Steffen a Caused Turnover Machine Against Rival Wittenberg

WOOSTER, Ohio – A hot start to the third quarter pulled The College of Wooster men's lacrosse team within two, but Wittenberg University's eight-goal first period was too much to dig out from in Saturday's 16-13 win by the Tigers at Wooster High School.

Junior Casey Steffen was the headliner for the Fighting Scots (12-3, 3-3 NCAC), causing a single-game program-best 12 turnovers, shattering the old mark of nine held by Sean Hohan from a 2013 game against Kenyon College. Steffen was at eight by halftime, with that already matching his career-high, and by game's end, he had the second-most caused turnovers in a NCAA men's lacrosse game – Div. I, II, and III – this spring. In fact, Steffen's record haul is tied for the fifth-most in NCAA Div. III history since caused turnovers became an officially-tracked statistic in 2013. The national leader in caused turnovers upped his season count to 74, tied for the third-most in a season in NCAA Div. III history, and he is just four caused turnovers away from owning the program's all-time career record.

Penalties, of which Wittenberg (6-7, 3-3 NCAC) was flagged for 17, fueled the fire in the third period. The Tigers were booked for seven in the stanza alone, and Wooster capitalized with player-up scores from first-year Lane Kellogg, junior Ben Byars, and junior Charlie Ballou to pull within 11-8. Later, Wooster was still sizzling once both teams were playing at full strength, first with sophomore Rory Zahren working through a host of Tigers before being left one-on-one with Chase Singleton. Zahren won that matchup for his 22nd goal of the season to pull Wooster within 12-9 with 4:02 left in the third period. A few minutes later, junior Vinny DiLeo found sophomore Colton Beaudoin for goal 24 of the season, and that had Wooster within 12-10, marking the closest the Scots were all game. Wittenberg scored three of the next four goals and maintained at least a three-score advantage following that.

A three-minute illegal stick booking, a slash, and a push all within a 1:13 span of the fourth had the stage set for a massive last-second comeback, with Wooster up three players for a 30-second span. Singleton was up for the task, saving a DiLeo shot, then he fell on the loose ball in the crease, keeping the Scots from getting it. Wittenberg nearly warded off the entire penalty time, with Byars' goal with just over a minute remaining marking the Scots' sixth player-up score of the affair.

Wittenberg connected early, scoring five before Beaudoin put Wooster on the board at the 4:52 mark of the first period. Beaudoin went on to finish with four goals and an assist on 10 shots.

Steffen backed up his caused turnovers with 10 groundballs. Junior Paul Chandler made eight saves.

Kody Gould scored six times for Wittenberg, while Dillon McKeigue passed out five assists and scored four times. Singleton's save count reached 14 by game's end.

Wooster outshot Wittenberg 42-33 and forced seven more turnovers, as the Tigers had 34 to the Scots' 27. Wooster had 21 caused turnovers, nearly seven above the program's 14.36 per game average, which ranked fifth nationally coming into play.

Next, Wooster hosts Denison University (10-3, 4-1 NCAC) at 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 27 at Wooster High School.