Hardy Reaches Career Milestone, Women’s Lacrosse Beats Hope

WOOSTER - Junior midfielder Lizzie Hardy reached yet another draw control milestone as the College of Wooster women's lacrosse team beat Hope College 16-8 in non-conference action inside John P. Papp Stadium on Saturday.

Hardy collected seven draw controls on the afternoon, becoming the seventh Scot in program history to reach 175 draw controls. The junior now stands at 180 career draws and an opportunity to continue to climb up the program leaderboards as the season moves along. 

Senior Kenzie Morris led the way for Wooster (3-0) offensively with a season-best five goals while junior Brynne Snaguski and Hardy chipped in two goals apiece. Junior Sophia Mellis and senior Madelyn Noll each tallied a goal and an assist.

Defensively, junior Bella Woodbury had an all-around stellar performance with four ground balls, four caused turnovers and one draw control. She also scored a goal on the offensive end.

First-year Rowan Pilon grabbed a team-high five ground balls. 

Hope (1-1) was led by juniors Caleigh Randall, Sydney Laprairie and Julia Brown who each scored a pair of goals. Randall matched Hardy with seven draw controls while junior Caroline Curnutt had a game-high of nine. 

Wooster opened the game on a 5-0 run, which helped establish its offensive rhythm early. Two of those five goals were unassisted scores from Morris. Hope finally stopped the bleeding with 10 seconds left in the first quarter to get on the scoreboard. 

The second quarter was more evenly matched but the Scots won the quarter, 4-2. Wooster then came out of the locker room at halftime and exploded for six goals in the third quarter to put the game into a running clock situation.Not wanting to be outdone by the offense, the defense stepped up and held the Flying Dutch scoreless in the period.

Hope answered by scoring the first five goals of the final frame. Woodbury put a stop to the run with the game's final score and, thanks to Wooster's dominance in the first and third quarters, the deficit proved to be too much for Hope to overcome. 

Sophomore Audrey Richardson earned the win in the cage with six saves. Junior Samantha Smith suffered the loss but had a game-high nine stops.  

The Scots led the way in most statistical categories, including shots (39-24), ground balls (29-18), turnovers (16-25) and free position shots (6-of-11 compared to 3-of-6). Hope corralled most of the draw controls to the tune of a 19-9 advantage.

Wooster will host its Morgan's Message game next Saturday, March 8, against Kalamazoo College at Noon inside John P. Papp Stadium.