The fifth-ranked Big Red men's lacrosse team scored twice in the final to 5:18 to secure an 11-8 victory at Oberlin on a cold and snowy Saturday afternoon. With the win, Denison extended its current winning streak nine games.

The absence of Denison's All-American faceoff specialist Eric Baumgardner was very apparent as the Big Red struggled to gain possession, winning just nine of the game's 23 faceoffs.

The Yeomen took advantage of those early possessions and hung right with the Big Red over the first 30 minutes, trailing by just one goal (5-4) at the intermission. In the first half, Oberlin went 8-for-11 at the faceoff X.

Senior Blair Farinholt opened the third-period scoring with an unassisted tally at 12 minutes even. Oberlin's Nick Lobley shrunk the margin to one for the second time with a goal at 7:43 in the third.

Roughly three and a half minutes after Lobley's goal, senior Nick Bortolani found junior Will Donohue for his third goal of the game. The score remained 7-5 heading into the final quarter. Matthew Fox needed just 1:16 to pull the Yeomen to within one. Face-off specialist Kiorni Rosnow nearly tied the game off the ensuing faceoff, but a heads-up play by senior goalie Chris Thomas maintained DU's lead.

Farinholt and fellow senior James Meager scored four minutes and 11 seconds apart to tie the Big Red's largest lead of the game at 9-6 with 7:13 left in regulation. Farinholt's goal was a rocket from roughly 12 yards out while Meager took a pass from Farinholt and rifled a shot that found the lower left corner.

After scoring from the doorstep to make a 9-7 game, senior Brian Miller took an exit pass from Ben Duhoski, went down the field uncontested and scored on a bounce shot to push the lead to 10-7. Miller's third goal of the season came with 5:18 left in the period.

Up by three with 2:34 on the clock, the Big Red took two penalties which gave Oberlin a two-man advantage. The Denison defense was able to kill the 30-second penalty to Farinholt. However, with 20 seconds left in the Meager slash, Lobley was able to find the back of the net.

Needing a faceoff win with less than two minutes to play, junior Josh Happ collected a key groundball which gave the Big Red a chance to run the clock out. After running nearly a minute off the clock, Jamie McCahan scored an empty net goal after Miles Brooke vacated the cage to provided extra defense. Oberlin won the ensuing faceoff, but a senior John Reinhardt forced a turnover with 35 seconds left to secure the Big Red win.

Farinholt finished with five points after scoring twice and handing out three assists, while Meager and Donohue each netted hat tricks. Bortolani added a goal and two assists. Duhoski and Happ each scooped up six ground balls, while Happ also forced four turnovers. Reinhardt also had five ground balls and three caused turnovers. Thomas finished with five saves in the winning effort.

Lobley led the Yeomen with three goals and an assist while Fox had two goals and two helpers. Brooke finished the game with 12 saves. Rosnow had nine ground balls and won 14 of the 23 faceoffs.

Denison improves to 10-1 on the year and a perfect 4-0 in North Coast Athletic Conference play while the Yeomen fall to 3-8 and 0-4 in league play. The Big Red returns to action on Wednesday (April 13) when they travel to Wooster for a 7 p.m. game.