BEREA, Ohio-- The Trine men's lacrosse team saw its three game winning-streak snapped at Baldwin Wallace, as the Yellow Jackets earned a 7-4 victory Saturday afternoon at Tressel Field.
A five-goal second quarter by Baldwin Wallace proved to be the major difference in the game. The Yellow Jackets went on four-goal and three-goal runs in the first half. Jack Gerlack and Judson Huston each scored twice to lead the way. Nick Maher (DeWitt, Mich. / DeWitt) scored twice, while Jake Ahearn (Naperville, Ill. / Naperville) added a goal and assist to pace the Thunder attack. Trine's record evened at 3-3. Baldwin Wallace improved to 7-1 on the year.
Austin Helm (Westfield, Ind. / Westfield) provided a bright spot defensively for the Thunder. The senior played a flawless 32:03 in net after entering late in the second quarter, stopping all 10 shots on goal he faced. He also caused two turnovers, tied for a team-high with Colin O'Keefe (Gurnee, Ill. / Warren Township) and Alex Jamieson (Hartland, Wis. / Arrowhead).
Baldwin Wallace outshot Trine by a 40-27 margin and won 11-of-15 face-offs. The Yellow Jackets also scooped up 30 ground balls to 13 for the Thunder. Mike Dizonno made nine saves to earn the victory in net. Dizonno ranked seventh in the nation in goals-against average entering the game.
The Thunder struck first with a man-up goal. Ahearn slipped a pass through the defense to Maher, who was all alone down low. The sophomore's low shot beat the goalkeeper to put the Thunder up 1-0 less than three minutes into the contest.
BW struck back to score the next four goals of the contest. Huston and Gerlack bookended the four-goal run with goals, while Ethan Napieralski and Shane Rakich also scored.
Maher stopped the four-goal Jackets' run, making a strong move one-on-one with a defender to finish with his second goal of the game. The goal by Trine's leading scorer cut the score to 4-2 with 9:02 to play in the first half.
The Yellow Jackets scored the next three to take a 7-2 lead into the half, highlighted by Huston and Gerlack's second tallies of the afternoon.
After a scoreless third, the Thunder were able to get two on the board in the final quarter. Ahearn scored an unassisted tally quickly after the opening face-off to cut the deficit to four. Paul Carlquist (Downers Grove, Ill. / Downers Grove South) later finished on the break off a pass from Jordan Backer (Centerville, Ohio / Centerville).
Seven of Helm's saves helped Trine keep the Yellow Jackets off the board in the second half.
Trine opens MIAA play Saturday, Apr. 9 at Alma. Face-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. The Thunder received one first-place vote in the conference's preseason poll and was picked to finish fourth in the league. Alma went 6-3 in non-conference play and was picked to finish third in the MIAA.