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John Carroll University Athletics

home of the Blue Streaks
MLAX
Noah Tylutki
The Blue Streaks secured their sixth straight OAC Tournament championship in a 10-4 defeat of #1 seed Baldwin Wallace.
10
Winner John Carroll JCUM 16-2
4
Baldwin Wallace BW-M 14-4
Winner
John Carroll JCUM
16-2
10
Final
4
Baldwin Wallace BW-M
14-4
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
John Carroll JCUM 3 1 5 1 10
Baldwin Wallace BW-M 1 1 1 1 4

Game Recap: Men's Lacrosse | | Noah Tylutki, Graduate Assistant

Stellar Defense Leads Blue Streaks to Sixth Straight OAC Championship

BEREA, Ohio -- Not often does a script repeat itself.

In 2021, the John Carroll men's lacrosse team lost its lone OAC regular season game to Baldwin Wallace only to get revenge and win the OAC Tournament title in Berea.

This season, the Blue Streaks were defeated by the Yellow Jackets in the regular season for their only conference blemish, but put together an outstanding defensive effort and won its sixth straight OAC championship by defeating BW 10-4 at George Finnie Stadium.

The four goals allowed by John Carroll were the least amount ever given up in an OAC Championship game.

"It's phenomenal," Blue Streak head coach Joe Rautenstrauch said.  "I think we felt the first one against them got away from us, but I think we were peaking at the right time.  We knew they were going to give us a great battle, and it feels great to come out on top."

The JCU attack did not even have to score to get on the board first, as the Yellow Jackets scored on an own goal just three minutes into the game.

Kevin Hack added a score with about 10 minutes to go in the first quarter to make it 2-0, but BW answered back with a goal from Olin Ferguson to cut JCU's lead in half.

With just over a minute left in the period, Matt Berdysiak struck to go up 3-1 as the first came to a close.

The Blue Streaks played a slow but aggressive attack during the second quarter, as Berdysiak added another goal with 7:37 left in the first half.  

Baldwin Wallace stormed back two minutes later to make it 4-2, but the JCU defense held strong as they forced four turnovers to end the half after allowing the goal.

John Carroll was finally able to break through offensively in the third, with five goals during the frame.

Hack struck first with a man up goal three and a half minutes in, but despite BW scoring six minutes later to make it a two-score game, JCU rattled off four scores from four different players (Hack, Tanner Gill-Snow, Carter Pavain, and Jared Gorenflo) in 2:45 to take a 9-3 advantage heading into the fourth.

The Blue Streaks continued its stout defense in the final quarter, as they only allowed one goal with 13 seconds left and forced six BW turnovers.  Cullen Zarek added the final goal for JCU with 6:20 remaining in the game.

Hack led all scorers with three goals while Berdysiak added two himself and Whitty tallied two assists.  In net, Jon Gaglio had nine saves and compiled 21 combined in the OAC Tournament.

John Carroll forced a total of 21 turnovers while only committing 13, and outshot the Yellow Jackets 50-22.

"Defense is something we've prided ourselves on ever since I got to John Carroll," Rautenstrauch said.  "We knew in the second half that the way we could make sure to secure the game was to play a phenomenal 30 minutes and we did.  That starts with the leadership and experience we have, with all of the seniors and fifth years."

That leadership and experience was evident throughout the game with the 10 seniors and three fifth year graduate students on the squad.

"With all the seniors and fifth years we have on the team, we didn't want the season to end," Rautenstrauch said.  "To have guys want to come back, it goes to show what this program means to people.  We're a family but we're also a pretty good lacrosse team to play."

With the victory, the Blue Streaks punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in the last seven seasons.  The tournament bracket will be revealed during the NCAA Selection Show through a live stream on Sunday, May 8 at 9:00pm.

"I think the goal for this team is to not let anyone affect the outcome of the game but us," Rautenstrauch explained.  "The NCAA Tournament is always a new challenge every year.  We have a talented and hard-nosed team, but we have to make sure that we are focused during every possession and play our game."
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