ADA, Ohio – The third-seeded Baldwin Wallace University men's lacrosse team knocked off second-seeded Ohio Northern University to advance to its first-ever Ohio Athletic Conference Championship game with an 8-6 victory inside Dial-Roberson Stadium.
BW (11-4) will face the winner of top-seeded John Carroll University and fourth-seeded Capital University on Saturday, May 5 at a time yet to be determined. Ohio Northern (14-3), who qualified for its first-ever OAC Tournament, ends its season.
The Yellow Jackets held a 4-3 lead over the Polar Bears after the first quarter. BW outscored Ohio Northern by a margin of 3-2 in the second quarter to lead 7-5 at the intermission. Neither team found the back of the cage in the third quarter. The Yellow Jackets and Polar Bears each scored one goal in the final quarter.
BW was led by senior attack Alex Binner (East Amherst, N.Y./Williamsville North) with a game-high three goals. Senior All-OAC midfielder Matt McDowell(East Amherst, N.Y./Williamsville North) tallied two goals.
In net for the Yellow Jackets, senior All-OAC goalie Mike Dizonno (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Adlai E. Stevenson) picked up the win as he allowed six goals with 11 saves.
Ohio Northern was led by sophomore midfielder Kevin Giles with two goals. Four other Polar Bears tallied a goal.
Ohio Northern opened the scoring when Giles found the back of the cage at the 13:55 mark. BW responded with a 3-0 run to take a 3-1 lead on goals by junior All-OAC attack Mike Nanosky (Medina), Binner and McDowell with the last coming at 8:25. The Polar Bears used a 2-0 run to tie the game at 3-3 on tallies from sophomore midfielder Patrick Moran and Giles with the last coming at the 5:37 mark. The Yellow Jackets regained the lead and closed out the opening period scoring at 4-3 when senior midfielder Tanner Roberts (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) scored the unassisted goal at 2:10.
Ohio Northern opened the second quarter scoring to tie the game at 4-4 on the man-up goal by junior midfielder Nicholas Grove at the 14:32 mark. BW responded with a 2-0 run to take a 6-4 lead on goals by McDowell and Binner with the last coming at 10:28. The Polar Bears cut the lead down to 6-5 on a goal by Mason Schmeling at the 8:31 mark. The Yellow Jackets closed out the first half scoring and pushed its lead to 7-5 on the third goal of the half for Binner at 4:47.
The teams battled to a scoreless third quarter.
Ohio Northern cut the lead down to 7-6 when junior attack Noah St. Croix scored the man-up goal at the 8:03 mark of the fourth quarter. BW closed out the scoring when junior All-OAC attack Chad Steinwachs (Buffalo, N.Y./Williamsville North) scored the unassisted goal at 6:40.
