By: Athletics Communications Student Intern Joe Huff '21
BEREA, Ohio - The Baldwin Wallace University men's lacrosse team defeated crosstown rival John Carroll in an Ohio Athletic Conference game by a final score of 10-9 inside George Finnie Stadium on the Tressell Field.
BW (2-0, 1-0 OAC) was led by sophomore attacker Kyler Byerly (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair), freshman attacker Gunner MacMillan (Henrietta, N.Y./Rush Henrietta) and freshman midfielder Trevor Stevens (Buffalo, N.Y./Lancaster) who all scored two goals each. Byerly also added one assist. Four other Yellow Jackets added one goal each.
John Carroll (1-1, 0-1 OAC) was led by senior All-OAC midfielder and senior midfielder Kevin Hack who each scored two goals. Whitty added five assists on the day. Five other Blue Streaks added one goal each.
BW got a fast start as senior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC midfielder Nick Nanosky (Medina) rifled a shot into the back of the net. The John Carroll offense was able to fire back and take the lead after a 2-0 run that saw junior midfielder Cam Cecere hit the back of the cage. The Yellow Jackets responded when Stephens scored a goal with 4:18 remaining in the first. The back-and-forth quarter ended with one more Blue Streaks goal when senior All-OAC attacker Skyler Blake hit the back of the net to give them the 3-2 lead.
The second stanza began with the John Carroll offense firing on all cylinders. Their run that spanned into the first quarter stopped at 4-0 when sophomore attacker Matt Berdysik hit the back of the cage. The BW offense regrouped and came on the attack. Freshman attacker Jake Nanosky (Medina) got the group going with his goal. The Blue Streaks found one more goal in the quarter. Whitty hit the mark with 2:38 left in the quarter. The Yellow Jackets closed out the scoring when sophomore defender Ethan Rutowski (Pittsburgh, Pa./ Upper St. Clair) scored from midfield with three seconds remaining in the half to cut the Blue Streak lead to 7-4.
The John Carroll offense kicked things off in the second half, Whitty hit the back of the net with 10:55 remaining in the quarter. The BW attack finished the quarter on a 3-0 run that was capped off by Byerly who ripped one into the back of the cage to trim the Blue Streak's lead down to 8-7.
In the final quarter, the defenses picked up. However, the Blue Streaks struck first when senior midfielder Josh Plarr found the back of the cage on a man-up goal with 9:15 remaining. Stephens got the BW offense going to get trim the lead down to 9-8 with 7:29 remaining in the game. The Yellow Jackets never looked back as they added two more goals and held John Carroll scoreless the rest of the way. Freshman attacker Zakary Kroeger (Cincinnati/Archbishop Moeller) ripped the game-winner into the back of the net with 3:37 remaining in the game.
In the cage, sophomore goalkeeper Joe Storner (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier) faced 44 shots and made 13 saves.
BW returns to action on Saturday, March 13 when they host Wilmington College in an OAC matchup at 1:00 pm. The Yellow Jackets will welcome fans for the first time in 2021 per OAC policy.
