Strong First Quarter Propels Wooster Past Illinois Wesleyan

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - Nine goals in the first quarter helped set the tone for The College of Wooster women's lacrosse team in a 20-8 non-conference victory over Illinois Wesleyan University inside Tucci Stadium.

The Fighting Scots (9-1) began the game on an 8-0 run and were scoring at a rapid pace, as evidenced by junior Sophia Mellis' hat trick within the first three minutes of action. Senior Madelyn Noll assisted on two of those goals, netted one of her own for a 4-0 Wooster lead, and then dished to junior Brynne Snaguski for yet another assist. IWU's Maddie Gibson finally put an end to the run, scoring the Titans' (5-6) first goal of the afternoon with just under a minute on the clock. Wooster senior Kenzie Morris had a quick unassisted answer to put the Scots up 9-1 after the first quarter.

Morris kept the Scots rolling to start the second period with another unassisted goal, while first-years Rowan Pilon and Cassidy Driscoll made it a 4-0 Wooster run. Illinois Wesleyan finally slowed the tempo down late in the first half and into the third quarter, but the Scots' lead still hovered around 10 goals, thanks to the strong opening frame.

Junior Priya Nehria scored twice in the final quarter to help Wooster maintain its decisive advantage. First-year Mizan Jacobs also got involved in the offense with two assists.

While the Scots proved to have a balanced offensive attack, standout performances came from Pilon with a career-high four goals and one assist, Noll who facilitated the offense with a season-high-tying four assists, and hat tricks from Morris and Melli. Defensively, Morris and junior Lizzie Hardy corralled five groundballs each. Junior Sidney O'Rourke tracked down eight draw controls.

Gibson provided half of the offense for the Titans with four goals. Junior Sarah Riepe had a balanced stat sheet with three groundballs, three draw controls, and three caused turnovers. Senior Mia Fiandaca also added three caused turnovers of her own.

Sophomore Audrey Richardson secured the win in the cage and recorded three first-half saves. Sophomore Brooke Benjamin and first-year Taylor Noe saw 15 minutes of action apiece in goal in the second half. Senior Lizzie Rymarcsuk suffered the loss for Illinois Wesleyan, but tallied 13 saves and five groundballs.

Turnovers were fairly even between the two teams, with Wooster at 16 to Illinois Wesleyan's 20. The Scots were statistically efficient and led in almost every other category, such as shots (39-18), groundballs (34-17), draw controls (19-11) and clears (14-of-16 vs. 9-of-19).

Wooster continues its Illinois road trip tomorrow, Sunday, March 30, with a non-conference game at Lake Forest College (5-3) at 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT.