Shane Olsen's Hat Trick leads Men's Lacrosse to 11-9 victory over Otterbein in battle of league leaders
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otterbein (8-7, 5-2 OAC) | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 9 |
| Ohio Northern (13-2, 6-1 OAC) | 3 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 11 |
Team Stats
Otterbein
| Game Statistics | Otterbein | Ohio Northern |
|---|---|---|
| Shots | 35 | 31 |
| Ground Balls | 35 | 44 |
| Saves | 8 | 11 |
| Clears | 17-22 | 18-22 |
| Turnovers | 19 | 19 |
| Face Offs Won | 13 | 10 |
| Man Up | 2-3 | 2-6 |
By Tim Glon
ADA — Sophomore Shane Olsen (White Bear Lake, Minn.) scored his second career hat trick to lead the Ohio Northern men's lacrosse team to an 11-9 victory over Otterbein in a battle of league leaders on a beautiful Wednesday evening at Dial-Roberson Stadium.
The Polar Bears improve to 13-2 overall and stay in a first place tie with John Carroll in the Ohio Athletic Conference with a 6-1 mark.
The Cardinals fall to 8-7 and move one game behind ONU and JCU with a 5-2 league record.
Otterbein scored three consecutive goals in a span of 3:18 of the third quarter to take an 8-6 lead with 7:23 left in the quarter.
Junior Anthony Pavone scored a man-up goal with 1:23 left in the third and Olsen tied the game with a goal just 46 seconds later to send the game into the fourth quarter tied at 8-all.
Junior Nicholas Groves (Fishers, Ind./Chatard) broke the tie with a man-up goal just 34 seconds into the fourth quarter and Olsen scored at the 10:36 mark to make it 10-8 Polar Bears.
Otterbein pulled within 10-9 with 6:46 to go, but junior Cameron Marous (Brecksville) picked up a hugh insurance goal with 2:45 to go.
OU had a golden opportunity to score with 1:20 left, but a shot into an open net from 15 yards out sailed wide and ONU took possession and hung on for the win.
The Polar Bears had a 44-35 advantage in ground balls, but the Cardinals out-shot Ohio Northern 35-31.
Ohio Northern can clinch at least a share of the OAC regular season title and a spot in next week's 4-team OAC Tournament with a victory at Capital in the regular season finale on Saturday.
Should ONU fall to CU and Otterbein tops John Carroll on Saturday, there will be a 5-way tie atop the OAC with BW joining the foursome with 6-2 league records. In that case, the tiebreaker would come down to goal differential in all games among the five schools.
