North Central NCCM 9-8

John Carroll JCUM 17-2

North Central NCCM

9-8

Final

May. 11, 2022

John Carroll JCUM

17-2

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	4	F
North Central NCCM	1	0	2	0	3
John Carroll JCUM	1	3	3	4	11

Summary
Box Score

Adam Lenz

The Blue Streaks won Greater Cleveland's first NCAA tournament game in style at Don Shula Stadium.

Game Recap: Men's Lacrosse | 5/11/2022 6:52:00 PM | Matt Lyons, Staff Writer

In 1st Greater Cleveland NCAA Tournament Game, Men's Lacrosse Fires Past NCC

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio -- The hot summer weather iced the offenses in the first half. Then the Blue Streaks heated up in the second half to move on to the second round.

Although this game is big for both teams as it is the first round of the playoffs, this is the first NCAA tournament game in Greater Cleveland across all levels of NCAA, so the 11-3 victory over North Central College in the NCAA First Round meant something extra.

"Having a warm game in Cleveland is rare, but it was truly a special moment. Even during finals week there was a great showing which truly shows how important this win means," said Head Coach Joe Rautenstrauch. "It shows the growth of the sport and what we can do to help and show you can be west of Rochester and still be a talented lacrosse team. We don't think about it much, but today is one of those days you can soak it up. It's so cool we can host this event, because it's been something we've been trying to sell to them and achieve. That's special for these guys, this is Brendan Whitty's last game at Shula Stadium, and it's in the NCAA tournament. No one else has had that experience."

With the sun out and the temperature at the start of the game at 82 degrees, both teams were eager to get hot. North Central started strong and found the back of the net early with a goal by Nick Rubino with an assist by Jack Moran.

After the early goal, both teams got a little eager with this being the first round of the playoffs. Shots were missed wide and the turnovers continued to rack up for both teams. As the first quarter was counting down, Ian Flynn received a pass by Brendan Whitty with 1.3 seconds remaining to tie the game at one on a clutch play.

With the first quarter being defensive-heavy, only two balls found the back of the cage. With 15 minutes in the books, both teams combined for 12 shots, 7-5 in favor of JCU and 21 ground balls, which was 11-10 in favor of JCU.

The second quarter started and it was very similar to the first quarter. Both teams started cold and it was about the seven minute mark where Carter Pavain scored his 11th goal this season, the first unassisted goal of the game.

Minutes later, the Blue Streaks started to slither through the offensive zone, as they were able to score two goals within seven seconds of each other. The first tally was scored by Matt Berdysiak, which was goal number 69 on the season, and the second by Morgan Morrell, which was goal number 37 for him. Whitty and Cullen Zarek picked up assists on the goals.

After the back-to-back goals, the Blue Streaks went into the locker room with a lead of 4-1 against the Cardinals. John Carroll had more shots, 10-6, and more shots on goal, 5-3, in the second quarter.

With a quiet goal scoring first half, the Cardinals came out of the gate hot as Jack Moran scored to cut the lead to two early to start the third quarter. Minutes later, Luke Illgen found the netting to cut the lead to one with an assist by Rubino.

Losing momentum, the Blue Streaks needed a goal on the board. Minutes later, Matt Berdysiak collected his 70th goal of the season, which extended the lead to two. On the man up, John Carroll found the cage courtesy of Jared Gorenflo, which extended the lead to three.

A minute later, goalkeeper John Gaglio bolted out of the cage, sprinted 65 yards, and passed the ball to Brendan Whitty, who found Matt Berdysiak open for the seventh goal for the Blue Streaks. Gaglio finished the day with 15 saves while only allowing 3 goals.

"It was awesome to get 15 saves. I just can't wait to get back to the drawing board and fight to keep this season alive," Gaglio said.

After finding a spark, the Blue Streaks extended the lead to four after three quarters. With the score being 7-3, with three goals by Berdysiak and four assists by Whitty.

With 15 minutes remaining, and the Blue Streaks scoring three unanswered goals, the Cardinals need to catch a spark to keep their season alive. John Carroll responded with great defense and quieted down the offense for the start of the fourth quarter.

Brendan Whitty scored his first goal of the game in the fourth quarter. Tanner Gill-Snow scored unassisted and Berdysiak scored to jump the goals by John Carroll to double digits.

John Carroll came home victorious with a final score of 11-3. With the goal differential being 8, the Blue Streaks set a new record of largest goal differential in an NCAA Tournament win, beating the previous record of 5 against Albion College back in 2017.

Berdysiak finished the day with 4 goals on 7 shots, leading the Blue Streaks to victory. Brendan Whitty finished with a goal and 4 assists, which led the team in points today.

"To have this game as my final game at John Carroll is really a special moment," Whitty said. "To go out on a win and keep this season alive is really important to me and this team."

The defense played phenomenally in limiting NCC to just 3 goals. Jake Caress anchored a hard-charging defense, as the senior topped the team with 5 caused turnovers, adding 3 groundballs in an excellent day.

"I can attribute everything to the people around me," said Carress. "They set me up in positions to be able to slide, get a caused turnover, pick up a groundball, and get into transition. Knowing I have [Gaglio] behind me, I can play a little more freely and be more aggressive to get the ball back to my offense. My stats are an indication of the people around me."

With the victory, the Blue Streaks punched their ticket to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. They will be playing Union College in New York on May 14 at 12 pm with the hopes of keeping the playoff run alive.

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Scoring Summary
Scoring Play	Home Team Score
1st Period		NCCM	JCUM
13:11	NCCM - Rubino, Nick Assisted by Moran, Jack	1	0
00:01	JCUM - Ian Flynn Assisted by Brendan Whitty	1	1
2nd Period		NCCM	JCUM
07:42	JCUM - Carter Pavain	1	2
03:24	JCUM - Matt Berdysiak Assisted by Cullen Zarek	1	3
03:18	JCUM - Morgan Morrell Assisted by Brendan Whitty	1	4
3rd Period		NCCM	JCUM
13:21	NCCM - Moran, Jack	2	4
10:39	NCCM - Illgen, Luke Assisted by Rubino, Nick	3	4
05:11	JCUM - Matt Berdysiak	3	5
03:10	JCUM - Jared Gorenflo Assisted by Brendan Whitty	3	6
01:42	JCUM - Matt Berdysiak Assisted by Brendan Whitty	3	7
4th Period		NCCM	JCUM
08:40	JCUM - Brendan Whitty Assisted by Jared Gorenflo	3	8
05:16	JCUM - Tanner Gill-Snow	3	9
03:37	JCUM - Matt Berdysiak Assisted by Jared Gorenflo	3	10
01:05	JCUM - Morgan Morrell	3	11