WOOSTER, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University men's lacrosse team concluded non-conference action with a 15-11 victory over The College of Wooster inside John P. Papp Stadium.
Senior three-time All-Ohio Athletic Conference attack Chad Steinwachs (Buffalo, N.Y./Williamsville North) led BW (6-2) with a team- and game-high four goals, four assists and eight points. Junior All-OAC midfielder Ben Kubiak (Wooster) tied his career high with four goals and also added one assist. Senior attack Blake Bower (Lewis Center/Olentangy) chipped in one goal and one assist.
In the cage, sophomore goalkeeper Trent Davis (Ottawa Hills) made his first career start and also picked up his first career victory, making a career-high eight saves. Junior goalkeeper Connor Lalime (Buffalo, N.Y./Williamsville East) also made a career-high five saves as he saw action in the second half.
Senior attack/midfielder Joe Altieri posted three goals and two assists for five points in the loss for Wooster (2-7). Junior midfielder Cullen Kuhn netted a hat trick of three goals. Junior attack/midfielder Cooper Prewitt recorded two goals and one assist for a total of three points while sophomore attack Shaun Peirce added a pair of goals himself.
Physical play characterized the early minutes with three total penalties before Wooster netted the first goal at the 9:20 mark. Meanwhile, the Fighting Scots held BW scoreless until late in the period when Kubiak got the offense going with back-to-back unassisted goals. Steinwachs and sophomore midfielder Gage Schneider (Hamburg, N.Y.) added to the run, giving the Yellow Jackets a 4-1 lead after the first quarter horn sounded.
Wooster went off on a 3-1 run of its own to start the second quarter and cut the deficit down to 5-4 with 8:50 remaining in the half. Bower and Steinwachs combined for three BW scores, including a sequence where Steinwachs caused a turnover, scooped the ground ball and scored. However, the Fighting Scots closed out the half on a 2-0 run as the Yellow Jackets held on to an 8-6 lead.
The third quarter was pretty evenly matched third quarter despite two early BW scores from Kubiak and sophomore midfielder Nicholas Nanosky (Medina) that were both assisted by Steinwachs. Leading 10-6, Wooster and the Yellow Jackets then traded goals until the end of the period for an 11-8 score.
BW opened the final period on a 3-0 run as five different Yellow Jackets got involved in the offense. The Fighting Scots had their sights set on a comeback, though, as they countered with a 3-0 run of their own to trim the deficit down to 14-11 with 3:15 left in the game. However, junior midfielder Austin Routzong (Hilliard/Bradley) finished off the evening with his first goal of the season to seal the 15-11 BW victory.
The Yellow Jackets return to OAC action on Saturday, March 30, when BW hosts Marietta College at 1 p.m. inside George Finnie Stadium.
