Scots Roll in First NCAC Contest

The College of Wooster men's lacrosse team opened North Coast Athletic Conference play on Saturday with a 13-9 win over Wittenberg University.

Wittenberg opened scoring but Wooster responded in a way that would set the tone of the game, scoring seven unanswered and staying in control the rest of the way.

Wooster's first goal came in an unlikely scenario, but sophomore Jesse Fisher stepped up as the team was playing a man down for him to score his first Wooster goal as Rowan Piani found him on the assist.

From there, Austin Jourde and Rory Zahren each scored before the end of the quarter to give Wooster a 3-1 lead.

Each of the first seven goals came from a different Fighting Scot with Riley Schulze, Colton Beaudoin and Jack Holub scoring the next three.

The scoring run ended the way it started with a first-time Wooster scorer as first-year Jude Harris used his long stick in front of the net to make it a 7-1 game.

The game was mostly even from there as Wooster took an 8-3 halftime lead. Wooster won the third quarter 4-2, while Wittenberg used a 4-1 fourth to cut back on the out-of-reach deficit.

Will Fink, Beaudoin and Holub each scored two goals to lead the Wooster offense. Fink also had two assists, tying with Will Crane for the team-lead.

Wooster collected 44 ground balls. Domenic Cuda tallied a team-high seven, while Zahren and Bill Holtzer each had five.

Cuda and Holtzer also shared the team-lead with three caused turnovers.

Wooster outshot Wittenberg 42-27 and held the slight faceoff advantage, winning 13 of 24 tries. Zahren was 8 of 15, while Owen Bosland went 3 of 5 and Cody Mox went 2 of 4.

First-year Case Lowery took the win in goal, making eight saves. Charlie Zabatta made three saves after replacing him in the final 10 minutes.

Wooster moves to 4-4 overall and 1-0 in conference play, while Wittenberg drops to 3-3 and 0-1. Wooster will continue NCAC play on Saturday when they travel to Oberlin College.