Wooster Sends Seniors Out With Win, 15-4

WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster women's lacrosse team celebrated its six-member senior class with one of the most dominant performances of the season, as the Fighting Scots sprinted past the Yeowomen 15-4 on Saturday afternoon at John P. Papp Stadium.

Wooster's (11-4, 3-3 North Coast Athletic Conference) win moved the Scots up to a tie for third-place in the conference standings. Kenyon College's (7-7, 3-3 NCAC) 19-7 win over DePauw University (8-6, 3-3 NCAC) forced a three-way tie for third, and unfortunately, Wooster was the odd team out for next week's conference tournament once the tiebreakers were applied to determine tournament seeding.

Wooster's 16-6 draw control advantage was led by sophomore Lizzie Hardy's seven. Hardy's count for the season reached 90 for the fourth-most in single-season program history, training alumna Hannah Shaw's 128 from 2022 and Megan Healy's 115 from 2019 and 99 from 2018.

Senior Kenzie Smith netted five goals in her career finale and surpassed 100 career points. The two-year starting attacker finished five goals shy of 100 for her career and ended 2024 at 49.

Hardy put Wooster on the board 1:44 into the game, but it was later in the first period when the Scots seized total control of the game. Junior Kenzie Morris' 50th goal of the season was the first of seven unanswered by the Scots spanning the 3:57 mark of the opening quarter until Oberlin's (5-12, 1-5 NCAC) Phoebe Dolan scored with 14:20 remaining in the third quarter. Wooster's score reached 9-1 at halftime when sophomore Brynne Snaguski fed a pass to senior Ciara O'Connor for the attacker's 27th goal of the year.

Oberlin had no answer for Wooster's pressure in transition. The Yeowomen finished just 12-of-29 on clearing attempts and were 3-of-8 in the opening quarter and 2-of-8 in the final 15 minutes of play. Wooster logged a caused turnover on 18 of Oberlin's 31 giveaways. Two were caused early on in transition by Smith and sophomore Bella Woodbury. The failed clears kept piling up for Oberlin later in the opening period when Morris and junior Kaitlyn McBride caused Yeowomen turnovers in transition. First-year Audrey Richardson was involved from the goalkeeper position, recording two saves late in the first before Wooster comfortably pulled away.

In all, Wooster's 18 caused turnovers were spread around to 11 different Scots. Sophomore Bella McCloskey caused four of them, while junior Lexi Sarne was credited with three. McCloskey's six groundballs led Wooster and accounted for nearly 20 percent of the team's 33.

Hardy, O'Connor, and Snaguski followed Smith in the scoring column with two goals each. Snaguski and Morris had the team-high in assists at two. Richardson turned aside seven shots on the day.

Janny McCormick hit 15 saves to lead Oberlin. Emily Berger added six stops in just over 12 minutes of action in the fourth quarter. Lauren Mills was a key defender for the Yeowomen with four caused turnovers.

Wooster had 43 shots to Oberlin's 13. The Scots were successful on 15-of-19 clear attempts.