UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio –  The third-seeded Baldwin Wallace University men's lacrosse team was defeated by top-seeded John Carroll University in its first-ever Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament Championship game by a final score of 19-9 on Wasmer Field inside the Don Shula Stadium.

John Carroll (13-4) won its third straight OAC Tournament Championship and will enter the NCAA Division III National Tournament next weekend. BW (11-5) ends its season.

The Blue Streaks held a 5-3 lead after the first quarter.  John Carroll outscored the Yellow Jackets by a margin of 4-1 in the second quarter to lead 9-4 at halftime.  In a scoring outbreak in the third quarter, John Carroll outscored BW by a margin of 5-4 to hold a 14-8 lead.  The Blue Streaks outscored the Yellow Jackets by a margin of 5-1 in the final quarter.

BW was led by junior All-OAC attack Chad Steinwachs (Buffalo, N.Y./Williamsville North) and senior All-OAC midfielder Matt McDowell (East Amherst, N.Y./Williamsville North) each tallied three goals.   Junior All-OAC attack Mike Nanosky (Medina) chipped in two goals. 

In net for the Yellow Jackets, senior All-OAC goalie Mike Dizonno (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Adlai E. Stevenson) suffered the loss as he allowed 19 goals with seven saves.  DiZonno ends his career with a record of 46-12 with a school-record 398 saves. 

John Carroll was led by senior All-OAC attack Connor Pike with a game-high four goals.  Senior attack Logan Calhoun, sophomore midfielder Colin Corcoran and sophomore attack Skyler Blake all poured in three goals.  Senior All-OAC attack Colin Rice and freshman attack Brendan Whitty each added two goals.

In the first quarter, the Blue Streaks opened the scoring when Corcoran found the back of the cage at the 11:36 mark.  The Yellow Jackets tied the game at 1-1 on the unassisted goal from McDowell at 10:16.   John Carroll ran off three straight goals in just 20 seconds to push the lead to 4-1 at the 7:36 mark.  BW cut the lead down to 4-3 when Steinwachs and senior All-OAC attack Brock Riemenschneider (Rocky River) each scored a goal with the last coming at 2:38. The Blue Streaks took a 5-3 lead when Blake took a rebound shot and put it back in just under the crossbar for the score with just two seconds remaining. 

John Carroll pushed its lead to 6-3 on Corcoran's second goal at the 11:43 mark of the second quarter.  The Yellow Jackets cut the lead down to 6-4 on Steinwachs' second goal of the game at 10:02.   The Blue Streaks closed out the first half on a 3-0 run to take a 9-4 lead with the last score coming with seven seconds left.

John Carroll opened the second half scoring to extend its lead to 10-4 when Calhoun found the back of the cage at the 13:14 mark.   BW cut the lead down to 10-5 on the second goal of the game from McDowell at 10:24. The Blue Streaks answered with the second goal of the quarter for Calhoun at the 8:41 mark to push the lead to 11-5.  The Yellow Jackets responded when Mike Nanosky found the back of the cage at 7:54 to cut the lead down to 11-6.   John Carroll came right back on the tally by Rice to make the score 12-6 at the 6:43 mark.  BW fought back to a 12-7 deficit on the third goal from Steinwachs' at 6:10.   The Blue Streaks ran off two straight goals to take a 14-7 lead at the 2:56 mark.   The Yellow Jackets closed out the third quarter scoring to trail 14-8 on McDowell's third tally with 40 seconds remaining.

John Carroll scored three unanswered goals to open the fourth quarter to take a 17-8 lead with the last goal coming at the 8:23 mark.  BW got its final goal of the game when Mike Nanosky scored his second goal of the game on the man-up at 7:38 to make the score 17-9. The Blue Streaks closed the game on a 2-0 run to secure the 19-9 victory.

The 2018 NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse National Tournament selection show will air on Sunday, May 6 at 9 p.m.  Fans can watch the announcement at https://www.ncaa.com/sports/lacrosse-men/d3