BEREA, Ohio – As is tradition over the last several years in the early goings of the season, the Kenyon College men's lacrosse team took on Baldwin Wallace University on Wednesday night in a non-conference road test.
After the Owls climbed back from a five goal deficit to tie the game with five seconds remaining, the contest went to overtime. Despite Kenyon gaining the first possession and getting a good scoring attempt, the Yellow Jackets scored on the next possession to spoil the comeback and deal the Owls their first loss of the year.
Gavin Gumucio and Kenyon turned up the pressure in the fourth, battling to get within striking distance after being down 9-4 at the start of the quarter. The senior scored at 11:43 in the final frame to spark a 3-0 run with goals from Tanner Lewis and Alex Haag. Baldwin Wallace scored at 4:03 to stop the run, but another score from Gumucio at 3:32 and one from David Chintala set the score at 9-10 with 1:42 remaining.
After the Yellow Jackets got the ball back with 32 seconds remaining, Owen Breen forced a turnover to give the Owls the ball back, leading to a goal from Harrison Curtiss, his third of the day to send the game into overtime.
In OT, Kenyon got the ball first but was thwarted by Aidan Malone, the BW keeper who had a huge day in the cage, saving 18 shots total at a .643 save percentage. The Yellow Jackets cleared the ball and called a timeout to set up a play, which proved to be successful.
Baldwin Wallace got a substantial boost to start the game, scoring the contest's first four goals in the opening eleven minutes of play. Mike Kapral broke through for Kenyon with two minutes left in the first, netting a man-up goal with an assist to Tanner Lewis. Curtiss netted the Owls' second goal less than a minute later for his first tally of the season, setting the score at 4-2 after 15 minutes.
In the second, two more BW goals extended the lead to four goals at 6-2, but another man-up goal from Gavin Gumicio at 6:36 would be the last score for the half, as the Owls trailed 3-6 at the break. Malone added six more saves in the second, keeping his team ahead in the half.
The Yellow Jackets came out of halftime swarming, netting a goal less than a minute into the third and adding another at 11:37. Curtiss scored his second goal of the game to keep his team close by, but another Baldwin Wallace score at 1:08 gave the home team its biggest lead of the game at 9-4 with 15 minutes to play, setting up for the exciting fourth quarter and overtime.
Gumucio led the team in points with three goals and an assist, while Curtiss' hat trick and Lewis' one goal and two assists tied for second. Will Jordan tallied a team high eight ground balls and amassed a 16-for-23 (69.6 percent) from the faceoff dot. Colin Williams led the long sticks with three caused turnovers, while Adam Hall made eight saves in net.
Up next, the Owls will return to Gambier for another familiar yearly opponent, taking on Capital University on Saturday, February 21 at 1:00 p.m. from the Field at Benson Bowl.
