Box Score

WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein women's lacrosse team picked up its second Ohio Athletic Conference win of the year Wednesday afternoon, turning back visiting Muskingum University by a score of 16-8 at Memorial Stadium.

The Cardinals, now standing 5-5 on the year and 2-1 against the OAC, will finish out the week on the road with a 7 p.m. game at Mount Union come Saturday night.

Muskingum (5-7, 1-2 OAC) opened the day on fire behind the hot stick of Kaeleigh Norvet, who roped in five goals in the first six-plus minutes to give her team a 5-1 advantage. The only scoring play not involving Norvet in the early action was an "own goal" by the Muskies that put Otterbein on the scoreboard.

The Tan and Cardinal eventually settled in and went on a rally, scoring six-straight times during the middle part of the first half to jump ahead, 7-5. Muskingum responded with a pair of goal to tie the matchup at 7-7 before Otterbein closed the period strong, getting a score from Abby Smoot with 3:03 remaining and then a rare man-down goal from Katy Williams 63 seconds shy of intermission.

Otterbein built on that 9-7 lead to begin the second half, netting four unanswered in the opening 12 minutes to force a Muskie timeout. The visitors would score their only goal of the second half at the 12:34 mark as the Cardinal defense remained stingy down the stretch and the offense routinely maintained possession.

Williams, the OAC's leading goal-scorer, tied Norvet with a game-high five goals and now has exactly 100 for her college career, which includes just four during an injury-shortened freshman campaign. Freshman Ema Pusecker had a five-point day (1G, 4A), to accompany four ground balls, while Smoot's four goals marked a new career-high.

Otterbein finished with a 33-16 shot advantage and captured 17 of the 26 draw controls, led by Veronica Wagner's eight wins. She currently ranks second in the conference with 54 this spring.

All-OAC defender Ali Kula turned up her game late to ultimately lead all players with five caused turnovers and also snag four ground balls. Fellow defender Megan Kanya secured give ground balls as the Cardinal defense stymied Norvet after her opening flurry.

Otterbein was 5 for 8 on free-position shots and got four saves from goalie Tasha Williams on the opposite end. Muskingum goalie Kate Shamel, the league leader in saves coming in, added 15 more to her season total.