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WESTERVILLE, Ohio – Despite making a thunderous comeback and outshooting their opponent 38-27, the Capital University men's lacrosse team closed the book on their 2021 season in the OAC Tournament Quarterfinals by a final score of 8-7 on Tuesday evening.
Playing on the road to crosstown rivals, Otterbein University, Capital scored fought back from a four-goal deficit to tie the game on two occasions, but in the end were undone by a Cardinal goal with 1:13 left in the fourth quarter.
The loss concludes the Crusaders' season at 7-6, while Otterbein (11-3) advances to the OAC Semifinals on Thursday at John Carroll.
The first 16:42 of game time featured an Otterbein blitz leading to a 5-1 advantage near the start of the second quarter. The Cardinals got a goal from Aidan Moore and Xander Seal early before
Nathan Montgomery got one back for Capital. Montgomery's tally was assisted by
Jack Scharner.
Two more goals by Moore and a tally by Logan Fenech pushed the lead out to four goals just after the start of the second quarter.
The Crusaders didn't waver as they fought back, closing the gap to 5-4 by halftime. Scharner,
CJ Hughes, and
Brenden Pelton all found the back of the cage to close the game.
Carson Kott picked up an assist on Scharner's goal to begin the comeback efforts.
Capital continued to work their way back into the game during the third quarter. Despite being setback by a Cole Werbrich goal from Otterbein, Capital tied the game at 6-6 with 6:15 remaining in the third stanza.
CJ Hughes scored off a feed from Johnathan Kilgallon and then turned provider for Pelton's second of the game tying things at sixes.
The fourth quarter proved to be an all-out back-and-forth contest as both teams pushed to find some separation late to keep their season alive. First, Nawny Bailey scored with 10:29 left that put the pressure on Capital. However, after much pressure, the Purple and White responded with yet another equalizer. This time,
Evan Frund slotted a shot past Otterbein goalie Zach Groene to level the affairs with just 3:28 left.
Unfortunately for the Crusaders however, time would prove to work against them as the Cardinals found another goal from Bailey to take a 8-7 lead with 1:13 remaining in the game. A last ditch effort by Capital to force overtime went begging with just seconds left as a misguided pass turned the ball back over to Otterbein to close out the time.
All-in-all, Capital dominated every offensive category except the most important -- goals. The Crusaders outshot Otterbein 38-27, had fewer turnovers, and succeeded on more clears than their counterparts. However, the Cardinals held the edge in saves, ground balls and face offs won.
Hughes collected a team-high three points (2G, 1A) and Montgomery and Scharner each tallied one goal and one assist. Defensively,
Doc Crimmel caused four turnovers and had three ground balls.
Jack Conley scooped up four ground balls to lead the team.
In the cage,
Ben Houser stopped 10 shots.
Otterbein was led offensively by a goal and three assists from Xander Seal, while Eddie McDonald had a team-best five ground balls. Groene had 15 stops in net.
