UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio – Men's Lacrosse culminates its 2021 season with a 10-3 defeat at the hands of the second-seeded John Carroll Blue Streaks. The Cardinals bow out of the semifinals of the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament with a final record of 11-4.

The Blue Streaks, on a twelve-game win streak, advance to Saturdays championship game to play the top-seed and regular season champions, Baldwin Wallace.

THE MATCHUP:

With the familiarity of playing just five days ago, both sides came into the game knowing what adjustments had to be made to move onto the championship game. For the Cardinals... their plan of attack was to slow down the high-powered Blue Streak offense, both on defense and by using the full shot clock offensively.

In the first frame, the Cardinal defense extended its pressure and kept the second-seed off the board until the 8:55 mark when Skyler Blake (the nation's top scorer) found the back of the net on a fast break opportunity.

After a save from Zach Groene and a successful clear, Logan Fenech answered the score to pull the Cardinals into a 1-1 tie at 6:33. John Carroll flexed its muscle to end the quarter with two more goals, including a man-up score for an early 3-1 advantage.

In the second quarter, the defense continued to play strong but a few costly mistakes when clearing gave JCU extra opportunities on the offensive side of things. Using those chances, the Streaks closed the half on a four-goal run to ultimately hold a 5-1 lead heading into the locker room.

Coming out of the break, the Cardinals rang the bell first when Max Kott found the back of the net as the opening shot clock expired. John Carroll once again had an answer though, this time with a quick two-goal spurt to pull ahead 7-2.

Otterbein found some life when Ben Lewis fed the freshman standout Aidan Moore for a beautiful low-to-high finish, cutting the lead back down to four. The Cardinals continued to work the shot clock and wear down the JCU defense but their chances were turned away and the score remained 7-3 at the end of the third.

The Blue Streaks held Otterbein off the board by controlling the pace of play in the fourth frame, and added three more scores to securely win the semifinal matchup.

Groene kept the Cardinals in the game with an 11-save performance in net. He and the rest of the defense held John Carroll to its second-lowest scoring output this season. The Streaks previously scored nine goals in a loss to Baldwin Wallace and 10 in a win against those same Yellow Jackets.

SEASON REFLECTION:

The Cardinals returned to the OAC Tournament for the first time since 2017, and also would have done so in the typical four-team format. Otterbein had a six-game winning streak down the stretch and outscored opponents 181-92. The defensive unit ranked second in the league by allowing just 6.14 goals per game.