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CINCINNATI - In its final home spring friendly of the year, the University of Cincinnati men's soccer team topped the Marshall Thundering Herd, 2-1, on Saturday afternoon at Gettler Stadium.
The Bearcats moved to 3-1-0 on the spring season with its only loss coming against professional side FC Cincinnati.
After more than 25 minutes of the two teams feeling each other out, UC got on the scoreboard first when Sean Clarke (Baltimore, Md./Loyola Blakefield) won the ball in Marshall Territory and pushed it down the middle of the field and past the goalkeeper for the score at the 27-minute mark. In total, the Bearcats recorded two shots on goal in the first half, while the Thundering Herd added a pair of shots on goal and a corner kick.
Following turning away Marshall scoring chances early in the second half, UC surrendered a goal on a penalty kick in the 69th minute which evened up the score at one apiece with 20 minutes left in the match. The Bearcats thought they scored the go-ahead goal in the 73rd minute when Daniel Oginni (Mississauga, Ontario/King's Christian Collegiate) got behind the defense off of a feed from Clarke but was called offside.
UC was able to add the winning goal in the 86th minute when Ryan Melink (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland) collected the ball off of a helper from Christian Hay (Cincinnati, Ohio/Summit Country Day) and fired a shot from about 25 yards out for the score.
The Bearcats tallied four shots on goal for the game, two corner kicks, and goalkeeper Pearce Skinner (Grand Blanc, Mich./Grand Blanc) saved three shots.
// COACH DAYES ON THE BEARCATS
"We had to grind out a result today," said head coach Hylton Dayes. "Give Marshall credit, although they were down 1-0, they never stopped working and got the equalizer late. Credit to our guys for finding the late winner through a great individual effort by Ryan Melink. Overall, we continue to finds ways to win even when we are not at our best which is a positive sign."
// UP NEXT
The Bearcats will end the spring season on Friday, April 21 when they travel to Westfield, Indiana to face the Indiana Hooisers in the Crossroads of American College Showcase at 7 p.m. at Grand Park.