Wooster Drops Regular-Season Finale at Ohio Wesleyan 18-8, Will Travel to No. 8 Denison for NCAC Semifinals

The College of Wooster men's lacrosse team jumped out to an early 3-2 lead, but Ohio Wesleyan University quickly answered back before finding its offensive rhythm in an eventual 18-8 win over the Fighting Scots on Saturday afternoon at Selby Stadium in Delaware, Ohio.

Wooster (9-8, 5-3 North Coast Athletic Conference) struck twice in just over a minute to take the 3-2 lead as senior CJ Polak assisted on classmate Matt Parmelee's early man-up strike for the Scots to make it 2-2 with 11:27 remaining in the opening stanza. Next, first-year Cullen Kuhn kept the possession with Wooster with a groundball on the faceoff, and that led to a goal by junior Aidan Crowe with 10:16 left in the opening period.

Ohio Wesleyan (10-5, 7-1 NCAC) answered :08 later on a Max Tennant goal, and the Battling Bishops opened up a 5-3 lead before Polak made it a 5-4 game with :43 left in the first period. However, Ohio Wesleyan had another quick answer as the Bishops struck twice in the final :36 of the frame, and tacked on two scores in the second oeriod to make it a 9-4 contest.

Wooster's defense setup the Scots for back-to-back scores in the third period as the Black and Gold capitalized on a pair of Ohio Wesleyan turnovers, including one caused by junior Ryan Harms. Fellow junior Sam Kuhn put the Scots back on the board about six minutes into the second half, and senior Josh Herold worked the ball to junior Ian Brim for the second goal just over a minute later.

In the fourth period, Herold pumped in two of his team-high three goals on the year, with the final one marking his 95th career goal, one ahead of older brother Tom, and good for ninth on the program's all-time scoring chart.

Other noteworthy stats on the day for Wooster included 13 saves by first-year Wesley Wagner, 11 faceoff wins and seven groundballs by junior Erik Barroso, a pair of caused turnovers by Harms, and only three failed clears in 24 tries by the Scots transition units.

Matt Maier led the way for Ohio Wesleyan with four goals and three assists while Conor Caffrey dished out seven helpers.

Wooster, who qualified for the NCAC Tournament for the second straight year, will travel to No. 8 Denison University (13-1, 8-0 NCAC) for a 7:30 p.m. tilt on Wednesday, April 26.