PHOTO GALLERY

WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein men's lacrosse team found itself in a physical back-and-forth affair with visiting Muskingum on Wednesday night, but the Cardinals prevailed in the end by a count of 10-5.

The game, one of a few this season not counting in the official Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) standings, pushes the Cards to 3-1 on the young season. Muskingum falls to 0-4 on the year despite the narrow loss.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Otterbein jumped out to a 2-0 lead after a scoreless opening five minutes. Muskingum answered when Douglas Gorski picked off a Cardinal pass and took it the length of the field to score.
   
• The two sides traded goals, and body blows, the rest of the half with Otterbein holding a 5-3 advantage. Nine total penalties were whistled prior to intermission.
   
• Dekaider Jackson opened up the second half with a goal just 48 seconds into the action. The Muskies answered with a man-up goal, but went scoreless over the next 10 minutes of action...
   
• During that 10-minute stretch, Otterbein poured it on by scoring four unanswered goals... with two coming from Jackson and back-to-back efforts from Logan Fenech (finishing with a game-high four goals).
   

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• The last time these two sides matched up in OAC action it was the Cardinals victorious, 21-7.
   
• The Cards held a 38-21 shot advantage, with a balanced 19 shots in each half, and won 15 of 19 faceoffs.
   
• Zach Groene played the full time between the pipes for Otterbein, making five saves. His counterpart and reigning OAC Defensive Player of the Week Trevor Connolly made 15 saves in 60 minutes for the visitors.
   
• Otterbein cleared at a near perfect percentage, going 17 of 18 while the Muskies converted on 18 of 22.
   
• Neither side found much success on extra-man opportunities, with Otterbein converting on 2 of 9 and the Muskies going just 1 of 9. Muskingum, however, did score on a pair of man-down sequences.
   

UP NEXT:

• Otterbein will return to action on Saturday, traveling to Marietta for an OAC contest. Game time has been rearranged and is now scheduled for 4 p.m.