In their fifth OAC matchup of the season, the John Carroll men's lacrosse team traveled to Alliance, Ohio, where they defeated the Purple Raiders of Mount Union 14-5.

The victory ended a rough stretch for the Blue Streaks, which included a three-game losing streak to conference opponents.

The first quarter saw both teams match intensity levels, with the score 2-2 at the end of the period. After John Carroll took a 1-0 lead on a goal from Skyler Blake, Mount Union rebounded by scoring two goals in the next eight minutes. JCU responded with an 8-0 run that would last into the third quarter to give JCU a seven-goal advantage (9-2). Blake led the run with three more goals, followed by Patrick O'Grady and Kevin Hack with two apiece. Brendan Whitty also chipped in one.

"We started slow," said head coach Joe Rautenstrauch. "But once we huddled up and stressed team offense, the ball moved better and we had great looks on the backside."

The run for the Blue and Gold foreshadowed the rest of the game. John Carroll would ride their momentum, outscoring Mount Union 5-3 in the remainder of the game to bring home the win.

The Purple Raiders' last two meaningful goals came at the 8:13 mark by Grant Elffers and 0:39 by Alek Kungle in the third quarter. Elffers also scored the goal Mount Union goal in the final 15 minutes of play.

John Carroll applied the pressure all night, winning the shots-on-goal battle by a 20-shot margin.

Blake finished the game leading all players in both goals (5) and assists (3). Blake's three assists tonight moved him to within four of third place all-time in program history for assists.

The strong defensive effort did not come as a surprise to the JCU coaching staff. In fact, it was what the Blue Streaks planned for.

"We knew we had to have a solid game plan on the faceoff wings going against the best faceoff guy in the conference," stated Rautenstrauch. "I thought our unit of Evan Schneeberger, Clayton Karam, and Aidan Hubbell did a great job of keeping it a battle to help us win some and create quick turnovers off the ones we lost."

Mount Union entered the game leading the Ohio Athletic Conference in faceoff percentage (.684).

The Blue Streaks stay on the road for a match-up against Wilmington on Saturday, April 13, at 1:00 p.m.

Karam recorded a team high in ground balls (7), while Charlie Shaver led the team in caused turnovers (5).

In goal, Jacob Betz earned the win for the Blue and Gold. The goalkeeper tallied six saves on the day en route to his fifth win of his senior campaign (5-2). He also currently leads the conference in saves with 140 on the season.  

Rautenstrauch then went on to say about the defense, "They've continuously gotten better every game, which is exciting."

Mount Union's Alek Kungle and Declan McCartin led the Purple Raider's offense, scoring a combined two goals of the team's five.   
  
With the win, the Blue Streaks improve to 6-6 (2-3 OAC) on the season, while Mount Union falls to 4-7 (2-3 OAC).

John Carroll next travels to Wilmington, Ohio to face the Fightin' Quakers of Wilmington College on Saturday, April 13 at 1 p.m.