Scots Win NCAC Opener for Seventh Straight Time

HIRAM, Ohio – Charlie Ballou is the latest College of Wooster men's lacrosse attacker to stuff the stat sheet with seven goals, and the Fighting Scots opened North Coast Athletic Conference play with a victory for the seventh straight time by downing Hiram College decisively, 17-4, on Saturday afternoon at Charles A. Henry Field.

Ballou, who took over the team lead for goals and now has 16, started his scoring spree in the first with the game's opening score. He accounted for three of Wooster's (3-4, 1-0 NCAC) five second-period goals, with the Scots taking a commanding 8-1 lead during that stanza. Ballou's fifth score of the day came a player down in the third on a pass from senior Tyler Schroeder, and he scored twice more in the fourth. Of note, the seven goals are tied for the sixth-most in program history. A Wooster player has now scored at least seven times in a game on 14 occasions and four have come since the start of the 2019 season.

While Ballou was at the forefront of the offensive firepower, sophomore Vinny DiLeo dealt a big blow to the Terriers (4-2, 0-1 NCAC) as well. The attacker finished with four goals and four assists. He had three in each column before halftime and assisted on two Ballou scores on the day.

Wooster's biggest run of the game was a 10-0 stretch that spanned 36:05. Hiram's Brett Johnson's goal with 1:58 left in the third marked the Terriers' first score since the 8:53 mark of the first. Wooster went on to have a 5-0 stretch in the fourth, with first collegiate goals by junior Max Fletcher and sophomore Ben Huntington coming during that stretch.

Elsewhere, first-year Rory Zahren won 11-of-12 faceoffs and scooped up eight of Wooster's 41 groundballs. Sophomore Casey Steffen caused three turnovers, while sophomore Paul Chandler had nine saves to one goal against in his 40:53 in net.

Gray Perry logged eight groundballs and four caused turnovers, Bricen Jones finished with 20 saves, and Ambrose Colliluori scored twice for the Terriers.

Wooster went 59-23 over Hiram in shots, 41-27 in groundballs, and won 15-of-24 faceoffs. The Scots were 22-of-27 on clears to the Terriers' 19-of-31 showing.

Next, Wooster hosts University of Mount Union (3-3) in a makeup contest at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 1.