Eliza Perry

Alison Schlothauer

WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster outscored Kenyon College 8-1 during a 20-minute stretch of the first half and put together a similarly dominant 7-2 stretch during the second, eventually securing a 17-9 North Coast Athletic Conference women's lacrosse victory on Saturday afternoon at a sunshine-filled John P. Papp Stadium.

The win keeps Wooster (3-7, 3-3 NCAC) in contention for a spot in the NCAC Tournament, as it is now tied for fourth-place (top-four finishers from the regular season qualify).

Kenyon (8-5, 2-4 NCAC) jumped out to a 3-0 lead a little more than five minutes into the action before the Fighting Scots settled in and steadily took control, beginning with four goals – two by Shelby Stone – during a 4:43 time period.

Later, the Ladies tied it at four, and during the last six minutes of the half there was a flurry of activity. Wooster scored five times, highlighted by a couple of standout plays by Ellie Hudson-Heck. First, she came up with a caused turnover and groundball on the defensive end, sprinted the length of the field and passed it off to Abby Szlachta, who converted the transition opportunity with a goal at the 3:51 mark. Hudson-Heck won the ensuing draw control and netted an unassisted tally just 13 seconds later, which gave the Scots a 7-4 advantage.

Wooster added another goal before Kenyon finally halted the 8-1 run on a score with just :18 on the clock. The Scots still were able to take momentum into halftime, as Hudson-Heck won the ensuing draw, passed up field to Szlachta, who beat the 'keeper and made it a 9-5 game with:07 before the half expired.

The Ladies cut their deficit to three less than a minute into the second, then it was all Wooster. The Scots put together the aforementioned 7-2 run, with Eliza Perry assisting on four of those goals. The most important sequence of that stretch came when Kenyon pulled within 12-8, and Alison Schlothauer answered with a caused turnover, groundball, and transition assist to Stone. Cassie Greenbaum scored shortly thereafter, resulting in a six-goal cushion heading into the last 10 minutes.

On the day, Perry led all scorers with seven points coming on two goals and five assists, while Szlachta and Stone each recorded hat tricks. Hudson-Heck and Schlothauer had two-goal, one-assist efforts, with Hudson-Heck contributing seven draw controls as well, and Greenbaum scored twice.

Molly Sennett stood out on the Wooster defense with four caused turnovers and five groundballs and Isabel Perman had a fine day in net with 11 saves.

The Scots hit the road for their two remaining regular season games, first a trip to Ohio Wesleyan University (7-7, 2-4 NCAC) on Wednesday night.