The Otterbein Cardinals men’s soccer team (6-7, 1-3) lost in overtime to the 20th-ranked Polar Bears of Ohio Northern (11-3, 3-1), 3-2, after giving up a 2-0 lead in the second half.
“I thought we played quite well but set pieces were the difference,” said head coach Gerry D’Arcy. “We were trying to reduce them but they were very quick and sometimes we just miss-timed some tackles.”
The Cardinals and the Polar Bears both struggled in the first half until the 6:32 mark when Otterbein freshman defender Jonathan Boardman scored from the right side to give the Cardinals the lead, 1-0. Otterbein would score their second goal by junior midfielder Jared Pulliam within the first four minutes of the second half giving them a 2-0 lead.
“When it got to 2-0 in the second half I thought we might be able to hold on,” D’Arcy said. “But I knew it was going to be tough if we gave away some set pieces that put the team right in front of the goal.”
Ohio Northern would eventually score their first goal of the game by freshman forward Ryan Prescott with over 12 minutes left to go to cut the Otterbein lead to one, 2-1. The Polar Bears scored their second goal with under 4 minutes left to go by senior forward Jeremy Barnes to tie the game at 2-2 and send it into overtime.
In the first overtime, both teams would be unable to get a goal as they struggled to get open shots throughout the 10-minute period.
But within the first two minutes of the second overtime, Ohio Northern freshman forward Matt Kinkopf would score the game-winning shot after the ball hit the left post and bounced into the net.
“Overall I’m not dissatisfied, I’m disappointed in the result but not the performance,” D’Arcy said. “I thought they played very hard today and I felt that they gave everything they had to give.”
The Cardinals return to action on Saturday, October 19, at Heidelberg starting at 3:30 p.m.
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