WESTERVILLE — Fifth-year senior Max Graham surpassed 100 career goals as the No. 4 seed Otterbein men's lacrosse team defeated fifth-seeded Mount Union 18-13 in the first round of the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament on Saturday. With the win, the Cardinals advance to play at top-seeded Baldwin Wallace in Wednesday's semifinals at 7 p.m.

The Basics

• Records: Otterbein (9-7 overall), Mount Union (12-5 overall)
• Venue: Memorial Stadium - Westerville Ohio
• OAC Tournament page

Otterbein Stat Leaders

• Graham led the Otterbein offense with five goals.
• Junior Zach Mulligan posted four points on three goals and one assist.
• Sophomore Andrew Lewis tallied four points on two goals and two assists.
• Senior Carson Rainone scored three goals.
• Senior Dom Dean added three points on two goals and one assist.
• Junior Marcus Wright, freshman Max Luther and sophomore Matthew Reader scored one goal each.
• Senior Cayden Rohe and sophomore Jack Regruth added one assist each.
• Senior Luke Farthing played all 60 minutes in goal and recorded 12 saves.
• Freshman Tyler Bussard tallied one assist and a team-high 14 ground balls and was 24-for-30 on faceoffs.

Game Highlights

• First Quarter: Mount Union outscored Otterbein 5-3 in the opening 15 minutes. Graham got the scoring started for Otterbein with a goal assisted by Bussard just 17 seconds into the game. But the Purple Raiders responded with five unanswered goals. Graham added a second goal on a man-up opportunity via an assist from Lewis with 2:54 left, and Rainone found the back of the net with 25 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to two.
• Second Quarter: Mount Union increased its lead to 6-3 with 10:37 left, but Otterbein responded with a 7-0 run that included two goals each from Rainone and Mulligan and one apiece from Wright, Luther and Dean. Dean's score, assisted by Lewis, capped the run with 1:12 left, but the Riaders scored twice over the final 26 seconds to trail 10-8 at halftime.
• Third Quarter: The teams traded scores to open the second half before Lewis found the back of the net to put the Cardinals up 13-10 with 4:01 left. The Raiders scored the next two goals to get within one, but Mulligan netted a goal on an assist from Dean with 43 seconds remaining to send the Cardinals into the fourth quarter up 14-12.
• Fourth Quarter: Otterbein put together a strong showing over the final 15 minutes, outscoring Mount Union 4-1 for the 18-13 victory. Graham got the scoring started in the period, and after the Raiders responded with a goal of their own, he started a 3-0 closing run that also included goals from Dean and Lewis over the final 12:53.
• Key Team Stats: Otterbein out-shot Mount Union by a 51-42 margin, and the Cardinals finished with a 44-27 edge in ground balls. Otterbein won 26 of the 34 faceoffs. Otterbein committed 21 turnovers to 13 for Mount Union.

Notables

• This marks the fifth straight season that Otterbein has earned a berth in the OAC Tournament and the Cardinals' first tournament win since 2021.
• Otterbein defeated Mount Union 17-14 in Westerville in the teams' regular-season meeting on April 5.
• Graham has 133 career points on 102 goals and 31 assists. He ranks fourth all-time at Otterbein in career goals.
• Senior Nathan Lewis has 106 career points on 64 goals and 42 assists.
• Rainone has 95 career points on 75 goals and 20 assists.
• Farthing has 433 career saves. Zach Groene (2018-22) ranks third in program history in saves with 442.
• Entering Saturday, Graham was tied for sixth in the OAC in goals (46) and ranked sixth in points (58), and Dean ranked ninth in assists (18) this season.
• Head coach Colin Hartnett is in his 16th year at Otterbein and has an all-time record of 142-114 at the helm of the Cardinals.