PHOTO GALLERY (coming soon)

WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Cardinals battled the Blue Streaks tightly for a half Wednesday afternoon in a rescheduled game from last week, as heavy rain and storms forced a postponement between the two sides.

Otterbein and JCU traded goals across the initial 30 minutes of action at Memorial Stadium, leading to a one-goal margin at intermission, before a huge third quarter by John Carroll ended up being too much in an eventual 17-12 decision.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The senior connection of Lauren Newkirk to Emily Willms (chasing a milestone) put Otterbein on the board just 95 seconds into the game, but JCU settled in to end the quarter on a 4-0 run.
   
• Willms found the back of the net four more times in the second frame, helping her club deadlock the contest before a Blue Streak goal minutes later gave the visitors a slight 6-5 edge at the break.
   
• John Carroll created too much separation with a whopping 10 goals in the third, posting six goals in just under three minutes to begin the second half. That outburst pushed them into a 12-5 cushion.
   
• Otterbein trailed 16-8 entering the fourth quarter but never stopped fighting, shrinking the final margin with a 4-1 scoring run down to the wire. Included in the stretch was the 200th-career goal for Willms, making her just the second player in program history to hit the milestone.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• Willms scored six times and now has 181 goals with 19 assists for her decorated career. She now rests just three goals and 21 overall points shy of all-time records set by Tory Blatt.
   
• John Carroll won 20 of 33 draw controls and was led by seven points from Shannon Burdick.
   
• The two sides combined to go an efficient 8 of 12 on free-position attempts.
   
• Logan Fox tallied a hat trick for the third-consecutive game while Newkirk added three more assists to her season/career totals, looking to close in on Annie Kelly's program record of 86.

UP NEXT:

• Otterbein will have the weekend off before getting back to action next Wednesday, hosting Marietta at 6 p.m.