Molly Sennett

WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster put together a couple of second-half rallies, but fell short in its comeback bid, as Denison University hung on for a 15-12 North Coast Athletic Conference victory at a cold and wet Carl Dale Field Saturday afternoon.

Trailing 10-1 at the halftime break, a reenergized Wooster (10-4-1, 3-2 NCAC) came out and netted the first four goals of the second to make it a manageable five-goal deficit with 23:21 remaining.

Denison (11-3, 4-0 NCAC) regained the momentum with a four-goal run of its own, and the Big Red seemed to be comfortably in control again at 14-5. However, the Fighting Scots would not give in as three quick goals during a 1:12 stretch, two by Molly Sennett, made it 14-8 at the 9:12 mark.

The ensuing draw control went to Denison and the visitors burned some clock before a turnover went the other way for another Sennett goal. Clare Nelson-Johnson won the next draw control and aggressively brought it into the attack zone, inducing a foul. She then converted a free-position attempt, narrowing the score to 14-10, still with 6:09 left. 

The Big Red ended that five-goal run, tallying an insurance score at 4:41, but less than a minute later, Nelson-Johnson struck again to make it 15-11. Denison won the draw afterward and was able to maintain the ball on the Wooster defensive half, eating up nearly two minutes before the Scots' Jaqueline Wallat connected on a goal with :53 remaining, but that's as close as they would get.

Wooster was ultimately done in by Denison's 9-0 spurt to start the game.

Sennett's three goals marked a career high for the freshman midfielder and she also issued an assist, while Nelson-Johnson also recorded a hat trick for the Scots as well as five draw controls. Wallat netted two scores and Shelby Stone passed out a team-high two assists to go with four groundballs.

The Scots wrap up the NCAC regular season on Wednesday with a visit from Ohio Wesleyan University (6-6, 0-3 NCAC).