The Big Red men's soccer team scored three first-half goals en route to a convincing 3-0 victory over 23rd-ranked Oberlin on Tuesday night in Granville, Ohio.

In addition to securing their fourth North Coast Athletic Conference win of the year, Denison ended the Yeomen's 11-game unbeaten streak and snapped OC's six-game winning streak.  The win also marked DU's fourth in the last five games and the second-straight shutout for the Big Red defense.

The Denison offense wasted no time attacking Oberlin, who debuted cracked the top 25 early in the day.  After unloading four shots in the opening 10 minutes, DU finally broke through in the 11th minute thanks to a Yeomen turnover.  Senior Bob Casarona forced a turnover at the midfield to swing the momentum back to the Big Red.  Casarona drove down the field and fed a pass to freshman Quinn Miller just inside the 18-yard box.  Miller ripped a shot from the left side that found the lower right corner of the goal.  The rookie's fifth goal of the season came at 10:28 in the first half.

Exactly four minutes and 10 seconds later, Casarona doubled Denison's lead with his team-leading ninth goal of the season.  The senior took a pass from classmate Blake Miller, who was driving down the right side of the field.  After settling the ball, Casarona deked around the Oberlin defender and fired a shot into the lower left 90 from roughly 18 yards out.

With less than five minutes to play in the first half, the Big Red continued to apply pressure to the OC backline and goalie Brandt Rentel.  With roughly two minutes to play, DU was awarded its third corner kick of the half.  Mark Waterman's corner was quickly cleared out of the box, but not out of danger.  The ball once again found the feet of Waterman who sent another cross into the center of the box.  This time the ball found senior Charlie Allen who buried a header into the right side of the goal.  Allen's sixth goal of the year tickled the twine at 42:58.

Denison held a 6-3 advantage in shots in the second half.  Two of those six shots came off the head of Blake Miller who nearly scored a pair of goals.  The first close call came off a Waterman corner that Miller just missed wide left in the 65th minute.  In the 84th minute, Miller took a cross from his brother, Quinn, and just lifted it over the crossbar.

The Big Red outshot 14-9 and held a 4-3 edge in the corner battle.  Half of DU shots were on frame, while the Yeomen failed to test Denison keeper Matt Wagner with a shot on net.  The two squads also combined for 15 fouls over the 90 minutes.

Denison improves to 11-2-2 overall and 4-2 in the NCAC, while Oberlin falls to 12-2-2 and 4-1-1 in the league.  The Big Red returns to the pitch on Saturday when they travel to Crawfordsville, Ind. for a 2 p.m. match with the Wabash Little Giants.