One win down. Five to go.
 
In the first round of the 2017 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship, the John Carroll University Blue Streaks defeated the Albion College Britons, 14-9.
 
This is the first NCAA Tournament victory in program history for John Carroll in just their second all-time appearance. With the victory, the Blue Streaks will have a quick turnover and will play Rochester Institute of Technology on Wednesday, May 10 at 4:00 p.m.
 
Declan O'Grady provided the biggest offensive push for the Blue Streaks in their first round victory. The senior tallied seven goals, which was a personal best and one away from tying a program record of goals in a game. Michael Hubert and Collin Rice each chipped in two goals apiece. Kyle Lake made nine saves as the Blue Streaks' net minder.
 
Moving past the first round was no easy task for the Blue Streaks.
 
Albion opened the contest by scoring the first two goals on the afternoon. With just over 9:30 to play in the opening frame, Skyler Blake scored his 42nd goal of the season to cut into the Albion lead and start a streak of five unanswered goals in the first quarter.
 
Hubert would follow Blake's lead with a goal, tying the game at two with 7:49 to play in the first quarter. O'Grady would close out the quarter with three consecutive goals, giving John Carroll a 5-2 lead heading into the second quarter.
 
John Carroll quickly overcame an Albion goal, thanks to back-to-back scoring tallies from O'Grady, giving the Blue Streaks a 7-3 lead with just over seven minutes to play in the half. The senior duo of Hubert and O'Grady would then combine for two more goals before the half was over.
 
The Blue Streaks took a 9-3 lead into the halftime break. Of those nine goals, six of them came from the experienced crosse of O'Grady.
 
The second half for Albion provided much more resistance as the Britons scored the opening two goals.
 
MacGregor Roberts stopped the scoring streak with his first goal of the game, making it 10-5 Blue Streaks with 12:13 to play in the half. Albion would score again, cutting into the Blue Streaks' lead, but Collin Rice and O'Grady combined for back-to-back goals to erase any progress.
 
In the final 24 second of the quarter, Albion managed a goal to make the Blue Streaks advantage just 12-7. However, just nine second later off of a John Carroll face off win, Connor Pike slotted a goal to keep the Blue Streaks advantage for the fourth quarter.
 
Albion managed to score two goals in the final frame, but there was no comeback in the cards. All hope was washed away when Rice scored to make it 14-9 John Carroll with just over seven minutes to play.
 
The final seven minutes of the game was scoreless, pushing the Blue Streaks to a 14-9 first round victory.
 
John Carroll was dominate in all facets of the game. JCU won the shots battle (41-25), the ground ball battle (47-30), the face off battle (18-of-25) and were 17-of-18 on clears for the afternoon.
 
The Blue and Gold will now have a quick turn around for the second game of the tournament. John Carroll will remain to play the hosts of the first round game, Rochester Institute of Technology, in a second round match up on Wednesday, May 10 at 4:00 p.m.