UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio (March 20, 2024) – Coming off of three straight losses on the road at teams ranked No. 13 in the USILA / Blatant Division III Poll, the Denison University men's lacrosse team turned to a strong defensive effort to earn a 9-4 win on the road at John Carroll University on Wednesday night inside Don Shula Stadium.

John Carroll, which was receiving votes in the USILA poll both at the beginning of the season and during the first poll in March, has won seven straight OAC Tournament Championships and is coming off of back-to-back second-round appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

Denison scored three straight goals by Tommy Quinson, Luke Fisher and Michael Cassidy to close out the first quarter with a 4-1 lead.

In addition to winning five of the six faceoffs in the first quarter, the Big Red defense worked hard to force John Carroll into committing 12 of its 26 total turnovers in the first quarter, all while picking up 15 groundballs and holding the Blue Streaks to a 4-for-9 conversation rate on clear attempts in the period.

Cassidy's second goal made it 5-2 Big Red at halftime and then Fisher scored twice in the third quarter to make it 7-4 heading into the fourth quarter.

Fisher continued to help lead his team to victory, dishing out an assist on the first goal of the fourth quarter by Brady Monturio with under four minutes left before scoring his fourth goal of the game with just over two minutes remaining.

Fisher finished with six points (4 goals, 2 assists) to lead the way offensively while defensively, Andrew Albert made 12 saves and finished with a .750 save percentage.

Also on defense, Charlie Haight finished with four caused turnovers while Owen Holder added three and Cassidy had two in addition to his two goals.

Grant Larson finished 12-for-17 on the faceoff with six groundballs while Owen O'Neill added five groundballs and Holder, Quinson and Brooks Crowley each had three.

Denison, which defeated John Carroll 11-5 in Granville during the first-ever meeting between the two teams back in 2022, improves to 3-4 overall with the win on Wednesday while the Blue Streaks fall to 1-3.

The Big Red will now open up North Coast Athletic Conference action at home against Kenyon College starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 23. The Owls, like the Big Red, are currently receiving votes in the national coaches' poll.