OBERLIN, Ohio – The two-seed Ohio Wesleyan University men's lacrosse team traveled to take on one-seed Oberlin on Saturday night in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament Championship. The Battling Bishops were on the attack from the very beginning, roaring out to a 5-0 lead in the first quarter and again going on a 4-0 run in the fourth quarter to take a 12-4 victory.
OWU's season continues at 11-6. Oberlin's season ends at 12-6.
With the win, the Bishops secured their fourth overall NCAC Tournament Championship, going back-to-back for the first time in program history. The Red and Black also received the automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship and will make their 36th appearance in the national tournament next week.
Senior faceoff specialist
Noah Citek, senior midfielder
Garrett Smith, senior defender
Trey Weber, and junior attacker
Wade Beckstrom were named to the NCAC All-Tournament Team with junior goalkeeper
Jason Mosher being named the NCAC Tournament MVP.
GAME SUMMARY
Ohio Wesleyan started hot, holding Oberlin scoreless in the first quarter while jumping out to a 5-0 lead.
Trey Weber opened the scoring with a long-pole goal just 72 seconds in.
Garrett Smith followed suit a little over two minutes later to make it 2-0. OWU got a gift at the eight-minute mark, scoring their third with an Oberlin own goal following a deflected pass by
Wade Beckstrom.
Carson Fialho kept the run going with a fourth just 38 seconds later, coming off an assist from Smith. Smith capped off the quarter with his second of the game at the 1:35 mark, making it a 5-0 game.
The Yeomen finally put a halt to the Red and Black run with their first of the game at the start of the second quarter. Fortunately, the setback was short-lived as
Henry Ross and
Dean Shacklett netted back-to-back goals to end the half with the Bishops up six, 7-1. However, the Battling Bishops' offense did end up slowing down in the third quarter, being outscored 3-1 as Oberlin narrowed the gap to four at 8-4. Smith scored the lone goal for OWU in the third.
Ohio Wesleyan would leave no doubt in the fourth quarter, bouncing back as they normally do to shut out the Yeomen in the final 15 minutes. In the meantime, the Battling Bishops also tacked on four goals to close out a 12-4 victory. Ross scored the first, followed by Beckstrom, Smith, and
Will Siegenthaler. When the final buzzer sounded, the Bishops rushed to celebrate with goalie
Jason Mosher, who held Oberlin scoreless in two of the four quarters, making an incredible 13 saves against 17 shots on goal.
THE NUMBERS
The Bishops made more with less, dominating despite being behind in nearly every major stat category. OWU was outshot 39-34 overall and 17-16 in shots on goal, gave up 12 of 20 faceoffs, and lost the turnover margin 21-20. However, Ohio Wesleyan was more efficient in tracking down ground balls at 31-27, and in the transition game going 18-for-22 on clears.
Jason Mosher (W, 8-5) was the major difference maker in the game, turning away 13 of 17 shots on goal for a season-high .765 save percentage during his 60 minutes in the cage. He also had one caused turnover and four ground balls.
Garrett Smith led the offense with five points on four goals and one assist alongside one caused turnover and two ground balls.
Wade Beckstrom finished with three points on one goal and two assists as well as two caused turnovers and two ground balls.
Henry Ross recorded two goals with one caused turnover and one ground ball.
The remaining five goals were scored by a combination of
Will Siegenthaler,
Carson Fialho,
Dean Shacklett, and
Trey Weber, with a team goal thrown in as well. Weber rounded up two ground balls and caused one turnover. Fialho also had two ground balls while Siegenthaler grabbed one.
Noah Citek was 8-of-17 on the faceoff with three ground balls.
Simon Hall went 0-of-3 and got one ground ball.
Jayden Franzen (1 CT, 4 GB),
Luke Miller (1 CT, 1 GB),
Luca DiCarlo (1 CT, 1 GB),
Tanner Hower (2 GB),
Henry Pinamonti (2 GB),
Christian Caballero (1 GB), and
Matt Keeler (1 GB) led on the defensive end.
UP NEXT
The Battling Bishops now have their ticket to the NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship and will await the selection show on Sunday night at 9 p.m. on
NCAA.com.
