UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio – The Wilmington College men's soccer team nearly game from two goals down to force overtime, but John Carroll University (JCU) held on for a 2-1 Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) victory on Saturday evening.
The loss concludes the Fightin' Quakers regular season with a 9-8-0 overall record and a 4-5-0 mark in conference play. Wilmington finished in a three-way tie for fifth place in the OAC, but narrowly misses out on the six-team OAC Tournament on tiebreakers.
After a scoreless first half, JCU, which hasn't lost to Wilmington since Nov. 7, 2004, opened the scoring in the 52nds minute as William Turrittin found Evan Malpass who beat Felix Maurer. Just over 10 minutes later, Malpass assisted on the Blue Streaks' second goal, which was scored by Mikey Burrington at the 62:28 mark.
Wilmington wasted not time in its comeback attempt, however, as Niklas Martensson found Leon Tank for a goal in the 68th minute. The Quakers would fire five more shots in the contest, but couldn't beat Liam McIntosh a second time.
JCU fired 15 shots in the game compared to eight for Wilmington. The Blue Streaks also earned seven corner kicks to the Quakers' five.
Tank and Martensson each took three shots for Wilmington while Chad Kanakkanatt fired four for JCU.
Wilmington finishes its 2018 campaign in a tie for fifth place in the OAC, the program's highest league finish since 2012.