Late in the first half, sophomore Patrick Reineke delivered a corner kick that fell onto the feet of a Denison University defender.
He failed to run back on defense and prompted a Big Red counter attack and a few stern words from head men's soccer coach, Brad Hauter.
Reineke, however, redeemed himself in the second half.
Reineke delivered the game-winning goal in the 84th minute to propel the Tigers (5-0-2, 1-0 NCAC) to a 2-1 win at Boswell Field over Denison (3-3-1, 0-1 NCAC). The scoring was a welcomed relief for DePauw, as it did not score a goal in close to 220 minutes of play before Nate Snyder, a sophomore, scored in the 49th minute of Saturday's game.
But it was Reineke's goal that stole the spotlight.
It started with the feet of sophomore Andy Morrison who made a run down the field battling one defender. He chipped the ball over the head of his defender and found a streaking Reineke, who chipped in the game winner.
"I just snuck in between the defender and the goalie near the back post," Reineke said after the game. "I got hit on the play, and when I was lying on the ground, I was just hoping it would go in."
He just got a foot on the ball and lifted a shot over the Denison goalkeeper.
In the Tigers' first goal of the game by Snyder, it was cross from junior George Elliott to freshman Adrian Ables inside the box which set up a golden opportunity. Ables headed the ball straight down, and Snyder sprinted in to finish it off.
But before that chance, DePauw had other opportunities - Hauter's was worried it was going to be another scoreless game.
"It crosses your mind, you play and you coach a little bit tighter when the goal feels smaller," Hauter said. "The guys press a little bit more, but we have a really good team and we know it. We knew it was going to come through eventually.
"Like all our fans after the last four hours of soccer, you just expected that ball to not go in. I give it to Nate and our guys to scrapping it out and fighting."
Also, the Tigers' streak of not allowing an opponent to score ended at more than 660 minutes. The only goal from an opponent came in the first 90 seconds of the Tigers' season-opener against Hope College. In the 61st minute, Denison evened the score 1-1, and ended senior goalkeeper Tony Halterman's shutout streak at five.
"It was lazy defending," Hauter said. "If we don't press the ball midfield, it goes in. All of the principles that make us a great defending team, we dropped on that play. I think human nature takes over sometimes and you think 'well it's not going to go in, I don't need to give 100 percent here.' We took our foot off that gas and that's all it takes."
Hauter said he wants his team to keep its foot on the gas pedal on offense because the Tigers now have some momentum after not scoring for two-straight games prior. Reineke is now a legitimate scoring threat along with Elliott, Morrison, Snyder and Ables.
"With this group, even though they are young, these are high level players who have played the last four or five years at a high level," Hauter said. "Some of (the scoring struggles), you can say it's youth."
DePauw travels next to Hiram College (7-0, 0-0 NCAC) on Saturday.