UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University men's lacrosse team withstood a hot second half by Ohio Athletic Conference and crosstown rival John Carroll University to notch a 13-10 win inside Don Shula Stadium.
Senior three-time All-OAC attack Chad Steinwachs (Buffalo, N.Y./Williamsville North) led BW (8-2, 2-1 OAC) with team-high tallies of three goals and three assists for a game-high six points. Junior All-OAC midfielder Ben Kubiak (Wooster) also recorded a hat trick and added an assist for four points. Senior midfielder Thomas Moesch (Ithaca, N.Y.) tied career highs of two goals and three points while junior attack Justin Presutti (Williamsville, N.Y./South) added a pair of scores.
In the cage, sophomore goalkeeper Trent Davis (Ottawa Hills) picked up his third consecutive win and made a career-high 13 saves.
Junior attack Skyler Blake scored a game-high four goals in the loss for the Blue Streaks (5-5, 1-2 OAC). Sophomore attack Brendan Whitty chipped in two goals and a game-high tying three assists. Sophomore midfielder Josh Plarr netted one goal and two assists.
Making the first start of his career, Presutti wasted no time getting the offense going as he scored BW's first two goals with assists from junior midfielder Austin Routzong (Hilliard/Bradley) and Kubiak. The Yellow Jackets continued to pressure the Blue Streak defense with Steinwachs also adding a pair of goals, building up to a 5-0 lead with 1:45 left in the period. Meanwhile, John Carroll struggled to find the back of the net until the waning seconds, finally avoiding a scoreless frame for a 5-1 score after the first quarter.
Steinwachs quickly added to BW's lead with an unassisted goal and then found sophomore midfielder Nicholas Nanosky (Medina) for a score to add to the hot first half. Both offenses then stalled for a 10-minute span until sophomore attack James Brown (Canfield/Cardinal Mooney) netted just his second goal of the season at the 1:10 mark. The Blue Streaks' offense never got going in the second quarter, however, with three of their four shots being saved en route to a scoreless period and an 8-1 halftime score in favor of the Yellow Jackets.
John Carroll made some adjustments coming out in the second half, halving BW's lead at 8-4 with a 3-0 run. The Yellow Jackets lone goal in the quarter came off Moesch's stick with 9:03 remaining before the Blake propelled the Blue Streak offense with a personal 3-0 run in just over four minutes of action. The final 4:23 of the period passed uneventfully as BW held on to a 9-7 lead.
Whitty helped John Carroll span its run over to the fourth quarter, trimming the Yellow Jackets' lead down to just one goal. Kubiak and Steinwachs put the team on their backs, getting involved in three separate goals to build back up to a 12-8 advantage with 9:53 left to play. The Blue Streaks would get no closer than three goals at two separate times in the quarter but Kubiak's final goal of the night helped BW hold on to the 13-10 victory.
The Yellow Jackets hit the road on Saturday, April 6, to take on Wilmington College in OAC action at 1 p.m. inside Williams Stadium.
