GAMBIER, Ohio – Senior three-time All-Ohio Athletic Conference attack Chad Steinwachs (Buffalo, N.Y./Williamsville North) broke two school records as the Baldwin Wallace University men's lacrosse team notched a late 17-16 non-conference victory over Kenyon College on McBride Field.
Just eight days following another record-breaking performance for BW (3-0), Steinwachs tallied four goals and a school-record eight assists to own the outright single-game school record with 12 points. Previously, the senior's name stood alone in the record books with seven assists and tied two others with 11 points.
Junior All-OAC midfielder Ben Kubiak (Wooster) matched Steinwachs with a game-high tying four goals. Three other Yellow Jackets netted two goals apiece between the reigning OAC Offensive Player of the Week in senior attack Blake Bower (Lewis Center/Olentangy), Junior midfielder Riley Mahon (Palatine, Ill./William Fremd) and junior midfielder Drew Braden (Wooster), who netted the eventual game-winner.
In the cage, senior Academic All-OAC goalkeeper Nate Karatas (Penfield, N.Y.) registered his third win of the season, a career best, while making a career-high 15 saves.
Senior attack Emilio Sosa posted a game-high tying four goals in the loss for Kenyon (3-1). Senior attack Nick Vitale recorded three goals and five assists for eight points while sophomore midfielder Will Harrigan also added three goals of his own. Both junior midfielder Sam Humphrey and sophomore attack Matt Pollack chipped in two goals to round out the multi-goal scorers.
The first few minutes passed uneventfully until the Lords got on the scoreboard at the 11:46 mark. Sophomore faceoff specialist Keller Fisher (Rocky River) answered with his first goal of the season less than 30 seconds later, tying the game at 1-1. Kenyon then methodically worked on a 5-0 run that spanned a majority of the quarter until sophomore midfielder Nicholas Nanosky (Medina) scored with 55 seconds remaining to make the score 6-2 heading into the second period.
BW's offense came storming back with three unanswered goals, trimming the Lords' lead down to just one goal and forcing a timeout with 11:06 left on the second-quarter clock. Both teams proceeded to trade goals as Kenyon held on to a slim one- to two-goal lead. However, Kubiak took advantage of two separate penalties, scoring two man-up goals to tie the game at 8-8 just before halftime.
Kenyon opened up the second half scoring with two goals in the first two minutes of action. Much like the previous quarter, the Lords and the Yellow Jackets again traded a sequence of goals before Kubiak and Steinwachs found the net on back-to-back possessions for the game's third tie at 11-11. After another pair of Kenyon goals, Steinwachs and Bower helped to force a 13-13 tie just before the third quarter horn sounded.
A flurry of three goals started the final period as the Lords continued to hold on to the lead as they had for the entire game. Once the scoring frenzy died down, the BW defense stepped up and held Kenyon scoreless for the final 10:51 of action. Steinwachs got involved in each of the Yellow Jackets' final three goals, starting with his seventh dish to Mahon to tie the previous single-game assist record. The senior then netted an unassisted goal, tying the game at 16-16 in addition to the school's single-game point record. Steinwachs capped off his record-setting performance by assisting on the game-winning goal to break both records. Braden's game-winner marked the first and only lead BW held in the entire game. The Lords had their chance at overtime, however, but the game-tying score was waved off by the officials since the horn sounded before the shot attempt.
BW returns home on Saturday, March 9, to host Transylvania (Ky.) University in non-conference action at 1 p.m. inside George Finnie Stadium.
