The DePauw men's and women's soccer teams traveled together to the College of Wooster this weekend to take on the Fighting Scots.
The women were the first to play, and their six game winning streak was snapped as they dropped their contest to Wooster 2-0. With the loss, DePauw fell to 6-5 on the season and 2-1 in NCAC play.
DePauw was never really able to get their offensive attack in gear and were outshot 10-2 in the first half. The Fighting Scots grabbed an early lead in the sixteenth minute when Kathleen Kalafatis put a shot behind Tiger goalkeeper Emma Cooper. The Tigers were able to keep Wooster from scoring again, and limped into halftime trailing 1-0.
The second half was much of the same though as Wooster continued to dominate possession. The Tigers struggled to move the ball downfield against a tough Wooster defense and weren't able to put a shot on net in the half.
At the midpoint of the second half, Wooster's Kennedy Payne tallied an important insurance goal to make it 2-0. With a two-goal lead, Wooster was able to sit back defensively and prevent DePauw from getting anything going.
For the Tigers, this marked their first loss in the last six games. The women have been able to salvage the season after a rough 0-4 start.
The Tiger women look to start a new winning streak this Wednesday night when they take on Greenville at Boswell Field.
Following the women's game, the men took on the Fighting Scots as well.
After a scoreless draw with Kenyon in their previous game that ended DePauw's ten game winning streak to start the season, the Tigers were looking for a bounce back performance.
Seventeen minutes into the game, Wooster's Matt Parmelee was issued a red card and that forced the Fighting Scots to play the remainder of the game with only ten men.
The obvious benefit of this was that it allowed the explosive Tiger offense to play at a much faster pace and capitalize with one less defender on the field. As a result, just six minutes later, Andy Morrison put the Tigers up 1-0. With the goal, Morrison moved into the top ten goal scorers in Tiger history.
"Andy's goal gave us a huge boost going into the second the second half," freshman forward Julian Gonzalez said. "After the tie to Kenyon, this was exactly what we needed to get ourselves going."
Just ten minutes into the second half, Adrian Ables scored with an assist from Julian Gonzalez to give DePauw a huge insurance marker.
However, despite the man advantage, the DePauw offense played sluggishly and was completely non-existent down the stretch. For the remainder of the game, the shorthanded Fighting Scots dominated the possession and tempo as they generated multiple scoring opportunities. However, Tiger goalkeeper Jacob Pezzuto was ready for the challenge. Pezzuto made two crucial saves with under ten minutes left to preserve the DePauw lead.
DePauw went on to win 2-0 and continue their undefeated season as they improved to 11-0-2. The Fighting Scots fell to 2-6-1 on the season and are still looking for their first NCAC win.
With the shutout, Pezzuto has now kept opposing offenses off the board in his last five halves played.
"We know we didn't play our best game against Kenyon, but it's good for our momentum to be able to bounce back and get this huge win," Gonzalez said after the game.
Tenth ranked, the Tigers will have the next week off as they prepare for one of the biggest games in school history this Saturday against Ohio Wesleyan University. The Battling Bishops come roaring into Boswell Field as the top ranked division III squad, sporting a spectacular 11-0 record. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday.