Oberlin Shuts Down No. 21 Wooster 1-0

Tyler Bosch had this scoring opportunity stopped with less than 10 seconds remaining in the loss to Oberlin.

WOOSTER, Ohio — After being shutout in each of the last three years against The College of Wooster, Oberlin College's men's soccer team returned the favor Saturday afternoon, shutting down the host Fighting Scots at Carl Dale Memorial Field for a 1-0 victory in both schools' North Coast Athletic Conference opening match. Wooster sees its unbeaten streak end with the loss, and falls to 4-1-2 and 0-1-0 in the NCAC, while the Yeomen improve to 4-4-1, 1-0-0 NCAC.

The Scots had won each of the last five meetings against Oberlin dating back to 2000, including the last three by shutout in 2002 (1-0), 2003 (1-0), and 2004 (4-0), but this time around the Yeomen figured out a way to keep the hosts and leading scorer Brian Conaway off of the scoreboard.

Oberlin kept close tabs on the speedy Conaway, who recorded his second career hat trick against the Yeomen last year, by keeping at least two defenders on him in the open field at all times.

The strategy paid off as Wooster's top scorer only managed three shots at the goal, none of which found its mark. The Scots owned the edge in shots overall (13-8), but it only took one good look by the visitors to decide the outcome.

At 36:25, Oberlin's offense capitalized on a scoring opportunity when Samuel Zackheim corralled a pass down the left side of the field and out ran the Scots' defender to the goal. He then laced the kick over David Treleven's outstretched hand into the upper left corner of the net for the score.

Wooster had several golden opportunities to score down the stretch, but each time the Yeomen's defense stepped up to the challenge.

Treleven made three saves in all for the Scots, while his counterpart, Clayton Combe, made four.

Wooster will look to get back on track with a non-conference match on Wednesday, Sept. 28, against Case Western Reserve University at 5 p.m. on Carl Dale Field.