Westerville, Ohio – The Oberlin College men's lacrosse team failed to generate enough offense to keep pace with Otterbein University as they fell to the Cardinals, 14-5, on Wednesday night at Memorial Stadium.
 
Thomas Berle Carman and Tom Decker each scored twice to lead the attack but that wasn't enough firepower for the Cardinals, who held the Yeomen to a season-low five goals and just one in the second half. Oberlin's frontline failed to convert on all six of their man-up opportunities in the game.
 
The Cardinals got off to a fast start, scoring twice within the opening minute of action to grab the early lead. The Yeomen would settle in and get back to even on back-to-back Decker goals, the first of which was assisted by Alex Dovichi while the latter was aided by an Erik Zeug feed.
 
Otterbein would go on to score the final four goals of the opening stanza with the last pair coming within the final 81 seconds as the Cardinals ended the quarter the way they started it to take a 6-2 lead after 15 minutes of play.
 
After surrendering the first tally of the second quarter, the Yeomen answered back with a pair of goals to shrink the deficit down to just three at 7-4 with slightly less than five minutes to play in the half. The finishes came courtesy of Berle Carman and Matthew Barry with each player recording their fourth score of the season.
 
Continuing their trend of closing quarters strong, the Cardinals' Robby Fields would find space in front of the crease as he was left unmarked with 1:18 left to play in the session to stake his side to an 8-4 halftime advantage.  
 
The objective of shrinking the deficit following the intermission didn't come to fruition for Oberlin as the Cardinals instead broke the game open by outscoring the Yeomen 4-1 in the third period. Berle Carman deposited the lone OC goal of the frame as Oberlin went in the final frame trailing 12-5.
 
With the outcome never in jeopardy, the Cardinals continued to play sound defense in the fourth quarter as Oberlin failed to produce many strong scoring chances.
 
The loss dropped the Yeomen back to 2-2 on the year while Otterbein improved to 4-2 in the early going.
 
On the stat sheet, the game appeared to be even as total shots were 38-32 in favor of Otterbein, while shots on goal were tied at 21 apiece. Oberlin won 12 of the game's 22 face-offs as sophomore Max McAllister led the way by going 9-of-14. The Cardinals ended with a slight 24-20 edge on ground balls but Oberlin's Dan Nerenhausen paced the Yeomen with a game-high seven ground ball picks.
 
 Junior goalie Calvin Filson was lifted after the first quarter as six of the eight shots he faced found twine. Rookie Will Baker went the rest of the way between the pipes and made six saves over 45 minutes of action in his collegiate debut.
 
The Yeomen are back in action on Saturday afternoon as they play host to the University of Mount Union. The opening face-off is set for 1 p.m.