ALLIANCE, Ohio – The Otterbein men's lacrosse team bounced back nicely from a tough mid-week loss Saturday afternoon, opening Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) play with a decisive 17-4 road victory at Mount Union.
The Cardinals, coming off a 19-4 loss to Kenyon, rebounded in a strong way by using an 8-0 run in the first half and never looking back. Otterbein now stands 6-3 overall on the season as a result, while Mount Union drops to 2-5.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- The host Purple Raiders scored an early goal, but it would be almost all Otterbein from that point with an 8-0 run spanning to halftime. The Cards converted a pair of man-up opportunities in the spurt as Joe Sanfillipo, Logan Fenech and Robby Fields all went to the intermission with two scores.
- Mount Union netted a pair of scores to commence the third quarter until Otterbein recaptured momentum, pulling away with another difference-making run. This time, the Cards ripped off six-consecutive scores to create the distance.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
- A whopping 13 different players scored for Otterbein, led by a hat trick from Sanfillipo as he and Ben Lewis (1G, 3A) finished the day with four points each.
- Adam Grumman was a force defensively, causing a season-high five turnovers and scooping up the same amount of ground balls. Goalie Zachary Groene made 10 saves in the cage.
- Otterbein won just 8 of 24 faceoffs but was sparked by the defensive prowess, forcing 36 turnovers and shutting out the Raiders (0 for 6) during man-down situations.
- The Cards remain perfect in league openers, improving to 6-0 in their first OAC game of the season. Otterbein has never lost to Mount Union.
UP NEXT:
- Otterbein returns home with the middle of next week off, and will ultimately continue league play by hosting John Carroll on Saturday night at 7 p.m.
