COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Capital University men's soccer team played in their final regular season game at home on Saturday, hosting the Blue Streaks of John Carroll University. The Comets came into the game in the six spot in the conference, hoping to hold on or move up in order to stake their claim to an OAC tournament bid. On the other hand, JCU came in solidly in second place, having lost only one conference game all season. In the end, the visitors held the upper hand as the Purple and White stumbled in a 0-2 loss.

The Comets now stand at 3-9-2 on the season, and 2-4-1 in OAC play.

John Carroll moves to 11-4-1 overall with a 6-1-0 conference record.

It was a battle throughout and could be considered amongst the most physical of the year. John Carroll held the majority of the possession throughout, leading to a higher number of chances as well as the Comets were outshot 6-10. The difference was made on the defensive end as the back line – and keeper Connor Sexton in particular – stood strong to keep the ball out of the CU net. The Comets were able to get their fair share of chances on the other end as well, getting a few legitimate scoring chances that unfortunately either fell off line or were gobbled up by the Blue Streak back line. Despite a few fireworks in the first half, the score remained level as the teams returned to the dressing rooms.

John Carroll seemed to have a renewed energy in the second half and maintained a constant pressure on the Capital defense. Eventually they found a breakthrough and scored the first goal of the game in the 68th minute via Patrick Koenig. The Comets did their best to come back and looked to equalize in the late stages of the game, however, a strong JCU counter attack gave the Blue Streaks an insurance goal in the 85th minute from Daniel Kalic and Capital faced a 2-0 deficit. The Purple and White still had a few late chances to pull within a goal, but their efforts ultimately fell short and John Carroll would walk away with the game in hand, 2-0.


THE NUMBERS
The Comets fired off 14 shots in the game, with three finding the frame. John Carroll had 26 attempts, eight on goal.

Capital's Jacks lead the offensive attack once again. Jack Kossoudji took a team-leading four shots. He was followed closely by Jack Francisco with three attempts.

Jarrett Puckett was the third most active attacker, firing two shots and hitting the target once.

Rounding out the CU offensive attempts were Devon Hess, Rhyan Caruso, Brennan Hesse, Zade Awad, and Veron Fongeh, all with one. Hass and Awad were the only of the group to hit their mark.

Goalkeeping for the Comets was a combined effort of Connor Sexton and Kellen Sargent. Sexton played the first 79 minutes and made six saves. Sargent played the final eleven, facing only two shots.


UP NEXT
The Comets will hit the road for the final two games of the regular season. Their next match will be on Wednesday, October 26 against Heidelberg. That game will kick off at 4:00 p.m.