Defense Clamps Down in Second Half During Wooster's 9-6 Loss to Fourth-Ranked Denison

WOOSTER, Ohio - The College of Wooster men's lacrosse team only allowed one second-half goal, and was right there with fourth-ranked Denison University in the early going, but a five-goal second period from the Big Red ultimately proved to be the difference in Denison's 9-6 win on Wednesday evening at John P. Papp Stadium.

Wooster (9-5, 4-2 North Coast Athletic Conference) used its quickness to pull within three with 8:36 remaining in the fourth period when Matt Parmelee dashed around the crease and had a step on the Denison (10-1, 4-0 NCAC) 'keeper for his third goal of the night.

In fact, all three of Parmelee's goals came as part of a four-goal swing that turned a 9-2 Denison lead into the final score. Parmelee scored his first goal of the night by sniping one into the cage off an Alexander Bloom assist with 7:45 remaining in the third period, and later, added an unassisted tally 45 seconds into the fourth period.

The big second-half storyline however was Wooster's defense as the unit only surrendered one goal on 14 shot attempts.

Notable, the lone goal in a half was a first by Denison since the opening half of its 2015 season lid-lifter against Washington and Lee University. Additionally, the Big Red were shutout in the fourth period marking the team's second scoreless frame of the season and first since the third period of their game against Sewanee, The University of the South back on March 5.

Wooster had its first big spark of the night with 8:28 remaining in the first period when Sam Kuhn set up Josh Herold to tie the game up at one.

Denison, who scored the opening tally of the contest just 1:05 into the conference clash, answered right back with a pair of strikes.

Later in the opening period, CJ Polak found Nate Weltman as the senior pumped in his 20th goal of the year with 2:46 left in the frame, a goal that pulled the Fighting Scots within one.

Denison upped the offensive intensity in the second period with five unanswered goals.

Wooster did have a big surge of its own at the end of the second period but Kuhn's attempt was blocked on the way to the cage prior to Chris Thomas stopping a Parmelee attempt as time expired.

The Scots were right there with the Big Red in groundballs as Denison finished with a narrow 34-30 edge.

Individually, Ethan Scully paced the defense with five groundballs to pair with two caused turnovers on the night.

However, faceoffs were a big key in the contest as Denison's Eric Baumgardner won 13-of-18 on the night and finished with a team-best five groundballs.

Wooster's Aaron Levy continued to shine and filled up the stat sheet with 10 saves on the night.

Next, Wooster travels to Wittenberg University (7-5, 3-3 NCAC) for a 1 p.m. tilt on Saturday.