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WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The final home game of its regular-season slate fell nicely into the favor of the Otterbein men's lacrosse team Wednesday night, with stingy defense and timely scoring pushing the home side to a 10-3 victory at Memorial Stadium.

The Cardinals used a workmanlike effort from start to finish, methodically separating themselves from the Pioneers as the full 60 minutes played out. Otterbein now stands 4-3 in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) as a result with a big matchup at Mount Union looming this weekend…

THE PLOT:

• Almost nine minutes went by until either side hit the scoreboard, coming off the stick of senior Dekaider Jackson as his finished a man-up opportunity (6:16) off a nice feed from Aidan Moore behind the net.
   
• Both sides traded goals to end the first quarter before Otterbein rattled off three in a row to begin the second. Nick Clay, Moore and Nawny Bailey helped push the lead to 5-1 by the midway point of the frame.
   
• Marietta (3-11, 1-6 OAC) scored prior to intermission, but the Cards flew out of the locker room to net four goals by the 6:38 mark of the third quarter. Those also came from multiple contributors via Carson Rainone, Nick Wile (happy birthday), Jackson and Cole Werbrich.
   
• The Pioneers again scored late in the period, although another score from Rainone early in the fourth made sure to sustain enough breathing room.

 
THE STATS:

• Five Cardinals had multi-point efforts and seven different players had at least one goal.
   
• Zach Groene made 11 saves on the opposite end, where his defense caused 12 of Marietta's 24 overall turnovers. Lincoln Troxell and Jackson Jerdonek both had a three-piece meal.
   
• Otterbein went just 5 of 17 at the faceoff X as Marietta's Nathan Grover captured a dozen himself.
   
• The Cards were 21 of 25 on clear attempts while Etta' was successful on just 13 of 20 sequences.

 
IT'S THE WEEKEND:

Otterbein has an important road clash approaching this Saturday, traveling up northeast to Mount Union with opening faceoff slated at 1 p.m. Both teams currently stand 4-3 in league play and a home game in the OAC Tournament quarterfinals will (likely) be up for grabs.