Sammi Pavlecic

The College of Wooster withstood an early offensive surge from Centre College and scored a pair of second-half goals to stay in the hunt, but the visiting Fighting Scots were unable to overcome a pair of scores by the host Colonels just before halftime during a 5-2 loss on Saturday afternoon at Danville, Ky.

First-year Katie Shideler turned in a strong effort with 15 saves in the contest, including eight in the opening half.

Centre (2-1), one of the region's top teams in recent years, struck first with a tally by Haley Barker just about eight minutes into the contest.

Not long after, Wooster's (2-1) defense was tested again and Shideler was up to the task, turning aside a pair of on-point shot attempts in the 13th minute prior to the Scots' penalty corner defenders warding off the Colonels ensuing penalty corner try.

The Scots again were up to the task in the 18th and 19th minutes as the Black and Gold warded off a quartet of penalty corner tries thanks to a pair of blocked shots by the Scots' backs and a Shideler save.

With just over 4:30 remaining in the half, Shideler turned aside a shot by Centre's Brooklyn Bell, but Bell tucked the ensuing rebound into the cage to make it 2-0. Just over three minutes later, Centre padded its lead to 3-0 courtesy of a goal by Emily Schank.

In the second half, Wooster's first penalty corner of the contest breathed new life into the attack, and that eventually paid off when first-year Sammi Pavlecic chipped in her first collegiate goal with 24:24 remaining. Centre quickly answered with a counter strike just over two minutes later off the stick of Erika Bell to make it a 4-1 contest.

With a shade over nine minutes to go in the contest, first-year Katie Harvey found the back of the cage for the first time in her young collegiate career, but again, the Colonels quickly answered right back to extend their lead back to three.

Centre finished the game with a 4-to-1 ratio in shots.

Wooster remains in Danville to take on Hendrix College (1-0) at 11 a.m. on Sunday.