The week of March 18-25 saw the JCU men's lacrosse team in action continuing their home stand with games against conference opponents Carnegie Mellon on Wednesday the 21^st and Northwood on Saturday the 24^th.   With beautiful weather all week, the Streaks were looking forward to the next challenges on the make or break part of their schedule.  Following a solid victory against Akron, the Streaks were focused on their CCLA East rival Carnegie Mellon. 

The Tartans had JCU's number in recent seasons, winning games by 1 goal each of the last two years.  Moreover, each team came in with an 0-1 record in the division, and as only 2 of the 5 teams in the CCLA East can make the conference tournament, this game had extra significance. 

Both teams came out ready to play, as CMU got the ball early and peppered sophomore goalie Mike Burgos.  However, the Streak roared back, taking possession and getting quality shots.   JCU struck first on man up as sophomore Matt Burke knocked in a pass from freshman attack David Brill. After CMU answered, the CJU midfield stepped up as juniors Andy Seil and Brian Jaszka each got a goal to put JCU up 3-1 after 1.  The second quarter proved to be a defensive struggle, as both team turned the ball over due to good pressure, but neither team could capitalize on the turnovers.  In the 2^nd quarter each goalie made 5 saves, a credit to the tight defense being played and the rustiness of both squads.  The only goal came on a dodge by CMU's Spenser Lehr, who put in the first of his 4 to make the half time score 3-2 JCU.

It seemed that both teams made adjustments at the half, as the third quarter was a flurry of action, with both teams pushing the ball in transitions to get more shots.  JCU scored 3 in the first 5 minutes of the 3^rd on the back of Jaszka, who scored one, then assisted on a goal by junior Chad Riley, and then scored off a pass from junior Ryan Cox.  After that first 5 minutes, however, CMU controlled the next 5 minutes and put in 3 of their own.  JCU finally cut off the rally with a goal by Riley inside on a pass from junior Sam Scala to put the Streaks up 7-5 to start the 4^th.

With a big crowd behind them and CMU pressing, the Streaks fought for every loose ball, but the Tartans were able to get 2 goals, 1 while JCU was man down, to tie the game up with 11 minutes to go.  At that point, both teams tightened up and cost themselves opportunities by committing little mistakes.  With 5 minutes left, it seemed neither team could pull ahead.  At that point the JCU attack took over, getting great looks which lead to consecutive goal by David Brill off rare passes from Chad Riley to go up 2.  The defense and Burgos held strong, staving off a CMU comeback that scored with:12 left, but was too little, too late.  The Streaks pulled out a 9-8 victory, moving to 1-1 in division play. Extra credit goes to Sam Scala for taking over at the faceoff X and Ryan Drake for his play on defense.

3 days later the John Carroll men's lacrosse program hosted the first JCU Play for Parkinson's.  In order to bring awareness and raise money for a disease that affects over 1 million Americans,  John Carroll played host to 2 high school games, a women's game and a men's game, all with hopes of getting a lot of fans to donate $2 per person for a great cause.  The day started at 11am with an OHSLA Division 2 matchup between Benedictine and CVCA.  With a deep team and solid defense, Benedictine got up early and never looked back, defeating CVCA 14-1.  In the second game, OHSLA Division 1 teams Cleveland Heights, with alum H. Kassergeit as head coach, and Strongsville faced off at 1.  Though Heights was athletic, the stick skills of Strongsville were too much as Strongsville won 12-2.  Following the high school games the JCU women took the field against PSU-Behrend.  The women's team controlled the ball early and scored often as they jumped out to a 6-0 start and never looked back, winning 14-3. 

The final game of the night was JCU hosting CCLA opponent Northwood in their first ever matchup.  Northwood came out ready and their goalie, Adam Campbell, made some great saves, allowing Northwood to take a 1-0 lead.  However, that only seemed to fire the Streaks up, as they went on 10 goal run, putting in 5 per quarter to go in at the half up 10-1.  The barrage was led by junior attack Chad Riley, who had 4 goals and 1 assist in the first half, and freshman David Brill, who contributed 2 goals and 2 assists in the first 30 minutes.  Coming out of the half, the Streaks wanted to keep the ball moving and get more guys involved, but Northwood would not back down and the 3^rd quarter was a tighter, and sloppier game, with each team only netting 2.  With the Streaks up 12-3, many of the starters were sat, including goalie Mike Burgos, who was replaced by junior Andrew McLean.  Though the Wolves scored 3 in the 4th quarter, McLean made some great saves and showed hustle in chasing after shots, which led to more opportunities for the JCU offense.  After getting 15 shots per quarter in the first half, the fourth quarter the team picked up the tempo and were able to generate more offense, and more shots, in the fourth, leading to another 5 goal quarter.  The extra possessions gained on the faceoffs by junior Aldo Narcisi, who won 12 of 13, and senior Kevin Barker, who went 8-2, carried the team all day, and the team was paced by Riley (5 goals, 2 assists), Brill (2 goals, 2 assists) and junior Ryan Cox (1goal, 2 assists).  On the defensive side, it was a solid team effort with strong performances by senior captain Pete Grisanti and sophomore Steve Epprecht.

Most importantly, the day was a success.  Between the sale of t-shirts, hats, socks, the gate attendance and donations from the competing teams, JCU was able to raise $2000 for Parkinson's research and set the stage for bigger and better events in the future.  A special thanks goes out to coaches H. Kurt Kassergeit of Cleveland Heights and Mike Fink of Benedictine, Lisa Spires Of CVCA, Geoff Belz of Strongsville, Ed Gambaccini of the women's team and especially sophomore Matt Burke who helped organize the whole day.  Said coach Bill Schmoldt “The day was exactly what we hoped for- good weather, a good crowd, an opportunity to showcase the school and our program, and to get some money, no matter the amount, to a disease that affects so many, including my family. We couldn't have pulled this off without Burke, and we hope this becomes an annual event.” We thank everyone for their support.  The Streak are home next on Sunday, April 1 against Toledo.  Roll Streaks.