Baldwin Wallace BW-M 3-6,2-1 OAC

John Carroll JCUML 3-4, 2-1 OAC

Baldwin Wallace BW-M

3-6,2-1 OAC

Final

Apr. 03, 2024

John Carroll JCUML

3-4, 2-1 OAC

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	4	F
Baldwin Wallace BW-M	2	2	3	2	9
John Carroll JCUML	1	2	2	5	10

Summary
Box Score

Jose Figueroa

The Blue Streaks' 5-0 run powered a defining win over rival Baldwin Wallace.

Game Recap: Men's Lacrosse | 4/3/2024 10:34:00 PM | Gabby Hougan, Senior Staff Writer

Men's Lacrosse Remains Resilient, Firing Back to Defeat Yellow Jackets at Home

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS – While Baldwin Wallace held the lead through the first three quarters, the Blue Streaks strung together an offensive run to take the lead with less than a minute remaining in the game and hung on for a huge home victory.

John Carroll Men's Lacrosse earned a clutch rivalry victory over the Yellow Jackets, 10-9, with Josh Lombardo providing the game-winner in a rematch of the last three Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament Championships.

"This is a big bounceback conference win," said Head Coach Joe Rautenstrauch. "We needed this one against a crosstown rival in a championship rematch, but mostly I'm proud of how we responded, down 7-3 at one point in the third, we scored five in a row to go up 8-7. And when they responded, we remained tough. We're a younger team and we're learning, so a couple of weeks ago, we lose that game. But we're growing, this was a great game to get the younger guys into conference play to see what it takes to win a game. No one on our team ever questioned if we were going to win."

In the first quarter, the Yellow Jackets jumped on the board early. After creating a two-goal lead, Morgan Morrell disrupted the momentum with a Blue Streaks goal. Morrell intercepted a clear attempt from the Yellow Jackets goalie and shot on the empty net.

The first quarter closed with a score of 2-1 in favor of Baldwin Wallace with an occasional rain sprinkling the fans in Don Shula Stadium.

After the first eight minutes of the second quarter being scoreless, the Blue Streaks' offense made the first move. The Blue Streaks tied the game up after a shot from Billy Paladino was rebounded right into the hands of Braden Zarek, who quickly found the back of the net to improve the score to 2-2.

The Yellow Jackets responded with two quick goals to take back the lead 4-2. During a Baldwin Wallace clear attempt, Alexander Sykas forced a turnover which allowed Zarek to collect the ground ball and shoot on an empty net. Zarek's goal brought the game within one with a score of 4-3.

At the start of the third quarter, the Yellow Jackets put up a three goal run to increase their lead to four goals. With just over a minute left, Max Cook scored immediately after a Nicholas Yemma face-off win. Cook's goal fired up the Blue Streaks offense and opened the door for Colin Morrissey to score with 18 seconds remaining.

The late goals cut down Baldwin Wallace's lead to two goals and the quarter ended with a score of 7-5.

With the momentum in favor of John Carroll moving into the fourth quarter, the Blue Streaks offense put up three goals to take the lead at 8-7.

The first goal was scored by Zarek, which completed his hat trick. Morrissey had his second goal of the night off a pass from Vinny Fiorella during a man-up opportunity with 12 minutes left of the game. A few minutes later in another man-up chance for the Blue Streaks, Morrissey earned his hat trick and created the first John Carroll lead of the night.

Back and forth goals defined the last few minutes of the game with Baldwin Wallace tying the game at eight. With just over seven minutes left, Paladino scored to push John Carroll ahead 9-8. The Yellow Jackets scored again to tie the game at 9-all. And with less than a minute left, Josh Lombardo scored a beauty to give the lead back to the Blue Streaks.

"We had short time after draining the clock a bit, so we wanted to find the shorty and expose the matchup," said Lombardo. "We knew going into it we wanted to work some from X, so once we found the matchup, the rest is history. They didn't slide, so I took the shot and it ended in our favor."

It was most certainly an emotional win for the Blue Streaks.

"It feels so good, because going into the season, we knew we had a lot of talent. We just had to put things together," said Lombardo. "We know who we are and how good we can be. As it starts to click and see it working on the field, it feels really good to see the offense pick up.

"Every time we play BW, we know it's going to be a scrap. So coming out with the win gives us a lot of motivation and keeps us pushing forward. We're not done yet, we need to battle back and keep working and grinding."

Colin Morrissey and Braden Zarek helmed the offense with three goals apiece, while Zarek topped the team with 6 groundballs. Alexander Sykas notched a pair of caused turnovers.

The story on the defensive end proved to be the heroics of a veteran, Jon Gaglio. The graduate student provided save after save for JCU, finishing with 13 stops.

"Jon Gaglio deserves a shoutout, he played great," said Rautenstrauch. "We rode the ball so hard that we got three goals out of the ride, so I'm proud of the attack and offense in that aspect. Our offense didn't break even though the goalie had 19 saves, he played phenomenal. Sometimes, it looks like there's nothing to shoot at, but we potted a lot in the second half.

"In a word, this team is resilient. Onward On to Wilmington and the rest of conference play."

Tonight's win advances the Blue Streaks to 2-1 in conference play. John Carroll will travel on Saturday to southwest Ohio to face another conference opponent, the Wilmington College Quakers.

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Scoring Summary
Scoring Play	Home Team Score
1st Period		BW-M	JCUML
13:35	BW-M - Jake Nanosky	1	0
09:38	BW-M - Noah Dodgion	2	0
07:49	JCUML - Morgan Morrell	2	1
2nd Period		BW-M	JCUML
07:09	JCUML - Braden Zarek	2	2
03:36	BW-M - Ian Shealy	3	2
02:40	BW-M - Jake Nanosky	4	2
00:15	JCUML - Braden Zarek	4	3
3rd Period		BW-M	JCUML
08:27	BW-M - Jake Nanosky	5	3
06:18	BW-M - Bennett Trout	6	3
01:22	BW-M - Jake Koonmen	7	3
01:10	JCUML - Max Cook	7	4
00:18	JCUML - Colin Morrissey	7	5
4th Period		BW-M	JCUML
13:20	JCUML - Braden Zarek	7	6
11:55	JCUML - Colin Morrissey Assisted by Vinny Fiorella	7	7
10:10	JCUML - Colin Morrissey	7	8
08:59	BW-M - Noah Dodgion Assisted by Bennett Trout	8	8
07:31	JCUML - Billy Paladino	8	9
06:29	BW-M - Reichen Geiselhart Assisted by Bennett Trout	9	9
00:58	JCUML - Josh Lombardo	9	10