The Oglethorpe men's soccer team played a tough defensive game en route to a very good result Saturday evening in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as they held No. 7 Franklin and Marshall to a scoreless tie after two overtime periods. The result moved the Stormy Petrels to 0-3-1 on the season.

The two teams engaged in a relatively even first half, with Franklin and Marshall outshooting the Petrels 5-3. The homestanding Diplomats got more of the ball in the second, outshooting Oglethorpe 10-5, but the Petrels played excellent defense and got outstanding goalkeeping from junior Luke Whelan, who made five saves over the course of the game's 110 minutes. 

In overtime, Franklin and Marshall outshot Oglethorpe 4-1, with each team earning a shot on target. 
Sophomore midfielder Topher Marshall fired four shots over the course of the game, putting one of them on goal. Junior defender Stefan Williams fired two shots and also put one of them on target.
For the game, Franklin and Marshall outshot Oglethorpe 19-9, but just 5-3 in shots on goal. The Diplomats had 13 corner kicks to Oglethorpe's three.

"This was a very good result for us against a top 10 opponent on the road," said Oglethorpe head coach Jon Akin. "I'm proud of how the guys played tonight, especially defensively. We've played a very tough stretch of games to start the season, and to put together this type of performance against perhaps the best team we've played thus far is a very encouraging sign as we head into our home opener next Friday."

The Petrels will welcome Lynchburg to campus for their home opener on Friday. After that, they'll head across town to take on rivals Emory before getting into conference play the following weekend.