Clare Nelson-Johnson

The College of Wooster women's lacrosse team's 2012 season came to an end Thursday, as Denison University took a big lead early and then cruised to a 20-10 victory in the semifinals of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament at Granville, Ohio.

Just like their regular season encounter two weeks prior, the Big Red (13-4) again created a large first-half cushion, this time taking a 13-5 halftime lead over the Fighting Scots (12-5-1).

Just 52 seconds into the action, Eliza Perry scored the game's opening goal on an assist from Madison Carey to put Wooster ahead 1-0. Moments later, Denison's Molly Chapman evened the score 1-1, which sparked a scoring run that saw the Big Red go up 5-1 about 10 minutes into the first half.

Shelby Stone interrupted Denison's mini-run with a goal that made it 5-2, but again the home team went back to work, scoring three in a row to extend its cushion to 8-2.

The Big Red steadily increased their margin heading into the break, although Clare Nelson-Johnson's goal with 12 seconds remaining on the clock appeared to spark the Scots at the start of the second half.

Nelson-Johnson and Perry scored less than two minutes apart early in the new stanza, helping Wooster to a three-goal scoring run, and making its deficit a bit more manageable at 13-7. Neither team found the back of the net again until Denison pumped in a pair of goals midway through the half to push its advantage back up to eight (15-7).

The Scots did draw within six goals one more time, though, as Cassie Greenbaum and Molly Sennett delivered back-to-back tallies to make it 15-9, but the Big Red closed out the final 11:36 on a 5-1 scoring run to earn a rather decisive triumph.

The last time Wooster allowed 20 goals in a game was in a 20-14 setback at Kenyon College in 2010.

Nelson-Johnson and Perry each chipped in two goals and an assist, while Carey also totaled a three-point outing with one goal and two helpers. Carey ends her record-setting season with 94 points coming on 58 goals and 36 assists, while pushing her career points total to 233, the third-most in program history.

Sennett scored both of her goals on free-position shots, while Stone added another free-position score and finished with a pair as well.

Isabel Baylor led the defense with two groundballs and two caused turnovers, while goalkeeper Shawna Ferris made 13 saves, giving her eight double-digit efforts on the year.