Written April 12, 2010 by Adam Prescott

WESTERVILLE, OHIO – The Otterbein men’s lacrosse team dropped a pair of home contests this past week, falling 12-6 to Trine (IN) Friday evening and 8-5 to Carthage (WI) Sunday afternoon.

The defeats drop the Cards to 3-6 on the season, with a date at Adrian (MI) approaching on Wednesday. Starting time for that contest is 4 p.m.

Freshman Graham Shippy gave OC an early 1-0 lead Friday night against Trine, but the Thunder stormed back to score four goals by the midway point of the opening quarter.

Otterbein freshman Adam McGrath then found the back of the net to cut the deficit to just 4-2 by the beginning of the second frame.

Trine would take a 6-3 lead into halftime, and lead 9-5 by the end of the third quarter.

The Thunder scored the first two goals of the last stanza, and it proved to be enough as Otterbein eventually suffered the 12-6 loss.

The Cards shouldered a 47-25 shot disadvantage, and won just 6-of-22 faceofffs. McGrath tied for a game-bets three goals.

Otterbein opened strong against Carthage Sunday afternoon, jumping out to a 2-0 lead behind goals from sophomore Jason Paselk and McGrath.

However, the Red Men registered five unanswered goals to eventually hold a 5-2 lead midway through the third quarter.

McGrath and Paselk each notched a goal within the next five minutes to bring the Cards to within 5-4, but Carthage won the ensuing faceoff and would score just five seconds later to extend its margin to 6-4.

The Cards were never able to recover en route to an 8-5 loss.

OC held a 28-24 shot advantage, but won just four of the 15 faceoffs. The team was successful on 15-of-18 clear opportunities.

McGrath concluded the week with five goals and an assist for six total points, while freshman goalkeeper Adam Hatchard recorded 25 saves.

After traveling to play Adrian, the team returns home for games against Mt. St. Joseph (4/21) and Milwaukee School of Engineering (4/25).