Ellie Hudson-Heck

Emma Lawrence

Senior Ellie Hudson-Heck scored the game-winner with 1:43 remaining to lift The College of Wooster women's lacrosse team to a 14-13 win at Oberlin College and into next week's four-team North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament.

Wooster (11-5, 4-4 NCAC), which finished in a three-way tie with Kenyon College and Oberlin for fourth-place, earned the postseason berth by virtue of sweeping those two teams during the regular season.

Maggie Mullard of Oberlin (10-7, 4-4 NCAC) tied the contest at 13 with 7:32 remaining. The score was part of a three-goal swing by the Yeowomen, changing the complexion of the game over a quick 2:23 time span.

Following an extended period, in which neither offense was able to get a shot off, Hudson-Heck produced a key play as she has throughout her career. The Fighting Scots' senior standout finished a feed from Heather Szymanski. Notable, the goal marked the senior's career-best 56th of the year.

Early on, Mullard sparked Oberlin's offense with the first of two quick scores before Wooster was able to string together offensive momentum.

Michaela Lawrence put the Scots on the board with 26:25 left in the opening half. From there, Jamie Wren-Jarvis and Szymanski backed the sophomore up to push them in front, 3-2, with 21:12 left in the half.

Later, Wooster added a 4-0 burst with Hudson-Heck, Helena Enders, Szymanski, and Lawrence combining to extend the lead to 7-3 at the 5:06 mark of the half.

The Scots pushed their edge to five in the early going of the second half when Abby Szlachta connected on back-to-back scores to make it a 10-5 tilt with 24:02 remaining in the game.

Oberlin rallied to within one at 13:29, then the momentum went back to Wooster as Hudson-Heck pushed the lead back out to three (12-9) with back-to-back tallies, the second coming with 11:06 left.

Hudson-Heck finished with five goals on the afternoon, while Enders, Lawrence, Szlachta, and Szymanski each had two.

Emma Lawrence won a career-best 10 draw controls, as the Scots finished with a 16-12 edge in that statistical category. That gives Lawrence a team record 77 draws for the year, surpassing Amy Denny (2010) and Miriam Esber (2002) who shared the old mark with 70.

Wooster was outshot 36-30, but Isabel Perman tallied 11 key saves, capped by a stop on a free-position shot with :40 to go.

Other statistical leaders included Szymanski, who had four groundballs, and Perman and Wynn Boehmcke, who had three groundballs each.

The Yeowomen were paced by Natalie Rauchle, who upped her NCAC-leading goal haul to 62 after a six-goal outing.

The NCAC Tournament semifinals will take place Wednesday, with Wooster traveling to top-seeded Denison University (11-5) for a 5 p.m. tilt.