'Berg Defeats League Leading Blue Streaks

Aggressive play on the field and a strong appetite for a win helped the Heidelberg College men’s soccer beat the John Carroll University Blue Streaks 3-1. The win bring Heidelberg up to 8-7 overall, 4-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. John Carroll, meanwhile, had been sitting up top the OAC tied with Ohio Northern University for first place, but this loss drops them down to 7-7 overall and 4-2 in the OAC as well.

“After our close loss to Capital on Saturday we needed to get back on track in the league,” commented Heidelberg head coach Brian Haley, “Going to John Carroll and facing the league leaders gave us the perfect opportunity to do so.”

Heidelberg’s first goal came in the 29th minute of play, after the Blue Streaks failed to clear zone following a corner kick. It resulted in a John Carroll defender passing the ball straight to a waiting Brad Howell (Lexington, Ohio / Lexington), who drilled a shot into the back of the net from about 30 yards out, putting the Berg up 1-0 at the close of the half.

Brian Juart (Hilliard, Ohio / Darby) scored the game-winning goal for the Student Princes in the 61st minute. Mike Harling (Rochdale, England / Holy Cross) dribbled freely for about 30 yards up field on the wing, and then lifted a nice pass to Juart who headed the ball in for the goal.

It was not until the 70th minute that John Carroll would answer with its own goal. A nice assist from Alex Bernot allowed Mike Pinter to finally score for the Blue Streaks. However, Heidelberg came right back three minutes later and Billy Banks (Hampton, Pa. / Hampton) was able to sneak a low, slow shot past a mass of John Carroll defenders for Heidelberg’s last goal of the contest.

“What was pleasing this afternoon was the way we played at times—controlling large portions of the play and the goals we scored were outstanding,” remarked Haley, “Brad Howell’s screamer into the top corner and Brian Juart's diving header from a great cross from Mike Harling… the defense did what they needed to and all credit to the whole team a good road win which puts us right back into the mix of things.”