Box Score

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio – The Otterbein men's lacrosse team came up short in its quest for a third-straight Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament championship Saturday evening, falling victim to a second-half surge and ultimately absorbing a 14-11 loss at top seed John Carroll University.

The Cardinals finish their season at 12-7 overall while the Blue Streaks, improving to 12-5 this season, earn their first NCAA bid in program history.

Both teams exchanged punches throughout a fast-paced first quarter, with Otterbein grabbing a 2-1 lead on goals from freshmen Jake Grundey and Joe Sanfillipo by the 10:30 mark.

John Carroll eventually carried a 4-3 lead into the second quarter, but Otterbein found a groove to outscore the Blue Streaks 4-1 in the frame and take a 7-5 lead entering halftime. Sanfillipo, Marcus Willis, Connor Dziewit, and Robbie Guiliano all recorded two points in the first half.

"We felt confident heading into halftime, but it was a half of runs and we knew John Carroll would come out strong in the second half," Otterbein head coach Colin Hartnett said. "It all came down to turnovers. We committed about twice as many as we were alright with and that ended up hurting us."

Sanfillipo found Dziewit for a goal early in the third quarter to run the Cardinal lead to 8-5, but John Carroll would catch fire and embark on a difference-making 9-0 run that spanned until late in the fourth quarter.

Otterbein endured a 20-minute scoreless draught before posting a few late goals to keep things interesting, getting scores from Willis, Dziewit and Guiliano down the stretch before running out of time.

Dziewit scored four times for the Cardinals while Willis registered a hat trick. Guiliano scored twice to finish his career with 130 goals, best in program history, while goalie James Gundling made 12 stops in the cage. He had 17 in the semifinal win at Baldwin Wallace and posted 11 games with double-digit saves this spring.

Kyle Lake made 11 stops on the other end for JCU, which got six goals from leading-scorer Declan O'Grady and two goals from three other players.

Otterbein senior Carlos Salazar, playing in his school-record 72nd game along with Willis, went 18 for 29 on faceoffs but the Cards committed 28 turnovers for the second-straight game. The Cards were also 0 of 5 on extra-man opportunities.

Despite the loss, Hartnett expressed gratitude for his departing senior class that helped take the program to new heights over the past four years. The group accomplished three-straight NCAA appearances, back-to-back OAC Tournament titles and an OAC regular-season crown.

"I told them they should leave here with their heads held high, because they did amazing things for this program and are a huge reason for our success," Hartnett said. "It's going to be a tall order replacing them."