Ollie Jimba

CLEARWATER, Fla. – The College of Wooster men's lacrosse team was competitive early, and dominated in the faceoff department all game long, but Catholic University of America's potent attacking core and stifling defense ultimately won out during the Cardinals' 20-8 win on Wednesday afternoon at the Joe DiMaggio Sports Complex.

Wooster's (2-3) faceoff dominance was especially evident in the first half, where the Fighting Scots went 11-for-13. First-year Ollie Jimba took all 13 first-half faceoffs, and he had nine groundballs on his Wednesday afternoon stat line by halftime. Even more impressive was Jimba's dominance when going up against Catholic's (4-4) Mike McShea, who entered the day with the 33rd-highest faceoff winning percentage in NCAA Div. III. McShea was just 1-of-8 on faceoffs in the first half.

First-year Charlie Ballou's fourth goal of the year tied Wednesday's contest at two with 2:17 left in the first period. The score was tied again, this time at three, with 12:26 to go before halftime when senior Cooper Pewitt's laser deflected off a Catholic defender on its way into the net. Next, junior Connor Mangan fed first-year Brad Root, who gave the Scots a 4-3 lead with 9:20 to go before halftime.

Wooster's lead was short lived, as Joey Rockovich scored the first of four unanswered goals for the Cardinals, who took a 7-5 lead into halftime. Catholic exploded for a nine-goal third period, with Sean Baudo's two goals leading the way.

While it was too late to get back into the fray as far as the result was concerned, Wooster did have a strong stretch offensively in the final period. Junior Shaun Peirce scored his two goals, with Ballou and junior Ted Wells setting those goals up. Then, senior Cullen Kuhn passed out an assist to Drake Nickolaison for Wooster's final goal.

Peirce and Wells scored two goals each to pace the offense, while Jimba logged 11 of Wooster's 35 groundballs. Senior Wesley Wagner turned aside a season-high 17 shots.

Catholic's Baudo scored a game-high five goals, three Cardinals had three caused turnovers each, and Alex Mulyk and Nic Pezone combined for 16 saves.

Catholic outshot Wooster 53-45, had a 45-35 edge on groundballs, and was 23-for-32 on clear attempts.

Wooster's next scheduled game is at Baldwin Wallace University (2-3) on March 18. The team's scheduled game against Western Connecticut State University in Florida on Sunday, March 16 has been cancelled.