Box Score
GAMBIER, Ohio – Saturday, the Kenyon College Lords and the Oberlin College Yeomen battled through a physical North Coast Athletic Conference men's soccer contest that included plenty of bumps, bruises, and bad weather. The one thing the game didn't include was goals. Regulation and two overtimes proved nothing as the teams departed Mavec Field with a scoreless draw in tow.
So, after 110 minutes of scoreless soccer, what do the two teams do for an encore? How about rematch? The draw gave Kenyon a 6-0-3 conference record and second-place finish in the final NCAC standings. It also gave Oberlin a 5-1-3 conference record and a third-place finish. That sets up an NCAC Tournament semifinal game between the two teams on Wednesday at Kenyon beginning at 2 p.m. The other NCAC Tournament semifinal game pits top-seeded Ohio Wesleyan University against No. 4-seeded DePauw University. The winners of those two semifinal games will meet in Saturday's NCAC Championship game, which will be held at the site of the highest remaining seed.
Although Saturday's game ended up without a winner, Kenyon was clearly the more aggressive team. The Lords outshot the Yeomen 29-9 and also held a slight 6-2 edge in corner kicks. Time and again Oberlin was bailed out by goalkeeper Brant Rentel, who ended up making 15 saves.
As the shot count indicates, Kenyon was active in the Oberlin zone for most of the game.
Jeremiah Barnes and
Nate Petrou led the Lords with five shots apiece, while
Alistair Flynn,
Rei Mitsuyama,
Alex Christoff, and
Jordan Glassman all fired off three shots.
At the opposite end of the field, Kenyon keeper
Sam Clougher made four saves and recorded his sixth shutout of the season.
The Lords finished their regular-season schedule with an overall record of 13-3-3. That's their best mark since going 15-3-2 in the 2010 season.