Delaware, Ohio - The Oberlin College men's soccer team had the seventh-ranked Bishops of Ohio Wesleyan on the ropes but OWU kept the pressure on to earn a 3-1 win on Saturday night at the Jay Martin Soccer Complex.
The two foes headed into the intermission level with no score on either side and the Yeomen would ultimately breakthrough first on the strength of senior
Alex Caceres' third goal of the year in the 53rd minute as he a won a ball at the top of the box and lasered a shot into the net.
The play of senior keeper
Parker Whitcomb coupled with the skill of his backline protectors was able to keep the Bishops at bay for 70 minutes but the home side eventually breached the rearguard as Hector Gomez finished off a feed from Ethan Berkovitz to level the match.
After squaring the fixture, the Bishops' work rate seemed to increase a notch and it paid off in the 84
th minute when Charlie Riddle played a ball ahead to Dom Calabrese for the go-ahead tally.
Moments later
Nic Jandeleit would find himself with space on the right side of the box but his would-be equalizer went wide of target into the side of the goal. After the deflating result, Gomez would maneuver his way by the Yeomen defense to tack on another goal in the final minute to seal the victory.
Oberlin was the aggressor early in the battle as Caceres challenged Bishops' keeper Mason Taylor just 2:30 into the game and tried again 15 minutes later but Taylor stood tall to preserve the nil-nil mark at the break. The Yeomen goal was just the second OWU has conceded at home all season.
The Yeomen triggered 12 shots with Caceres putting the team's only three attempts on frame. OWU fired off 32 shots with 12 being on target. The Bishops also doubled up the Yeomen 8-4 on corners.
Whitcomb finished with a season-high nine saves in the setback.
Oberlin fell to 3-6-2 and 1-1-0 in the NCAC, while the Bishops remained unblemished at 8-0-2 and 2-0-0 in league play.
The Yeomen are back in action next Saturday as they play host to the Wittenberg Tigers at 7 p.m.
