In a game that left Wilmington head coach Bud Lewis nearly speechless, and put the Fightin' Quakers' chances of qualifying for the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament in jeopardy, WC fell to Otterbein, 4-3, Wednesday on a muddy Charlie Gilhart Field.

The loss drops Wilmington into a seventh-place tie with Otterbein at 2-4 in the league, one game behind Capital and Heidelberg for the final two spots in the six-team postseason.

"Their team executed their scoring chances, and we didn't do as well," said Lewis. "But, we battled hard tonight."

Wilmington unleashed a season-high 23 shots and tied a season-high 10 shots on goal. Sophomore Nick Toney (Morrow, OH/Little Miami) tallied six shots, including several great looks that just missed getting to the back of the net.

The Fightin' Quakers got off to a fast start as freshman Markus Tornberg (Stockholm, Sweden / Hersby Gymnasium) scored in the game's 13th minute from junior Taylor Estes (Reading, OH/Reading).

However, Otterbein scored the equalizer in the 27th minute and then added insurance goals in the 52nd and 66th minutes to push its advantage to 3-1.

Undeterred, Wilmington fought back as junior Drew Fields (Terrance Park, OH/Mariemont) headed home a corner kick from senior Henrik Hornnaess (Brumunddal, Norway / Hamar Katerdralskole) in the 70th minute. Moments later it appeared as if Fields would have the tying goal, but his header clanged off the cross bar.

WC continued to pressure the Cardinals, coming up with several other scoring opportunities, but couldn't find the back of the net. In fact, Otterbein was able to counter a late Wilmington charge as score with the game's 88th minute.

The late goal didn't break the WC spirit as that got a quick goal from Ethan Zimpfer with 54 seconds remaining, and then had an exceptional chance with less than 20 seconds remaining as Toney just missed the side post.

Wilmington (5-11-1 overall) concludes the home portion of its schedule 7 p.m. Saturday as the Fightin' Quakers host Marietta.