Box Score
DePauw 2, Ohio Wesleyan 1

by Michaela Alfano '25

An extra-time goal in the 97th minute from DePauw's Ethan Webster gave the fourth-seeded Tigers a 2-1 win over top-seeded Ohio Wesleyan in a North Coast Atlantic Conference semifinal on Thursday at the Jay Martin Soccer Complex.

The Bishops got on the board 2 minutes into the game with a goal by junior forward Christopher Guerra (Columbus/Worthington Kilbourne).  After collecting a ball and taking two quick touches, Guerra sent a powerful shot from the top of the box sailing into the right corner of the net.

From there, the game was fast and aggressive with the Bishops trying to double their scoreline but they were unable to get shots off, getting outshot, 7-3, in the first half.

In the 54th minute, DePauw equalized off a header.  AJ Hockstok stepped up for a free kick which sailed to the head of Alex Habecker.  Habecker headed it to Harrison Engel, who got a head on it to flick it into the goal.

The Bishops had a chance to take the advantage in the 77th minute when Guerra sent a pass perfectly to the foot of senior forward Franklin Rodriguez (Santiago, Dominican Republic/Berkshire (Mass.)).  Rodriguez took a curling shot but it bounced off the post to keep the score even at 1.

Ninety minutes came to a close with the game still tied up.  As extra time began the Bishops tried to control the ball, but DePauw was all over the place.  The game-winning goal came 7 minutes into extra time when Webster picked up a loose ball and broke in one-on-one with junior goalkeeper Sam Whitman (Baltimore, Md./Friends School of Baltimore).  Webster took a shot from the top of the box and sealed the win for DePauw.

"They beat us in every possible way," said Bishop head coach Jay Martin.  "They beat us to every 50/50 ball, they beat us in the air, and they defended like hell, and we didn't do any of that.  In a way, it was too easy for us -- we scored early, and we beat them last week (at their place) -- and we lost momentum and never got it back.  Nobody played well.  It was very disappointing."

Rodriguez and Guerra led the Ohio Wesleyan scoring efforts with 4 shots each.  Whitman had a stellar performance with 7 saves in goal, coming up big for the Bishops multiple times as they fought to the end.

Rodriguez and Whitman represented the Bishops on the all-tournament team.

Box Score