Box Score

ADA, Ohio – The Otterbein men's lacrosse team came up just shy in a hard-fought and narrowly-decided Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) showdown Wednesday on the road, falling victim to three goas in the fourth quarter from Ohio Northern in an 11-9 loss.

The Cardinals, now 8-7 overall and 5-2 in league play, will need to win at defending OAC champion John Carroll on Saturday afternoon in order to have a shot at qualifying for the four-team postseason tournament.

The Polar Bears (13-2, 6-1 OAC) scored first but Otterbein took a 2-1 lead on goals from Anthony Spingola and Chandler Swartz shortly afterwards. Both teams then traded two-goal spurts in a low-scoring first half before an ONU score from Kevin Giles made the score 4-4 entering halftime.

The two sides traded scores in the early portion of the third quarter until Otterbein found a groove, scoring three-straight goals and culminating when Justin McKee found Swartz to secure an 8-6 lead midway through the third.

Ohio Northern countered with a 4-0 run that lasted into the fourth quarter, taking a 10-8 lead at the 10:36 mark and hanging on down the stretch. The Cards sliced the deficit in half on a goal from middie Joe Sanfillipo with 6:46 to go, and the had possession with multiple chances to tie before a turnover allowed ONU leading scorer Cameron Marous to find the back of the net for the first time with 2:46 left in regulation.

Otterbein  had a prime opportunity with 1:19 remaining when Northern turned the ball over on a clear attempt, but a missed shot wide right on an empty net helped the host team hang on and maintain the two-goal advantage.

Swartz and senior Connor Dziewit, the reigning OAC Offensive Player of the Week, both scored twice on the Cardinal side while Spingola (1G, 1A) and Sanfillipo (1G, 1A) also had two-point nights. Matt Niemi had eight saves in goal.

Otterbein junior Mike Roman, the current OAC 'Defensive Player of the Week', captured 11 of 19 faceoffs and Dziewit as Tommy Kolibashand Mike Davison caused a pair of turnovers in the back.

Shane Olsen recorded a hat trick for Ohio Northern, which received 11 saves in the cage from Alex Pizzaro.