Box Score

BEXLEY, Ohio – The Otterbein men's lacrosse team suffered a 12-6 loss at cross-town rival Capital on Saturday afternoon at Bernlohr Stadium.

The Cardinals (3-7 overall) move to 1-1 in Ohio Athletic Conference play and will wrap up its two-game road trip next Wednesday at Muskingum under the lights at 7 p.m.

Capital got off to a quick start scoring two unanswered goals through the first eight minutes of action, before Otterbein got on the board with its first score on a man-up goal from senior Ryan Gombita. The two teams then went over four minutes without a change in margin before trading goals in the final 1:03 of the first quarter, as the Cardinal goal came from freshman Chandler Swartz which helped keep the Capital lead at one.

Otterbein held the Crusaders to just one goal in the second frame, coming less than four minutes in, before rattling off three-straight goals over the final 11 minutes of the half. Junior Connor Dziewit was first to score for the Cards in that span, netting his team-best 24th goal of the season off an assist from sophomore Jake Grundey.

Grundey then assisted on junior Anthony Spingola's seventh score of the year just over a minute later before scoring himself to give the Cards a 5-4 advantage at the break. Capital held a 24-18 shot advantage at intermission, while Otterbein posted a perfect mark on all eight clear attempts and split with its opponent in faceoffs.

The second half of play proved to be all Capital as it accounted for eight of the nine goals scored, as the Crusaders tallied four goals in each of the final two periods en route to victory. The Purple and White found the back of the net four times in the first 8:06 of the third quarter and never trailed again.

Otterbein's only other score in the contest came with 9:55 remaining on senior Nick Tholt's man-up goal. Gombita and Grundey tied for a team-high three points in the game, each finishing with a pair of assists and a goal.

The two teams combined for a whopping 87 shots in the game and played to a near-even margin in ground balls combining for 50. Otterbein starting goalie James Gundling made a season-high 13 saves in just under 52 minutes between the posts, missing only the initial 8:06 of the second half.