Oberlin, Ohio – The Oberlin College men's soccer team was unable to slow down the visiting Big Red of Denison, dropping a 4-2 decision on a wet and rainy Tuesday night as Fred Shults Field.
 
The loss puts the Yeomen in extreme danger of missing the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament as they fell to 2-3-1 in league play and 5-7-2 overall. The Big Red ran their record to 7-6-1 and moved to 4-2-0 in the NCAC.
 
The match started off great for the Yeomen as they wasted no time in getting on the board. Adam Chazin-Gray deposited his first goal of the game just 2:58 into the match. The sophomore took a long feed into the box from Sam Bernhard and snuck his shot under the arms of the charging Denison keeper.
 
Denison fought hard to add the equalizer, triggering 13 (6 on goal) first-half shots and earning seven corners in the frame. Their diligence would ultimately pay off in the 38^th minute as Corey Ricketts headed in a beautiful service into the box from Mark Waterman.
 
With the opening stanza winding down the Big Red would grab a 2-1 lead as Waterman sent in a strike from 30 yards out into the upper left 90.
 
Denison would take a 3-1 lead five minutes into the second half as Ricketts found the back of the net for the second time, finishing off a rebounded shot off the crossbar.
 
Oberlin continued to fight and cut the deficit down to just a goal with over 30 minutes left to play as Chazin-Gray added the second tally of the night and third of the season. A great through-ball from Slade Gottlieb left him one-on-one against Denison keeper Blake Schach who came charging out at the Yeomen midfielder, but could not make the play as he left the goal under covered.
 
The Yeomen scratched and clawed in effort to tie the game, but were unsuccessful in doing so. In the 67^th minute Gottlieb had a promising strike towards the lower right corner of the goal that was turned away by Schach. Minutes prior Ingham also had a look that was blocked.
 
With both teams feeling the magnitude of the result, the final 20 minutes got intense on both sides as a total of five cards were shown during the span. The Yeomen nearly had the equalizer in the 77^th minute. Timothy Williams's shot hit off the goalie's hands and Dylan Tencic had a follow opportunity that appeared to have crossed the goal line, but alas no goal was awarded.
 
After the scare, the Big Red would add an insurance tally off a setpiece with less than five minutes to go to cap the game's scoring.
 
Denison finished with a 25-11 edge in shots, including an 11-7 margin in shots on goal. The Big Red also attempted nine corners compared to Oberlin's one.

The Yeomen are back in action on Friday night at Ohio Wesleyan University. The first touch is set for 7 p.m.