In this weekend's battle of unbeaten teams, the Ohio Wesleyan University Battling Bishops knocked off DePauw's men's soccer team 3-1.
The Tigers suffered their first loss this season season as they fell to 11-1-1 overall and 2-1-1 in North Coast Athletic Conference play. With the win, top-ranked Ohio Wesleyan improved to 14-0-0.
For much of the first half, the Tigers were able to control possession and put pressure on Ohio Wesleyan goalkeeper, Colin Beemiller. DePauw was able to outshoot the Battling Bishops 5-2.
This was exactly the start the Tigers were looking for. DePauw's offensive game plan was to limit the Bishops scoring chances by maintaining possession on Ohio Wesleyan's side of the field.
Confidence was high on the Tigers bench as the two teams went into halftime knotted at 0-0.
"We had beaten them three times in a row," junior forward Andy Morrison said. "We felt like we were the favorites, so it wasn't really surprising to us."
Early in the second half as well, the Tigers were able to control the tempo and maintain possession in the attacking zone.
However, in the 78th minute, Ohio Wesleyan was finally able to get on the board with Colton Bloecher scoring on a pass from his brother Gunner Bloecher.
On the ensuing kickoff after the goal, DePauw quickly responded. Senior George Elliott took off down the right side of the Ohio Wesleyan defense and played a ball into the box. The ball was deflected off of the hand of one of the Battling Bishops defenders and DePauw was awarded a penalty kick.
Morrison took the penalty and buried a shot in the lower left corner of the net to tie the game at one.
"It was a great response," Morrison said. "We moved the ball, created an opportunity, and were awarded the penalty."
The momentum would not last long for the Tigers as OWU's Peter Jacobi netted a goal in the 86th minute.
"Even after that, we thought were still in the game," Morrison said. "We'd proven all game long that we could hurt them offensively, but it just didn't work out for us."
One minute later, Ohio Wesleyan added an insurance goal by Colton Bloecher and would go on to win by a score of 3-1.
Despite being outshot 8-2 in the second half, the majority of the scoring chances belonged to DePauw. Throughout the entire game, the Tigers were able to execute the way that they wanted to. DePauw was able to drive deep into the Ohio Wesleyan defense on the sidelines but struggled all night at putting a playable cross into the box.
For the Tigers, the loss meant the end of their record-setting twelve-game winning streak.
"We've had a lot of success against this team," Morrison said, confidently. "We're looking to get them back in the conference tournament again."
The Tigers look to rebound with a win this Wednesday night when they travel to Wittenberg University to take on another streak of Tigers.
"How we recover from this will say a lot about this team," Morrison said, looking forward to their next game. "We just need to go out there and practice hard on Monday and Tuesday and hopefully go out there and get a win against Wittenberg."