first OAC win at home against the Muskies of Muskingum, who are 5-8 overall and 0-3 in OAC, on Saturday afternoon.
Within the first five minutes, junior allied health major and Otterbein’s lead scorer, Jared Pulliam, scored his ninth goal of the season to give the Cardinals an early 1-0 lead over the Muskies.
“As a team we were trying to put them away early,” Pulliam said. “It felt good to score that goal and get the monkey off our back since we haven’t won the past two games.”
With fifteen minutes left in the first half, junior biology major Conor Holland gave Otterbein its second goal of the game to take a 2-0 lead.
This came after a penalty kick was blocked and then recovered by Holland for the goal.
The second half was dominated by the Cards but many shots on goal fell short by both Pulliam and senior allied health major Evan Fallon.
“Speed of thought is something we need to work on,” said head coach Gerry D’Arcy. “We have to put more goals away and not give away any clear opportunities on goal.”
The Muskies had one good look in the 74th minute but senior psychology major and goalkeeper Kyle Ripma made a key save to prevent the Muskies from getting points on the board.
The Cardinals would ultimately walk away with the shutout win over the Muskies, 2-0, to capture their first OAC win of the season.
They will return to action Tuesday, October 15, at Clements Field against Ohio Northern starting at 4 p.m.
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