Men's Soccer drops overtime heartbreaker at No. 10-ranked John Carroll 2-1

By Tim Glon

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS — The Ohio Northern men's soccer team played well in a difficult environment, but dropped a 2-1 overtime decisison at No. 10-ranked John Carroll on Saturday night at Don Shula Stadium.

The Polar Bears fall to 9-5-1 overall and are 2-3-0 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Blue Streaks improve to 12-1-1, 4-1-0.

JCU scored just 2:30 into overtime to post the match-winner.

"This was a good test for us," ONU head coach Brent Ridenour said. "We played well against a very good opponent and had chances to win the match. I'm encourged in that we keep getting better each time out. We still have a great deal to play for these next few weeks and need to keep working. It would have been nice to get this one, though."

Ohio Northern out-shot John Carroll 14-11, but the hosts had five corner kicks to one for ONU.

John Carroll got on the board with 32:50 left in the match on a goal by Dalton Browsky.

But the Polar Bears answered quickly when senior Cory Lains (Zionsville, Ind.) scored from a tight engle on the left side off a feed from senior Chris Garbig (Wilder, Ky./Highlands) just 1:13 later to even the match at 1-1.

Garbig sent a through ball down the left sideline to Lains, who raced in and beat the keeper to the far post from 10 yards out with the equalizer.

JCU had a good opportunity to score in the 85th minute, but a nice save by freshman Dylan Plank (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim) kept the match tied. A JCU corner kick rattled around the box in the 87th minute before the Polar Bear defense cleared the ball without harm.

But Jacob Lombardo scored the match-winner for the Blue Streaks with 7:30 left in the first overtime period.

Ohio Northern out-shot John Carroll 9-3 in a scoreless first half.

The Polar Bears will return to action Tuesday night with a 7 pm contest against Wilmington at Kerscher Stadium.