Harry Kemp

Just like in its regular season meeting with Ohio Wesleyan University, The College of Wooster played a very competitive game that was well within its reach, but ultimately, the Battling Bishops again edged out the Fighting Scots by a four-goal margin, this time 13-9, in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals Tuesday evening at Delaware, Ohio.

The Scots (9-6) got out to a strong start, thanks in large part to face-off specialist Max Rubin, who went 6-for-7 in the first quarter. Harry Kemp scored Wooster's initial goal about seven minutes into the game, which knotted the score at 1-1, and then in response to another Ohio Wesleyan goal, Evan Albertson and Matt Ranck recorded back-to-back tallies within a 1:26 span to give Wooster a 3-2 advantage.

The Bishops snuck in a goal with 44 seconds remaining in the quarter, which knotted the score at three apiece, and they carried that momentum over into the second stanza, by scoring two early goals to go ahead 5-3.

Tom Herold snapped the Bishops' three-goal scoring run with an unassisted goal midway through the second quarter that pulled Wooster back within one (5-4), but just like the way the first quarter ended, Ohio Wesleyan again scored with less than a minute on the clock to take a 6-4 lead into the halftime break.

The second half of the game played out almost exactly like the first, beginning in the third quarter, where Wooster and Ohio Wesleyan each scored three goals (Pat Henderson, Ranck, Kemp), only to then have the Bishops outscore the Scots by two goals in the fourth quarter, as they did in the second.

Wooster's largest deficit was at 12-7, but moments later, Mike Ewanechko and Jake Bernard chipped in their first goals of the game to pull within three (12-9) with 5:28 to go in regulation. The Bishops only allowed the Scots one more shot attempt from that point on, though, as Ranck rifled a ball off the post in the game's closing moments.

Along with the goal scorers, Steve Crozier dished out two assists, and Herold one.

Defensively, Matt Magoon made nine saves in goal, and Dean Marchitelli caused three turnovers.