COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Capital University women's lacrosse team returned to action on Wednesday night against an all to familiar foe in the Cardinals of Otterbein University. Despite the brutal physicality of the contest, the Comets were able to push through and roar out to 20-10 victory over their rivals from the other side of the city.

Capital remains perfect at 18-0 on the season and 9-0 against OAC opponents.

Otterbein ends their season at 8-8 overall and 5-4 in conference play.

Six Comets found the back of the net in the game. Freshman phenom Grace Osborn was back in her normal form, leading all scorers with eight goals. She also dished out one assist for a total of nine points. Luci Kanowsky followed suit with five goals of her own. Joining them in the scoring column were Katie Page (2), Julia Foresi (2), Brooke Delara (2), and Dylan Smith (1). 

The leading assist-woman was once again Brooke Delara. She was responsible for eight feeds, leading to a game-total of ten points for the graduate midfielder from Lewis Center. Kanowsky accounted for seven points in total due to her two assists and her aforementioned five goals. Osborn, Page, and Foresi each turned in one assist.

In a tough defensive battle, Capital stood strong. The Capital backfield pestered the Otterbein offense continuously, coaxing them into 26 turnovers and directly causing 15 of them. Delara and Foresi tied for the most CTs with three apiece. Osborn, Page, and Hanna Searles each had two, and Maddy Radanof, Avery Hart, and Molly Searls all caused one.

Cap rounded up 24 ground balls in total in the game. Radanof played lead detective in the round up, picking up four. Joining the scoop squad were Delara, Page, Hanna Searles, Hart, and Bee Kuehn who each had three. Foresi and Kanowsky had two apiece, while Molly Searles grabbed one. 

As a team, Capital won 19 draws, compared to Otterbein's 15. The Comets were led in the category by Grace Osborn who won seven draws by herself. Katie Page was the other busy body on the draw, winning five. 

Bee Kuehn earned her 18th win of the season in the cage, making five saves tonight. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Capital was in for a battle from the get go and found themselves in unfamiliar territory as Emily Willms scored the first goal of the game to put the visitors ahead midway through the first quarter. 

Thankfully, just two minutes after the Willms goal, Grace Osborn blitzed in for two quickfire goals to put Capital back in the driver's seat. A goal from Carli Rigel tied the game at 2-2, but Capital was able to get the next two goals from Osborn and Brooke Delara to give themselves a bit of breathing room. 

The Cardinals again tied the game at 4-4 as Rigel scored two more times, proving to the Comets that they were here to make life difficult. A three-goal response from the Comets helped to set the record straight as Osborn scored her fourth and Luci Kanowsky bagged two goals in a row. Again, all the way until the 3:09 mark of the third quarter, Otterbein failed to go away as they brought the score as close as 12-9 to continue troubling Capital's efforts to distance themselves. 

Despite the troublesome defense, Capital scored four goals before the end of the third quarter, including three with under 1:11 left. Those goals came from Luci Kanowsky, Julia Foresi, Grace Osborn and Katie Page. The quickfire offense gave Capital all the momentum they needed to ride out the fourth quarter, eventually building a lead out to 20-9 before a late man-up goal from Otterbein moved the final score to 20-10. For note, the fourth quarter featured goals from Delara, Kanowsky, Page and Foresi. 

THE OPPONENT
Emily Willms scored five goals for Otterbein, while Carli Rigel netted four times as well. Rigel was busy elsewhere with five ground balls, four caused turnovers, and six draw controls. Maggie Nance made six saves in goal. 

UP NEXT
Capital will host the No. 2 seeded John Carroll University for the OAC Tournament Championship on Saturday, May 7th. Due to the Capital Commencement taking place during the day, the first draw is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Bernlohr Stadium. The Blue Streaks are coming off a 22-14 win over Mount Union in the other semifinal match-up.