By: Ryan Sosic '19
BEREA, Ohio- The Baldwin Wallace University men's lacrosse team knocked off Ohio Athletic Conference leader Ohio Northern University 16-14 in a tightly contested game inside George Finnie Stadium.
BW (10-2, 4-1 OAC) was led by senior two-time All-OAC attack Mike Nanosky (Medina) as he scored his 100th career point after tallying a career-high six goals and seven points. Junior All-OAC midfielder Ben Kubiak (Wooster) recorded three goals and two assists for five points. Sophomore midfielder Nicholas Nanosky (Medina) tied career highs of two goals and four points while senior attack Blake Bower (Lewis Center/Olentangy) netted a hat trick. In addition, senior three-time All-OAC attack Chad Steinwachs (Buffalo, N.Y./Williamsville North) dished out five assists to break the single season school assist record that he previously set last season.
In the cage, sophomore goalkeeper Trent Davis (Ottawa Hills) made nine saves to notch his fifth straight victory.
Ohio Northern (10-2, 4-1 OAC) was led by junior attack Cameron Marous with his four goals. Senior midfielder/attack Anthony Pavone added a hat trick of his own while senior attack Nicolas Groves scored two goals and added an assist.
The Yellow Jackets set the tone early with four Nanosky goals, two by Mike and two by Nicholas, to take a 4-1 lead with just under five minutes left in the first quarter. The Polar Bears were able to find a groove offensively late into the first period after putting together three unanswered goals to tie the game at 4-4 with 58 seconds left. An unassisted goal by Kubiak helped BW regain the lead and head into the second quarter with a 5-4 lead.
The Yellow Jacket's offense exploded as the second quarter got underway with three unanswered goals, highlighted by a man-up score by Mike Nanosky, to extend their lead 8-4 with 12:30 left in the first half. Ohio Northern answered broke their scoreless spell with a goal by Patrick Moran to cut the BW lead to three, 8-5. Two straight Yellow Jacket goals with assists with Steinwachs gave BW their biggest lead of the game at 10-5 with just over seven minutes remaining in the first half. Much like the first quarter, the Polar Bears ended the first half with a lot of momentum after stringing together three straight goals but the Yellow Jackets were able to weather the storm again with two goals by Bower in the last 20 seconds, including a buzzer-beating put-back score, to head into halftime with a 12-8 lead.
The game began to slow down tremendously throughout the entire third quarter as both teams only scored once through the first nine minutes. The Polar Bears were able to cut the BW lead down to 13-11 after goals by Groves and Pavone as they headed into the final period with all the momentum.
A man-up goal brought Ohio Northern within one goal of the lead at 13-12 with 14:07 remaining before goals from Mike Nanosky, Kubiak and Bower rebuilt a four-goal Yellow Jacket advantage. However, the Polar Bears quickly answered Bower's goal and then added another score from senior attack Max Weese to only trail 16-14 with 1:05 left. Although Ohio Northern won the ensuing faceoff and got off three shots, BW was able to hold on for the victory.
The Yellow Jackets will be back on the road this Saturday, April 13, when they take on OAC foe Muskingum University at 1 p.m. inside McConagha Stadium.
