Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 CLEARWATER, Fla. – The Otterbein men's lacrosse team split a pair of games down in the sunshine state during spring break, easing to a comfortable Thursday win over Emmanuel College (Mass.) before a hard-fought defeat to Eastern University (Pa.) on Saturday.

Thursday vs. Emmanuel (Win 17-6)

The Cardinals scored early and often against the Saints behind the hot stick of senior Jake Grundey, who roped in four goals as Otterbein built a 6-1 lead in the second quarter. Emmanuel weathered that storm and chipped away, scoring three-straight times of their own to cut the deficit to just 6-4 entering halftime.

Otterbein was up 9-6 midway through the third period before absolutely blowing the contest open, keeping the Saints scoreless from that point on in finishing the day on an 8-0 run.

Grundey set a new career-high with five goals in the win, as 10 different Cardinals scored in all and seven had multi-point performances. Joe Sanfillipo (1G, 3A) and Xander Seal (2G, 2A) both posted four-point outings.

The defense was strong once again on the way to 15 caused turnovers, getting three from Jordan Tobler and another two from Tommy Kolibash. Goalie Zachary Groene went 52-plus minutes before giving way to Bryce Perram.

Mike Roman was brilliant at the X capturing 18 of 22 faceoffs, as the 81.8 percent success rate marked the best of his career and top-10 for a single game on the program records list. He snagged 10 ground balls as a result while Tobler corralled six more.

Otterbein doubled up Emmanuel in shots and was almost perfect on clear attempt by going 17 of 18.

 
Saturday vs. Eastern (Loss 9-7)

Otterbein remained in Clearwater and lost a knock-down, drag-it-out battle against the Eagles, a strong opponent who also beat the Cards back in 2016 over spring break.

A low-scoring slugfest was deadlocked (3-3) at intermission before Eastern found a groove in the second half, holding a 5-3 lead after the third quarter and then pushing that margin to 8-3 early in the fourth.

The Cards stayed put and chipped away, getting the score to 8-5 with about six minutes and change on the clock before ultimately coming up just short in the end.

Sanfillipo delivered a five-point effort on three goals and two assists, while Fields and Seal had three points each. Groene played admirably in the cage en route to 15 saves while middie Justin McKee had nine ground balls and caused three turnovers.

Full box score and additional game details will be made available in the coming days.

Otterbein will head back up north and get ready for its home opener on Wednesday night, hosting Oberlin College inside Memorial Stadium at 7 p.m.