Box Score

NEW CONCORD, Ohio – The Otterbein men's lacrosse team opened its Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) schedule with a win for the third-straight season Saturday night, pulling away to secure a 12-3 victory at Muskingum University.

The Cardinals, winning their fourth-straight contest, improve to 7-4 on the season and will be back in action Wednesday evening with a 7 p.m. home game against Wilmington College. Muskingum falls to 2-7 overall with the defeat.

Both sides battled throughout a low-scoring first half, with Otterbein eventually heading into intermission ahead 3-2 behind a pair of goals from senior Robbie Guiliano, and another from sophomore Connor Dziewit. Both goalies made five saves in the opening 30 minutes.

Otterbein began to create some breathing room early in the third quarter, with Guiliano and Dziewit combining for another three goals by the 12:53 mark to extend the margin to 6-2. The Cards took a 7-3 advantage into the final period, and then outscored the Muskies 5-0 in the frame to seal up the victory.

Guiliano (5) and Dzieweit (4) combined for nine goals on the night while freshman Joe Sanfillipo handed out a season-best four assists.

Junior Nick Tholt also set up the Cardinal offense nicely with three helpers of his own and senior Marcus Willis turned in a one goal, two-assist performance. Classmate Connor Baak scored twice, the latter coming with 48 seconds in the game to conclude the scoring.

Senior Carlos Salazar, the reigning OAC Defensive Player of the Week, controlled the game from the faceoff 'X' by winning 16 of 19 chances, securing six ground balls and even assisting on one of Guiliano's goals to begin the third frame. Faceoff middie Derek Hohn added four ground-ball pickups as well.

Junior goalie James Gundling came up with 11 saves in the cage as Otterbein doubled-up Muskingum in total shots, 43-21. The Cards were a perfect 15 of 15 on clear attempts and the man-down defensive unit killed all six penalties.