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| Alexa Mellis |
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| Jordan Stone |
WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster women's lacrosse team matched the single-season program record with win No. 13 on Saturday afternoon, as the Fighting Scots rolled past visiting Ohio Wesleyan University 22-3 at John P. Papp Stadium.
While Wooster (13-1, 4-1 North Coast Athletic Conference) was comfortably ahead 15-3 at halftime, and was seemingly scoring nearly at will for the final 24:04 of the opening stanza, the Scots did have to lean on the defense at the onset. Just as has been the case countless times this season, a combination of heavily riders and back-end contributions enabled the Scots' front-end attackers to settle in. Sophomore Katie Shideler turned aside a shot in the opening stretch, while senior Jordan Stone helped force Ohio Wesleyan into a 1-for-5 start in the clearing game with a caused turnover.
Not long after her caused turnover, Stone jump-started the offense with an assist that resulted in sophomore Alexa Mellis' team-leading 40th goal of the season, which went down as the first score of the afternoon at the 24:04 mark. Two more goals over the ensuing 36 seconds followed, and Wooster was comfortably ahead 7-0 once the scoreboard touched 19 minutes, coincidentally when Mellis netted her third goal of the game.
Ohio Wesleyan's (9-6, 2-4 NCAC) Jenn Douglas put the guests on the board with 18:25 left in the opening half, but Wooster senior Emma Lawrence answered back less than 20 ticks later with the first of four consecutive goals for the Scots.
Lawrence started a second lengthy scoring run in the game, as her tally with 3:56 left in the opening half marked the first of 10 consecutive goals scored by Wooster over the duration of the contest. Seven Scots contributed to that run.
Wooster dominated in every aspect of the game, with the most impressive stat perhaps being the Scots' perfect 16-for-16 ledger in the clearing game. Wooster nearly tripled Ohio Wesleyan's total in shots (34-12) and the Scots easily won the draw control battle 20-6. Additionally, Wooster's 13 turnovers marked the fifth time the that number has appeared on the post-game stat sheet this season.
Individually, Mellis finished with a team-high five goals, while six other Scots tallied multiple scores on the day. Senior Megan Healy won nine draw controls to up her season total to 91.
Noteworthy, Healy's now exceeded 90 draws in back-to-back years, and she's still the lone student-athlete in program history to have over 90 in a season.
Douglas won three of Ohio Wesleyan's six draws and led all players with four groundballs.
This is the fourth time in program history the Scots have logged 13 wins. Wooster previously did so in 2004, 2013, and 2015.
Next, Wooster's at Kenyon College (13-2, 6-0 NCAC) for a 5 p.m. game on Wednesday, April 24.