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John Carroll University Athletics

home of the Blue Streaks
Alex Heishman
Jess Maddux
6
Otterbein OTTW 2-2
16
Winner John Carroll JCUW 4
Otterbein OTTW
2-2
6
Final
16
John Carroll JCUW
4
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Otterbein OTTW 2 4 6
John Carroll JCUW 9 7 16

Game Recap: Women's Lacrosse | | Luke Potosky, Staff Writer

Women's Lacrosse Ends Home Stand with Win over Otterbein

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio --  Heading into their third straight home game, John Carroll University Women's Lacrosse wanted to end their three-game homestand against Otterbein on a high note.

The Blue Streaks fought and secured a solid 16-6 victory on March 6 at Don Shula Stadium. With the victory, the Blue and Gold improve to 4-0 on the season. 

Alex Heishman got JCU on the board five minutes into the game. Her strike was followed shortly after by three goals in 57 seconds from Claire Mezzoprete and Colleen Grombala (twice) to put the Blue and Gold up 4-0. Heishman and Grombala's stellar afternoons were only just beginning.

After a nine-minute drought without a score, Alex Heishman converted her second and third goals of the game to put JCU up 6-0. Then, Colleen Grombala converted a free position shot for her third score of the afternoon, giving her a hat trick.

After two rapid Otterbein goals, the Blue Streaks regrouped as Heishman added to her goal collection with her fourth goal of the first half. She was followed 20 seconds later by an Olivia Gerlach goal as John Carroll went into halftime with a 9-2 advantage.

After halftime, the game evolved into a somewhat back-and-forth affair. Grombala scored in the early going but was soon countered by an Otterbein goal.

Grombala would strike again a couple of minutes later, however, as she made it an 11-3 JCU lead.

After allowing another Otterbein score, the Blue and Gold quickly countered with two goals scored in a 20-second stretch by Kendall Gessner and Jenna Ginsberg, respectively.

Otterbein kept things interesting by adding another two goals of their own to make it a 13-6 contest, but the Cardinal defense could not consistently stop the persistent Blue Streak offense.

JCU would wrap things up with the final three goals of the day which were scored by Ginsberg, Grombala, and Lainey Donalson respectively.

The Blue Streaks came away with the 16-6 victory as they faced a true challenge from Otterbein.

"Otterbein ran us hard today," veteran coach Rachel Dell said. "They are a fast and aggressive team. They challenged us in ways we haven't been yet this season."

Despite the challenges, the Blue Streaks played physically all game to acquire the hard-earned victory.

"It was a tough, physical game, but we dug deep to find a way to hold them to six [goals]," Dell went on to say. "It was a mentally and physically exhausting game for us, but I was happy to end the game in running time."

The Blue and Gold were led by mighty performances from a plethora of players, including Colleen Grombala with eight points (six goals, two assists), Jenna Ginsberg with five points (two goals, three assists), and Alex Heishman with four points (four goals).

Coach Dell believed Heishman, who celebrated her birthday, gave an efficient performance throughout the game. "I was happy to see Alex Heishman collect more points today," she said. "Four goals and three caused turnovers was a big game for her."

While the game was JCU's closest margin of victory on the season, they still dominated the stat book.

The Blue Streaks had more goals (16-6), assists (7-3), shots on goal (32-15), free-position shots (7-5), ground balls (23-6), draw controls (13-9), and caused turnovers (9-4) on the day than their foes.

In particular, Dell gave a lot of credit to her midfield and defense for being strong in their respective roles.

"I was very happy with our defense today. Keeping Otterbein to six goals on 25 shots was great execution by everyone on defense. The middies won everything today. They chased everything in the air and we would have struggled in transition without their hard work and aggressive play on the ball."

John Carroll goes back on the road as they travel to Alliance for their next game to take on Mount Union on Wednesday, March 9. 
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