The Oglethorpe men's lacrosse team found themselves locked in a battle with Dallas Tuesday afternoon in Irving, Texas, as neither team was able to build a lead of more than three goals at any point. However, the homestanding Crusaders prevailed in the end, winning 10-7 and dropping the Stormy Petrels to 0-7 on the season. 

Dallas got out to a 2-goal lead early in the contest, but the Petrels bounced back with a goal of their own from sophomore attackman John Hood with 7:19 to go in the opening quarter. Dallas answered back with a couple more, but freshman Sulton Rahim tallied his first career goal late in the period to cut the Crusader lead to 4-2. 

Dallas came back out with consecutive goals to begin the second, but the Petrels again answered back, this time with freshman midfielder Thomas O'Berry (off an assist from Hood) and junior attackman Andrew Houghton providing the goals to make it 6-4 at the halftime break.

The two teams traded goals in the third quarter, as Houghton answered a Dallas goal off an assist from freshman midfielder Jorge Arce with 5:23 remaining in the quarter. After another Crusader goal moments later, freshman midfielder Tyler Stridiron came back with 1:30 left in the period and brought the Petrels to within two again, 8-6.

After Dallas pulled out to a 3-goal lead early in the fourth quarter, Stridiron again hit paydirt with 7:53 remaining in the contest, making the score 9-7. However, the Petrels would get no closer. A Crusader goal with just over four minutes remaining put them up 10-7 and they held on from there.

Oglethorpe outshot Dallas 39-34 and put 27 of their shots on goal to the Crusaders' 22. However, Dallas goalie Ryan Murphy was able to come up with 20 saves on the afternoon to secure the victory. Oglethorpe freshman goalie Lane Edwards had a solid outing, as well, stopping 12 shots for his part. 

The Petrels scooped 38 ground balls to their opponents' 37 and were successful on 25 of 29 clear attempts. Dallas was successful on 27 of 37. The Petrels won 10 of 21 faceoffs and committed 27 turnovers to Dallas' 23.

Individually, Stridiron and Houghton led the team in goals with two apiece. Houghton put seven of his 10 shots on goal while Stridiron hit the target with all seven. Hood and freshman defenseman Andrew Kwapil collected seven ground balls each on the afternoon.

"Once again we fought hard," said Oglethorpe head coach Nathan Young, "but we just couldn't get over the hump today. A lot of credit goes to the Dallas goalie, who had an excellent performance and really was the difference in the game. We've got one more game on our spring break trip, so we'll look to come out fired up on Thursday against Wabash."

The Petrels take on Wabash Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m. Eastern from Irving, back on the campus of the University of Dallas. After that, they'll return home to take on Calvin Tuesday at 7 p.m. on the Oglethorpe Track and Field.