UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio -- A second half flurry by the No. 1 seeded John Carroll University Blue Streaks led to a 4-1 season-ending loss for the Capital University Comets on Thursday evening.
Tied 1-1 at half, the Blue Streaks showed why they won the regular season by pouring in three second half goals to comfortably take the win.
The Comets got out to an early lead in the 14th minute of action.
Sam Spirk served a long throw-in from the far sideline directly into the six-yard box. There, the man in form got on the end of it to put Cap ahead.
Jack Francisco, who scored a second half hat trick at Wilmington on Tuesday, nodded the ball past Connor Robinson for his ninth goal of the season.
The rest of the half shifted in favor of the Blue Streaks. Eventually, by the 37th minute, the favor of JCU paid off. Jack Foht got through over the top on a long pass from James Hoover. Foht's shot caught
Landon Hoehn favoring the near post and snuck into the back post, leveling the score at one all.
Across the first half, John Carroll outshot Cap 6-2, but both teams found the back of the net with their only shots on goal.
Despite the halftime tie, the second half turned sour for Capital. A 31 second span of time in the 55th minute doomed the Comets and all but sealed the match in favor of the top-seeded Blue Streaks. First, Jared Ianiro scored an unassisted goal before William Turrittin buried a penalty kick.
Later on in the 80th minute, JCU closed the door on any potential Capital comeback as Foht scored his second of the match.
IN the match, Cap had their chances taking 11 shots, but could not test Connor Robinson in the goal.
Landon Hoehn and
Kellen Sargent split time in the Cap goal, with Sargent collecting four saves. Jaco Francisco led the Comets with three shots.
The Comets concluded a season with an overall record of 10-8-1 that saw the team reach the United Soccer Coaches rankings at No. 7 early in the season. The season will be remembered for the remarkable comeback win over Wilmington in the OAC Quarterfinals that saw Cap power home four second half goals to advance to this match-up with the Blue Streaks.
John Carroll will host the second seeded Otterbein Cardinals on Saturday for the OAC Championship match.
