Ethan Scully

The College of Wooster men's lacrosse team was unable to overcome a cold second period, as host Kenyon College topped the Fighting Scots 18-9 on Tuesday afternoon at McBride Field in Gambier, Ohio.

Wooster's (6-10, 4-3 North Coast Athletic Conference) biggest takeaway heading into Saturday's 1 p.m. regular-season finale against Wittenberg University (4-9, 3-3 NCAC) is the fact that the Scots still control their own fate when it comes to earning a spot in next week's four-team conference tournament. Wooster automatically earns a coveted spot with a win on Saturday, while preestablished NCAC tiebreaker procedures will come into play should DePauw University (5-8, 2-4 NCAC), Wittenberg, and Wooster all finish at 4-4 in league play.

Senior Ethan Scully and sophomore Shaun Peirce were the two bright spots in the contest for Wooster. Scully finished with a game-high four caused turnovers and a team-high five groundballs. In fact, Scully was the lone player on both sides to cause multiple turnovers in the affair.

Noteworthy, Scully now has 115 career caused turnovers, and that's three better than 2018 alumnus Jack Gilio logged during his standout career.

Wooster led briefly when Peirce pumped in his team-high 45th goal of the season with 10:00 to go in the first period. However, Kenyon's (11-5, 6-2 NCAC) Emilio Sosa stole the show, starting at the 7:42 mark of the first quarter. Sosa went on to complete his hat trick by the end of the first. He scored a first-half-leading four goals, while the Lords built the halftime lead out to 10-3.

Peirce went on to score five more times to up his season count to 50. The sophomore's goal with 6:53 left in the second period moved the attacker into fifth in program history for a single season, and by game's end Steve Davidow's 51 goals in 1990 is the lone mark above Peirce's bounty this season.

Senior Joe Altieri and junior Cullen Kuhn, who have established themselves as the Scots' primary offensive set up options all season long, held true to form on Tuesday afternoon with a combined seven assists. For Altieri, his helper on Peirce's first fourth-period score marked the 30th of the season, and he's the first Scot to hit that mark since alumnus Josh Herold passed out 33 assists in 2016.

Junior Wesley Wagner turned aside 13 shots.

Sosa matched Peirce with six goals, while Kenyon's Reed Russell scooped up nine groundballs, aided in large part by his 12-for-15 showing on faceoffs.

Kenyon finished with a 49-30 edge on shots and won the groundball battle 40-28.