Sean Hohan

WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster men's lacrosse team led Kenyon College 1-0 at the game's midway point, but the scoring picked up in a big way after the halftime break, especially in the fourth quarter, where the Fighting Scots scored five times to power past the Lords 7-5 on Wednesday evening in a very competitive North Coast Athletic Conference match-up at John P. Papp Stadium.

With the victory, the Scots (8-4, 4-2 NCAC) move into sole possession of third-place in the NCAC standings with just Saturday's tilt at Oberlin College (6-6, 2-4 NCAC) remaining on the regular season schedule.

The Scots controlled possession and registered 14 shot attempts during the first quarter, but it wasn't until Harry Kemp dished to Tom Herold during a man-up opportunity with 2:37 remaining in the quarter that Wooster lit the scoreboard and took a 1-0 lead.

The score remained unchanged all the way up to the halftime whistle, although Kenyon nearly made a mark when it rifled three consecutive shots on Wooster's net during a 14-second spurt midway through the quarter that Matt Magoon managed to fend off with a series of impressive saves.

It seemed goals would be at a premium in the second half, but the Lords scored just 15 seconds into the third quarter, and then added another 40 seconds later, to go up 2-1.

Kenyon added a little more cushion with another goal about halfway through the third quarter, and it held onto its 3-1 advantage until the final ticks of the stanza, when Herold scored his second goal of the game on an assist from Jake Bernard to pull Wooster within 3-2 heading into the fourth quarter.

The game then took an unpredictable turn, as Mike Ewanechko found a small window through a slew of defenders and scored the game-tying goal about two minutes into the fourth quarter, and then Wooster got on a roll, as Matt Ranck, Bernard, and PJ Dallman added goals a few minutes apart to give the Scots a 6-3 cushion with 3:57 remaining in regulation.

The Lords did score twice in the game's closing moments, but Ranck sandwiched a goal in between, which was enough to interrupt any chance of a Kenyon comeback.

Perhaps the biggest difference-maker for the Scots was defender Sean Hohan, who intercepted Kenyon time and time again on his way to nine caused turnovers and nine groundballs. Magoon made 13 saves in goal, while his counterpart, freshman Patrick Shevelson, had a strong showing with 21 saves in defeat.

Offensively, Herold and Ranck led the way with matching three-point performances.