Box Score
Photo Gallery

WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein men's lacrosse team moved closer to clinching a spot in the upcoming Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament Wednesday night at Memorial Stadium, striking early and ultimately delivering a 13-7 loss to visiting Ohio Northern.

The win, bumping the Cardinals to 8-8 on the season and 5-2 within league play, puts the group in the driver's seat heading into the final regular-season weekend. The Cards can solidify a berth in the four-team bracket with a win over league-leader John Carroll, but will also make the tournament as long as Capital defeats Ohio Northern.

If Ohio Northern were to top the Crusaders, all three schools would be 1-1 against each other and a goal-differential tiebreaker would then come into effect. Click HERE to see the current OAC standings.

The Cardinals scored four-straight times in the opening 10 minutes against the Polar Bears, and eventually finished the first period ahead 6-1 after an unassisted goal by Chandler Swartz with 1:20 remaining.

Both sides struck twice in the second quarter as Otterbein entered halftime with an 8-3 gap, and the Cards then outscored the opposition 4-1 in the third period and never looked back.

Otterbein was paced by sophomore middie Joe Sanfillipo, who tied an Otterbein single-game record with six assists in running his season total to 28, best in the OAC. Leading goal-scorer Connor Dziewit found the back of the net a game-high four times while Swartz, Mike Brendle, Ryan Gombita and Anthony Spongola all enjoyed multi-point nights as well.

Goalie James Gundling gave perhaps his best performance of the season in the cage, making an impressive 15 saves before exiting to a nice ovation in the closing minutes. Defenseman Mike Davidson, Adam Grumman, Matt Isele and Derek Petrucci all caused a pair of turnovers to spearhead the effort in front.

Anthony Pavone registered a hat trick to lead the Polar Bears, which actually finished with a 40-30 shot margin after pressing in the final quarter.

Otterbein freshman Jason McDonald led the charge at the faceoff-X, winning 15 of his 23 chances to help the team retain possession during several key stretches.