It should come as no surprise that the John CarrollMount Union rivalry in men's lacrosse has taken very little time in getting up to speed with the rest of the sports.

For the fourth time in as many meetings, the final oucome was not determined until the final minute. This time, it was Mount Union holding off a late John Carroll rally to forge a 9-8 victory.

In all four meetings, the final margin has been either one or two goals.

JCU got on the board first, as Declan O'Grady scored in the opening minute of the contest. That goal held up the entire first period as the Blue Streaks led 1-0 after 15 minutes.

Mount Union responded with the next three scores, all in the opening six minutes of the second quarter, to take a 3-1 lead. It took goals by O'Grady and Connor Pike to knot the score at 3-3 before the end of the half.

John Carroll  took its only second half lead when O'Grady and Pike scored back-to-back goals to put the Blue Streaks ahead, 5-4, with 12:03 left in the third. It was then that JCU went ice cold on offense, during which time Mount Union took control. Four unanswered goals made the score 8-5 early in the fourth.

JCU attempted to rally. RPO Whitty scored with 7:44 remaining, and O'Grady followed with a goal 37 seconds later to pull John Carroll within one goal.

But the Streaks could never get the equalizer. Mount Union delieverd the dagger with 90 seconds left in the fourth on a goal by Harris Hogan. The Blue Streaks again pulled to within a single goal on a Logan Calhoun goal, but the score came with just 21 ticks left and the visitors could not muster a final challenge.

Mount Union won its fifith consecutive game to improve to 8-2 overall and 3-0 in the OAC. John Carroll fell to 5-5 and 1-1 in league play.