GRANVILLE, Ohio (April 15, 2023) – For the second year in a row, the Denison University men's lacrosse team defeated its rival Ohio Wesleyan University while simultaneously handling the Battling Bishops their first North Coast Athletic Conference loss of the season. This time around, the Big Red limited the Battling Bishops to just two goals over the final 45 minutes and outscored the visitors 8-1 in the second half en route to earning an 11-5 victory over their longtime rivals on Saturday afternoon inside Piper Stadium.

Both teams entered the game 8-3 overall, but it was Denison (9-3 overall, 3-1 NCAC) that now pulls into a four-way tie in the loss column for first place in the conference standings with OWU (8-4, 3-1), the College of Wooster (12-1, 3-1) and Kenyon College (11-1, 4-1).

After OWU scored first, Denison's freshman faceoff specialist, Grant Larson, won the ensuring faceoff and scored it himself to tie it at 1-1.

However, the Big Red then fell behind 3-1 with 8:37 left in the first quarter, sparking a timeout from Head Coach Eric Koch to try and inspire his team and get them focused on the task at hand.

That did the trick as after OWU took a 4-1 lead halfway through the second quarter, the Big Red defense proceeded to shut out the Battling Bishops for over 17 minutes.

Denison made it a one-goal deficit at the half with a goal by Clyde Bresnahan just under the five-minute mark followed by a man-up goal by Quinn O'Donnell assisted by Ethan Tyack with three and a half minutes left in the second quarter.

Then in the third quarter, Will Kenney tied it with a goal on the assist by Lawton Corrigan less than three minutes in, and then over three minutes later, Bresnahan netted his second goal on the assist from Luke Fisher to put the Big Red in front for the first time on the day.

Denison continued its momentum as Fisher got on the scoreboard on the assist by Quinson to make it 6-4 just under two minutes later, and then after a goal by OWU to stop the 5-0 Big Red run with four minutes on the clock, Quinson scored to make it 7-5 with just under two and a half minutes left in the third quarter.

The fourth quarter was all Denison as Fisher scored two minutes in before a man-up goal by Nate Kay assisted by O'Donnell and then back-to-back goals less than 40 seconds apart by Quinson.

Quinson (3 goals, 1 assist) finished with four points for the second game in a row while Fisher (2 goals, 1 assist) and Bresnahan also scored twice and O'Donnell finished with one goal and one assist.

Denison was outshot by OWU 12-6 in the opening quarter before outshooting the Battling Bishops 42-18 over the final three quarters.

In addition, the Big Red committed five turnovers in the first 15 minutes before turning it over just six times the rest of the way and forcing OWU into 12 turnovers over the final three periods.

Colin MacLean (10-for-11; 6 groundballs) and Larson combined to win 14-of-20 faceoffs for the Big Red while goalkeeper Archer Darrach finished with 13 saves and helped lead a Denison defense that kept OWU to 0-for-4 on man-up opportunities in the first half.

For Darrach, his .722 save percentage was his second highest of the season.

Next up for the Big Red will be a road game at DePauw University starting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 19.