Willits leads Men's Lacrosse to a 14-7 home victory on Senior Day against John Carroll

ADA — Junior Colin Willits (West Chester/Lakota West) had five goals and one assist to lead the Ohio Northern men's lacrosse team to a 14-7 home win against John Carroll on Senior Day in an Ohio Athletic Conference contest on a warm and windy Saturday afternoon. 

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (12-4 Overall, 7-1 OAC), John Carroll (8-6 Overall, 6-2 OAC).
• Venue: Dial Roberson Stadium - Ada, Ohio. 

The Game 

• Senior Caleb Bennett (Stokesdale, N.C./Linganore) scored two goals and three assists in the contest.
• Senior Ian Roy (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Northern) and sophomore Mitchel Luck (Linden, Mich) had one goal and one assist each. 
• The Orange and Black opened the game strong, scoring three unanswered goals. 
• Willits scored at 12:07 to start the second period, making it 5-2 in Northern's favor. 
• After the Willits goal, ONU and JCU traded goals, with Northern leading 7-4 at halftime.
• Bennett found the net at 7:48 in the third period to extend the lead to 8-5.
• The Polar Bears would take a 10-6 lead heading into the fourth period.
• Luck found the net to begin the fourth period for ONU, extending the lead to 11-6.
• After the Luck goal, the Orange and Black went on a 3-0 run to widen the gap to 14-6. 
• Northern's defense held John Carroll to one goal in the fourth period to keep the lead intact. 
• The Blue Streaks were led by Braden Zarek and Sean Keane, who scored two goals each. 
• Freshman Peyton Lich (Palmyra, N.Y./Macedon) had seven saves to earn the win.
• Nine different Polar Bears scored goals in the contest. 
• ONU out-shot JCU 46-35 and but JCU had the ground ball advantage 42-35.

Notables

• With the victory, ONU clinches the No. 2 seed in this season's OAC Tournament.
• Willits leads the team in goals this season with 42.
• He also leads the team in points with 54.
• Bennett leads the team in assists this season with 24 and is third in the OAC.
• Sophomore Ryan Frech (Columbus/Worthington Kilbourne) leads the team in caused turnovers this season with 26.
• Senior Chad Calderwood (Portland, Ore./Episcopal) won 11 of 15 in faceoffs on the day, extending his school record to 552 for his career.
• He also has the career ground balls record with 255.
• Willits is fifth all-time in ONU history with 86 career goals.
• John Carroll leads the all-time series with a 10-2 record.
• Bennett ranks fourth all-time in ONU history with 46 career assists.
• JCU leads the series between the two schools 10-2.
• Head coach Nat St.Laurent is in his tenth season at Ohio Northern with a 104-52 record, a winning percentage of .666.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will return to action on the road at Wilmington on Wednesday at 7 pm.