UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS - The College of Wooster men's lacrosse team suffered its first loss on the season, falling 13-8 to John Carroll University inside Don Shula Stadium.
Junior Will Fink led the way for the Scots (3-1) with a hat trick while sophomore Lane Kellogg recorded two goals of his own. Senior Casey Steffen led the defensive effort with a team-high tying four ground balls and two caused turnovers.
Senior Seth Owens and senior Jimmy Fisher also collected four ground balls apiece. Kellogg added two caused turnovers to the stat sheet as did junior Bill Holtzer.
John Carroll (1-0) had a balanced offensive attack, which was led by Morgan Morrell. Four other Blue Streaks contributed two goals each.
The two teams were evenly matched, statistics wise. Wooster held the advantage in shots on goal (21 to 17), turnovers (20 to 24), clears (22-of-24 compared to 19-of-26) and caused turnovers (12 to 10). John Carroll led in shots (29 to 25), saves (13 to 4), ground balls (28 to 25) and face offs (13 to 11).
Kellogg got Wooster on the scoreboard first with an unassisted goal in the opening minutes. However, the Blue Streaks closed the period on a 4-0 run and never trailed again.
Wooster battled back in the second quarter thanks to goals from Steffen and Fink. Sophomore Logan Hyatt added a goal right before half to pull the Scots within one at the intermission, trailing only 5-4.
John Carroll dominated the third quarter, opening the period on a 3-0 run. The Blue Streaks then spanned the final two periods with an additional 3-0 run, putting the game out of reach for the Scots.
Fink's final two scores brought Wooster back within four goals; however, John Carroll had the answer en route to the victory.
Senior Paul Chandler suffered the loss in the net, making four saves and also recording a team-high tying four ground balls. Jon Gaglio made a game-high 13 saves for the Blue Streaks in the win.
Next, Wooster faces another Ohio Athletic Conference foe on Wednesday when the Scots travel to take on Capital University at 7 p.m. inside Bernlohr Stadium.
Photo credit: Peter Wangechi - John Carroll University