Box Score CLEVELAND, Ohio – Two second-half goals were the undoing as the Case Western Reserve University men's soccer team dropped a heartbreaker, 2-1, to No. 6 nationally-ranked Ohio Wesleyan University on Wednesday night at Case Field.
The Spartans (7-2 overall) open University Athletic Association play this Saturday, October 1 at New York University. Kickoff is set for 11:00 a.m. at Gaelic Park in Riverdale, New York. Ohio Wesleyan moves to 8-1 overall.
The Bishops held the early control and threatened to score in the ninth minute, but a shot by Travis Wall was deflected on a diving save by senior goalkeeper Ben Yabrow (Marietta, Ga./George Walton Comprehensive). Neither side was able to generate another threat for the duration of the half, and the game went into the break scoreless.
The Spartans broke the tie at 55:53 when Erb fired a shot from 20 yards out and beat the OWU keeper to the short side. Senior forward Vinny Bell (Parma Heights, Ohio/Valley Forge) provided the second leg of the assist to run his UAA-leading point total to 27 (11 goals/five assists). Junior midfielder Kostis Theoharides (Brookline, Mass./Brookline) made the initial pass to set up Bell.
OWU wasted little time in tying the game back up as Travis Wall scored via an assist from Dylan Stone in 61st minute. Case seemed to have an answer in the 72nd minute when freshman forward Patrick O'Day (Plano, Texas/Plano Senior) made several moves through the Bishop defense and fired off a shot that nailed the crossbar. An OWU defender then nearly tapped the rebound into his own net, but another diving defender blocked a potential goal.
The Bishops then gained control and eventually moved ahead when Wall scored his second goal of the night with an assist from Matt Bonfini.
In goal, Yabrow recorded three saves en route to falling to 7-2. Paul Hendricks made four stops for the Bishops.
For the game, OWU outshot the Spartans, 11-9, and held an 8-4 advantage in corner kicks.
