Heather Szymanski

Rose Taylor

WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster women's lacrosse team used a 9-1 run early in the first half to settle in during an eventual 22-8 win over DePauw University in a key North Coast Athletic Conference contest on Saturday afternoon at John P. Papp Stadium.

Wooster, now 10-4 and 3-3 in the NCAC, moves into a three-way tie for fourth-place in the league standings with Allegheny College and Kenyon College with two games remaining on the Scots' regular-season schedule, thus setting up a crucial 6:30 p.m. tilt on Wednesday when Wooster travels to Allegheny.

Wooster and DePauw (6-5, 2-4 NCAC) were deadlocked at four after a wild start saw the teams combine for eight goals in the first 5:59 of the contest.

Wooster settled in from there as sophomore Laura Papp finished a breakaway goal with 22:56 remaining in the opening stanza to put the Scots on top for good, and that goal really set the stage for the rest of the contest. 

Senior Heather Szymanski connected :15 later as the Scots won the ensuing draw control and were off to the races from there. Next, junior Helena Enders pumped in a goal about a minute later enabling Wooster to extend its lead to 7-4. 

Then, Papp pushed the lead to four, and she would go on to surpass 40 goals for the season before the contest was over, as the sophomore attacker connected on a pair of scores with under 10 minutes remaining in the second half.

Later in the first half, Wooster's quick-strike abilities came through once again with the Scots netting a quartet of goals over a 1:54 span. Wooster's team speed played a big factor in the Scots' success in the first half as the Black and Gold regularly darted through the Tigers' defense in transition, thus enabling the Scots to setup some clean looks at the goal.

The two teams traded goals to start the second half, but Wooster really put the game out of reach from there with an 8-0 stretch before DePauw tucked in a goal in the closing seconds. Szymanski played a big factor in the eight-goal outburst as that's when the senior finished three of her seven goals, matching a career-high in the process.

Papp backed Szymanski up in the goal column as the duo combined for 12 of the Scots' 22 scores on the day. Sophomore Jordan Stone added a five-point afternoon with two goals and three assists.

Defensively, sophomore Megan Healy led the way with three of Wooster's 11 caused turnovers, and the midfielder backed that up with five draw controls. Other notable defensive contributions came from sophomore Papp's five groundballs and caused turnover, and a combined five groundballs between sophomore defenders Megan Myers and Rose Taylor.

For the game, Wooster held DePauw to a 56 percent clearing rate (14-for-25), while offensively, the Scots had three miscues in transitions in 19 tries.

DePauw was led by Taylor Summers' two goals and two assists.

Next, Wooster travels to Allegheny College (7-5, 3-3 NCAC) for a 6:30 p.m. tilt on Wednesday, April 26.