CLEARWATER, Fla. – Make it two for two on the Otterbein men's lacrosse front in Florida this week, as the Cardinals used some timely goals in the fourth quarter to hold off a pesky Wittenberg squad Friday afternoon.

The Cardinals, using a huge run in the first half, get back to 2-3 on the season and will now return back to Ohio. Wittenberg falls to 0-5 this spring as a result of another defeat.

WHAT HAPPENED:

• Both teams traded early goals before the Cards took over with an 8-0 run.  The stretch lasted for over a full quarter of game time, spanning from 4:57 in the first to 3:21 in the second.
   
• Seven different Cardinals scored in the lopsided spurt, with Aidan Moore netting two alongside a plethora of scoring teammates.
   
• Otterbein carried a 9-2 lead into halftime before Wittenberg dialed up a big third quarter, outscoring the Cardinals by a 6-2 margin…
   
• Wittenberg's second 4-0 run of the half bridged the third and fourth periods, culminating on a man-up goal to shrink the deficit to 11-10 with a healthy 8:54 left on the game clock.
   
• Otterbein kicked back into gear with some timely goals. Hunter Piroska found Moore, Dekaider Jackson found Nick Asuan (man-up) and Max Graham ripped an exclamation mark in the closing minute.

 
STATS ON STATS:

• Otterbein finished with a sizeable 48-28 edge in total shots, with 31 of those coming on goal.
   
• Moore (4G), Jackson (4A) and Asuan (2G, 2A) all tallied four points for the Cardinals, who had eight different goal scorers on the day. Nawny Bailey scored twice himself.
   
• Otterbein won 19 of 28 faceoffs, sparked by a 13 of 18 output from sophomore Davis Tanaka.
   
• Lincoln Troxell caused six turnovers, one shy of a program single-game record. He and Eddie McDonald both grabbed five ground balls.
   
• The game featured 20 combined penalties, as the Tigers were flagged 13 times for over 10 minutes in the box.
   
• Freshman goalie Luke Farthing had 10 saves in his second-career start, following up the 16 he had earlier this week against Clark.

 
MOVING FORWARD:

Otterbein gets back into action Wednesday night with its home opener, welcoming Oberlin College to Memorial Stadium for opening faceoff at 7 p.m.