By: Athletic Communications Student Intern Joe Huff '21
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University men's lacrosse team suffered its first loss of the season as it fell to John Carroll University by a final score of 10-6 in a non-conference matchup inside Don Shula Stadium.
BW (7-1, 5-0 OAC) was led freshman attacker Gunner MacMillan (Henrietta, N.Y./Rush Henrietta) who scored two goals on the evening. Four other Yellow Jackets added one goal each.
John Carroll (7-1, 4-1 OAC) was led by senior midfielder Kevin Hack who scored three goals. Senior All-OAC attacker Skyler Blake and senior midfielder Bennett Gorman added two goals each for the Blue Streaks.
BW opened the scoring on the evening when freshman midfielder Trevor Stevens (Buffalo, N.Y./Lancaster) ripped one into the back of the net with 13:14 remaining. The John Carroll attack knotted things up at 1-1 when Gorman got his first goal. The Yellow Jackets fired back to regain the lead with a goal coming by the way of freshman attacker Zakary Kroeger (Cincinnati/Archbishop Moeller). The Blue Streaks got their first lead of the day after a 2-0 run with 4:06 left in the quarter. The run was capped off when junior midfielder Ian Flynn hit the back of the net. BW tied things up at 3-3 to end the half with MacMillan finding the back of the cage with 3:52 remaining.
John Carroll started the second quarter with high energy on both the defensive and offensive end as they opened with a 3-0 run to take the lead at 6-3. The run was capped off when Gorman got one past the keeper with 9:13 remaining in the half. The Yellow Jackets put an end to the run when freshman midfielder Hunter Boehm (Delaware/Olentangy) rifled one past the keeper. The Blue Streaks end the scoring in the half with a goal from Blake with 4:07 to increase the John Carroll lead to 7-4 at halftime.
The third quarter was led by the Blue Streaks as they went a 2-0 run spanning the entire 15 minutes. Hack and junior midfielder Cullen Zarek combines to score the two goals for the Blue Streaks as they carried a 9-4 lead into the fourth. BW put up five shots, all of which were saved.
The Yellow Jackets came back with a nice response to start the final quarter as they went on a 2-0 run to cut the John Carroll lead to 9-6. MacMillan scored his second of the day followed up by a goal from senior All-OAC and Academic All-OAC midfielder Nick Nanosky (Medina). The Blue Streaks scored one final goal when Blake hit the back of the cage with 11:24 remaining in the game. Both defenses were strong the rest of the game with each team allowing no goals.
In the cage, sophomore goalkeeper Joe Storner (Louisville, Ky./St. Xavier) tied his career-best and BW record with 21 saves on the 31 shots he faced.
The Yellow Jackets are back in action on Saturday April 10 for Seniors' Day at 1:00 p.m. when they host Muskingum University in an OAC matchup inside George Finnie Stadium on Tressel Field.
