Pewitt’s Last Second Goal Secures NCAC Tournament Berth

Junior Cooper Pewitt scored in the closing seconds of The College of Wooster men's lacrosse team's regular season finale to send the Scots to an 8-7 win over Wittenberg University on Saturday.

With the win, Wooster improved to 7-10 overall and 5-3 in the North Coast Athletic Conference. They also earned the fourth seed in upcoming NCAC Tournament to earn a rematch with No. 1 seed Denison University.

Wittenberg's defense forced Wooster into four shot clock violations during the course of the game, and they were close to holding Wooster without a shot as the final seconds ticked down.

Wooster gained possession with just over 30 seconds left on the clock. A late juke from Pewitt led to an opening and all that remained on the clock after the score was 0.2 seconds.

It was Pewitt's 14th goal of the season and his second of the game. He joined Ted Wells and Cullen Kuhn as the team goal leaders on Saturday.

Drake Nickolaison and Joe Altieri each scored once. Kuhn led the team with two assists, and Ethan Scully had six ground balls.

Wesley Wagner shined in the net as he picked up his seventh win and put up a career-high 23 saves. He collected 15 of those in the second half alone as Wittenberg cranked up their offense after halftime.

Wittenberg outshot the Scots 56-33. In the second half, Wittenberg took 36 of those shots.

Wooster seemed in control with a 5-2 lead at halftime. They then scored the first two goals of the third period, but that started a scoring drought that lasted over 26 minutes until Pewitt's game-winner.

Early in the fourth quarter, an injury forced Wagner out of the game for 47 seconds. It was all Wittenberg (4-11, 3-5 NCAC) needed to cut a two-goal deficit into one, trailing 7-6 with 11:05 remaining.

Wittenberg's comeback was fueled by a 15-of-18 success rate in the faceoff category. They scored five unanswered goals between the third and fourth periods and tied the game 7-7 with 9:40 remaining.

Wooster will now look forward to Denison, a team they lost 23-9 to on April 17. That game is slated for a 4 p.m. start on Thursday.