WOOSTER, Ohio – Top-seeded College of Wooster scored four unanswered goals, building a 4-1 lead midway through the second half, and eventually secured a 4-2 victory over fourth-seeded Denison University in the teams' North Coast Athletic Conference semifinal match-up at a cold John P. Papp Stadium Wednesday afternoon.
Wooster (15-5) will now host the No. 3 seed, Ohio Wesleyan University (10-8), which knocked off second-seeded Wittenberg University 1-0 in the other semi, on Saturday, and the winner earns the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Div. III Tournament.
Trailing 1-0 after Denison (11-8) scored 7:47 into Wednesday's action, the Fighting Scots answered about five minutes later when Brittany Montgomery slid a right-to-left cross through the Big Red's back line and Laura German slapped it in.
Denison had the next quality scoring look, only to see Wooster goalkeeper Madalyn Myers turn away a point-blank shot from Brooke Donovan. The Scots' offense went on to take control. First, Eileen Barrer sent a ball to Amanda Artman inside the circle and the latter quickly passed it off to an open Montgomery, who rattled the cage for a 2-1 lead at the 13:54 mark of the first half.
It remained a one-goal margin until German connected on her second goal, assisted by Barrer, about 10 minutes into the second. It marked the freshman's second multi-goal game this season.
Shortly thereafter, the Big Red pressured the Wooster defense, and during a scramble, the ball got past Myers, but back Katrina Wojciechowski made a sprawling defensive save on the end line to stop Kristen Schneider's attempt and maintain the 3-1 cushion.
Despite being a player down due to a yellow card, the Scots padded their lead when Artman came up with a loose ball, dribbled into the circle on the right, and chipped it into the upper left corner of the net. That marked the 77th goal of her career, tying the North Coast Athletic Conference record in that category with Wittenberg's Amy Kraus (1994-97).
While Devon Satnick scored just 28 seconds later to pull Denison within two with 15:33 to play, Wooster's defense buckled down and only yielded one shot and two penalty corners the rest of the way. Myers was credited with seven saves overall.
The NCAC Tournament championship game will take place on the turf at Papp Stadium, with game time slated for 5 p.m. Saturday.