Granville, Ohio – The Oberlin College men's soccer team entered the evening with a conference-long winning streak of three matches, but that all came to an end at Denison University on Tuesday night as the Big Red prevailed 4-1.
 
The loss left the Yeomen with nine points in conference play, tying them with the Big Red but on the outside of the playoff field at this moment.
 
Any early score from Matt Rush less than five minutes into the contest put the Big Red out in front, but the Yeomen would eventually find the equalizer late in the opening frame. With less than 100 seconds to play in the stanza, a perfectly slotted pass from Thomas Kanter found the feet of a streaking Michael Candelori who one-timed the ball into the lower left corner of the net to even the count.
 
Midway through the second half an acrobatic save by Fiachra McDonagh would keep the score tied but just moments later in the 69^th minute Vitor Rocha slipped a pass through the Yeomen rearguard to Ethan Miracle who deposited the go-ahead goal.
 
In the 78^th minute the Big Red were on a counter attack and an inadvertent hand ball led to a Big Red free kick just outside the box. Rush would take advantage of the freebie as he roped a shot into the upper left 90 of the goal to increase the cushion.
 
Late in the match, a misplay on the back led to a Denison breakaway and an ensuing Yeomen foul in the box. Luis Zamora would step up to the penalty spot and bury his uncontested shot to leave no doubt in the eventual outcome.
 
Denison finished with a 24-18 advantage in shots, which included a 10-5 margin in shots on goal. However, the Yeomen finished with a slight 5-4 edge in corner kicks.
 
The loss dropped the Yeomen to 6-9-0 overall and 3-3-0 in the NCAC while the Big Red improved to 6-7-1 and a matching 3-3-0 in league action.
 
McDonagh made five saves to run his season account to 18 and career total to 98.
 
Oberlin looks to get back on track this Saturday when it travels to Wooster for a critical 3:30 p.m. conference clash.