John Carroll was going to run its gauntlet ... Baldwin Wallace, Capital and Mount Union ... back-to-back-to-back starting Wednesday night in Berea.

Unfortunately, the Blue Streaks stumbled out of the gates in the first part of that gauntlet, dropping a 9-8 decision to the Yellow Jackets.

It was the JCU's first loss in three tips across town.

Tonight's match-up did not start out as the Blue Streaks might have hoped, as JCU trailed the Yellow Jackets, 3-0, after the opening five minutes.

But the Blue and Gold were not going to give up that easily. With two goals by Colleen Grombala and one each from Alexis Guage and Alex Heishman, as well as an aggressive defense holding the Yellow Jackets scoreless for the last 19 minutes of the half, the Blue Streaks were able to tie the game 4-4 at the end of the first half.

Both teams came out at the start of the second half determined to take home the win. Two goals in the first seven minutes by Baldwin Wallace were followed by two goals netted by Carly Ross and one by Sophie Grabowski in a span of two minutes to give John Carroll a one-point advantage at 7-6.

Three shots from the Yellow Jackets would find the back of the net to give them a two- point advantage over the Blue Streaks with less than seven minutes left in the match.

Grombala tallied her seventh hat trick of the 2019 season to shorten the gap to 9-8 with 1:27 left in the match, but the Blue Streaks were unable to secure another goal.

In the net, Elyssa Zablo secured seven saves.

As a team, JCU had 36 ground balls compared to BW's 22, and 24 caused turnovers.

John Carroll is now 7-3 overall and 2-1 in the OAC.

Next up for John Carroll is another OAC matchup against the Crusaders of Capital University. This will take place this upcoming Saturday, April 6, at 1:00 pm in Bexley, Ohio.