DELAWARE, Ohio – The Ohio Wesleyan University men's lacrosse team hosted one final game at Selby Stadium on Wednesday evening, with the Battling Bishops meeting Grove City in the first round of the NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship – the winner advancing on to play in the Lynchburg pod for the second and third rounds this coming weekend. The Wolverines got the best of OWU in the early going with a 7-0 run to start, ultimately leading to a 14-9 win despite the Bishops' best efforts to come back.
The Red and Black conclude their season at 11-7. Grove City continues on at 14-7.
It was not the start Ohio Wesleyan was hoping for as Grove City took control in the first quarter. The Wolverines would hold the Battling Bishops scoreless until the final two minutes of the period, while going on a seven-goal run in the meantime. The Red and Black finally cracked the scoreboard with 1:47 remaining, with
Max Kemp putting the game at 7-1 before the first break thanks to an assist by
Wade Beckstrom
Kemp put away the first of the second quarter as well, as the Bishops started to step up on defense and slow the Grove City offense. The period saw just three scores: the aforementioned opener by Kemp, one for the Wolverines around the midway point, and another by Beckstrom on the power play just before the half.
Garrett Smith was on the assist as OWU obtained a little bit of momentum heading into the half.
The Red and Black began to close the gap in the third quarter, narrowing the deficit down to three at one point thanks to a 4-2 run in the first eight minutes. Beckstrom seemed to be finding the back of the net at will, putting away Ohio Wesleyan's first three of the period, with Smith picking up the fourth. Unfortunately, Grove City outscored the Bishops 2-1 in the latter seven minutes to grow their lead back out to four at 12-8.
Carson Fialho found the fifth and final goal of the quarter for OWU.
The fourth quarter saw the two sides stalemate for the first nine minutes as neither could quite find a hold on the ball. The Wolverines would end up grabbing back the momentum with two goals to take their lead back to six. Beckstrom scored the only consultation for the Battling Bishops with 44 seconds remaining in the game, leading to a 14-9 final scoreline.
THE NUMBERS
The shot totals leaned heavily towards Ohio Wesleyan at 41-28, however shots on goal was a different story at 21-21 even. Grove City's defense made the difference with 12 saves compared to OWU's seven, and beat the Bishops in the ground ball battle 40-34. The Battling Bishops went 14-for-26 on faceoffs, 1-for-4 on extra man opportunities, and 17-for-18 on clears, while directly causing 12 of the Wolverines 21 turnovers.
Wade Beckstrom managed a game-high six points on five goals and one assist, with one caused turnover and two ground balls.
Max Kemp put away two goals.
Garrett Smith scored once and assisted once for two points alongside two caused turnovers and one ground ball.
Carson Fialho found the back of the net once, caused three turnovers, and grabbed a ground ball.
Will Siegenthaler and
Henry Ross recorded one assist each. Ross also caused a turnover and picked up three ground balls. Siegenthaler grabbed an additional ground ball.
Simon Hall led the faceoff specialists with an 8-of-13 win line alongside seven ground balls.
Noah Citek went 6-of-13 on the faceoff with five ground balls. He graduates as the Bishops' all-time leading faceoff man with an even 800 career wins and 536 career ground balls, also setting new single-season records with 266 wins and 192 ground balls this year.
Defensively, the Red and Black were led by
Jayden Franzen (2 CT, 2 GB),
Dean Shacklett (1 CT, 1 GB),
Trey Weber (4 GB),
Luke Miller (3 GB),
Henry Pinamonti (2 GB), and
Nick Sauline (1 GB).
Jason Mosher (8-6) made seven saves and picked up one ground ball during his 60 minutes in the cage.
