The College of Wooster women's lacrosse team allowed its 8-3 lead to dwindle into just a one-goal advantage with less than ten minutes remaining, but the Scots closed out the game on a scoring run to get by Allegheny College 13-9 on Friday in the semifinals of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament at Mavec Field in Gambier, Ohio.

The Scots (11-3, 5-1 NCAC) are set to battle No. 1 seeded KenyonKenyon College (14-1, 5-1 NCAC) tomorrow at 2 p.m. with the NCAC Championship and an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament on the line. Wooster has won two of the last three conference championships (2007, 2009), and five overall since 2002.

Clare Nelson-Johnson put Wooster on the scoreboard first with an unassisted goal in the early goings, but Allegheny answered back with a pair of goals over a 1:18 stretch that gave it a 2-1 lead about seven minutes into the action. Neither team was able to beat the keeper over the next eight minutes until Nina Dine ended the draught with a goal that sparked a Wooster scoring run.

Madison Carey, Nelson-Johnson, and Jess Cleveland joined Dine to score six unanswered goals and give the Scots a decisive 7-2 cushion just minutes before the break. Each team tacked on one more goal, resulting in an 8-3 Wooster lead heading into the final stanza.

The Gators allowed Wooster just one goal over a 24 minute span in the second half, and fueled by three Jensen Paterson goals, they produced a 5-1 scoring run to draw within one score (9-8) with under seven minutes remaining in the game. Dine and Cleveland responded in crunch time by scoring goals with 6:53 and 5:36 on the clock, and another two late Wooster goals halted Allegheny's comeback attempt.

Dine led Wooster with six points (3 goals, 3 assists), and Nelson-Johnson added five (4 goals, 1 assist), as the two contributed on 11 of the team's 13 goals. Amy Denny matched a career-high with seven draw controls, and Jaqueline Wallat added three draw controls and chipped in a goal with 2:38 remaining in the first half. Goalkeeper Shawna Ferris made four saves, including one on a shot by Paterson in the game's final minutes.

Allegheny was led by Paterson (4 goals) and Abby Silvester (2 goals, 1 assist), and goalie Rebecca O'Shurak made 12 saves in the setback.