Five years… five OAC playoff appearances.  After soundly defeating the  Ohio Northern Polar Bears 22-5, the John Carroll Blue Streaks are keeping their postseason streak alive.  

Clinching the fourth place spot in the conference, John Carroll is advancing to the conference bracket after a historic season.

From the very beginning, the outcome was never in question as the Blue Streaks dominated along all fronts.  Scoring the first eight goals of the match, John Carroll stormed to a solid advantage, relinquishing the first opposing goal more than 21 minutes into the game. Alex Heishman, Emma Workman, Colleen Grombala, Brooke McQuinn and Alexis Guage all contributed to the opening surge, with Heishman, Grombala and Workman each adding two goals in that time frame.

In the final five minutes of the first half, JCU left their foot on the gas, netting four more scores.  Jenna Ginsberg earned her second career goal off a well executed Free Position attempt. Workman, Heishman and Grombala completed their hat tricks in the first half, including Colleen's sizzling shot with just two seconds left.  It was the senior attacker's 50th goal of the season.

In the first half, John Carroll outshot Ohio Northern 29-6, snatched up more ground balls 20-6.  and had a superior clear percentage 77% to 38%.

The second half proved to be a near carbon copy of the first, highlighting John Carroll's dominant control.  Of the ten goals JCU scored in the second half, eight came off the swift sticks of Heishman and Grombala. Despite the Polar Bears scoring two early goals, the Blue Streaks opened up a six-goal tear, including netfinders from Ginsberg, Grombala, and Heishman in the span of 84 seconds.  Since the clock was running since the 22:14 mark of the second half, John Carroll sailed to their fifth conference victory.

Of the 20 draw controls John Carroll captured, McQuinn garnered 14.  In the second half alone, the Blue and Gold out drew ONU 12-1. While the offense was firing on all cylinders, the defense was as sharp as ever.  The backfield's staunch play led to only eight Ohio Northern shots on goal and caused 17 Polar bear turnovers. Workman, Molly Carroll, and Heishman combined for ten of those turnovers.

Along with the team's success, there was much to celebrate individually.  Heishman tied her career-high, netting six goals in the outing and completed the regular season with at least one goal in each match.  Grombala set a new personal benchmark with eight goals on the day, making her one of only four players in JCU history to have at least eight goals in a game.  While helping their team to victory, McQuinn celebrated her 65th game with the Blue and Gold, the most of any player in the program's history. Simultaneously, Guage started her 60th game, another record for the Blue Streaks.

"Brooke McQuinn continues to be a huge asset for us off the draw," said head coach Coach Rachel Dell. "Colleen Grombala and Alex Heishman really seem to be finding a groove on offense. Molly Carroll's aggressiveness in transition today forced the ball back into our offense. And Sydney Lang had a strong defensive performance even though the stats do not show that."  

While acknowledging the strong performances across the board, Dell is most proud of the team accomplishment.

"I was happy to get our 10th win today and qualify for postseason again," said Dell.

The Blue Streaks will take on the Mount Union Purple Raiders in the first round of the OAC playoffs this Wednesday, May 1st.  With the time TBD, Mount is a perfect 8-0 in conference play and defeated John Carroll 17-10 on April 10th.