Scots Head to Granville for NCAC Tournament Action on Thursday

This Week's Outlook: The College of Wooster men's lacrosse team is back in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament after not qualifying last year, and will play at No. 11 Denison University at 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 2. The winner advances to Sunday's championship game at a time to be determined at the site of the highest remaining seed. Sunday's game time will be announced by the conference office at the conclusion of all semifinal games (men's and women's) on Thursday.

Media Coverage: Denison will have live stats and live video available at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/denison. Additionally, fans can follow the men's lacrosse team's Twitter handle @WoosterLacrosse for score updates at the end of each period and @WoosterSports for end-of-game updates. The main championship webpage for the NCAC can be found here.

Ticket Information: Ticket prices for NCAC Tournaments are set by the conference office. For lacrosse, tickets are $7 for adults, and $3 for children 18-years-old and under. College of Wooster students are admitted free of charge, but must present their COW card at the ticket booth. Additionally, NCAC guest passes and lifetime passes are valid for complementary admission at the NCAC Tournament.

Wooster's NCAC Tournament History: Thursday marks Wooster's fourth appearance in the seven-year history of the NCAC Tournament. The Scots are 0-3 all-time in the league championship. This will mark Wooster's third time playing Denison in the semifinals.

A Look-Back at this Year's Regular-Season Meeting: Wooster couldn't keep pace with then-No. 13 Denison, which overpowered the Scots 23-9 on April 17. Brooks Davy distanced himself from all players with a game-high eight scores, while Peter Pittroff tallied nine assists. Wooster did have a pair of standouts in the game in first-year Joe Citera (Londonderry, Vt./Kimball Union Academy) and sophomore Shaun Peirce (North Attleboro, Mass./Bishop Feehan). Citera won 14 faceoffs and scooped up six groundballs in the loss while Peirce surpassed 40 goals for the season with a five-goal night.

One More: Sticking with Peirce, the sophomore attacker has been scoring at a near-record clip this year. After all, he's just the third player in program history to have a 50-goal season, and he enters play today one goal shy of matching Steve Davidow's 1991 single-season school record. Peirce has seven games this season with at least four goals, including a career-best eight during Wooster's 19-7 win over Wabash College. Last week, Peirce tallied six of the Scots' nine goals at Kenyon College.

Causing Havoc: Senior Ethan Scully (Novelty, Ohio/Hawken School) is a four-year standout defender for the Scots. This season, the Northeast Ohio product became Wooster's all-time leader in caused turnovers. Scully's at 118 for his career, and he's caused a career-best 38 of those this season.

Best Goal Ever: Junior Cooper Pewitt (New Albany, Ohio/New Albany) is having a breakout year for the Scots with 14 goals in 17 games. His most recent goal stands out about the rest, and that's because the junior scored with :00.2 left on Saturday to clinch a spot for the Scots in this week's NCAC Tournament. Wooster, which beat Wittenberg University, 8-7, was faced with a must-win situation to get into the tournament.

Rookie Leaving His Mark: Citera's made an immediate impact on the program and has spent the bulk of the season as the Scots' primary faceoff man. That's led to a season haul of 81 groundballs, which is the fourth-most in program history, and the top mark since alumnus Jack Gilio had 89 during the 2016 season.

Grizzled Veteran: Junior Wesley Wagner (Collegeville, Pa./Cardinal Gibbons (N.C.)) is one of the most experienced 'keepers in Div. III, as he's rapidly closing in on 3,000 career minutes played. Wagner's started 48 games in his three seasons with the Black & Gold, and enters the NCAC Tournament with 540 saves. That's good for 22nd among active 'keepers within Div. III.