Old Boss: Wooster Ends Kenyon's Dream
from press release
GAMBIER, Ohio - The College of Wooster women's
lacrosse team played a deliberate, ball-control game Saturday
afternoon and got the result it wanted. The Fighting Scots pulled
off a 10-8 upset of the top-seeded Kenyon College Ladies and
captured their second straight and sixth overall North Coast
Athletic Conference championship title.
Wooster, which lost to Kenyon in a 20-14 shootout one week ago,
slowed things downed offensively and increased its defensive
pressure during the championship game. It was, however, Kenyon that
took control in the early going. Thanks to three goals from junior
Jennifer Fitzgerald (Cranford, NJ/Cranford), the Ladies jumped out
to a 4-1 lead at the 13:02 mark of the first half.
Wooster then won draw control after draw control and changed the
complexion of the game. The Fighting Scots scored the next four
goals and went into halftime with a ton of momentum and a 5-4 lead.
At one point in the game, the Fighting Scots owned a 12-4 advantage
in draw controls with Amy Denny taking personal responsibility for
seven of those.
Seven minutes into the second half, Wooster opened up a two-goal
lead with a score from Becca Worthington. Kenyon sophomore Meghan
Henshall (Madison, NJ/Newark Academy) had the answer and the
Fighting Scots clung to a 6-5 lead with 20 minutes to play.
About three minutes later, Wooster went on another spurt and scored
three in row, opening up its biggest lead at 9-5. Fitzgerald buried
her fourth goal for the Ladies less than a minute later, but the
Kenyon women were facing a 9-6 deficit with just under 11 minutes
to play.
The Scots got one more goal at the 4:36 mark and Kenyon got two
more, but it was too little, too late. The win gave Wooster a 12-3
record, the conference title, and an automatic berth into the NCAA
Division III Tournament.
Nina Dine and Madison Carey led the way for the Fighting Scots by
scoring three goals apiece. Fitzgerald paced Kenyon (14-2) with
four goals and an assist.
In net, Kenyon senior goalkeeper Chase Kreuter (Greenwich,
CT/Greenwich Academy) made nine saves, giving her a Kenyon record
of 689 career saves. Along with Kreuter, senior Liz Hancock
(Hopkins, MN/Hopkins), who scored one goal, was named to the
All-Tournament team. Fitzgerald and junior defender Brigid Donahue
(Trumbull, CT/St. Joseph) were also selected to the team.
