MEADVILLE, Pennsylvania – Austin Jourde's "Scot up" goal broke an 8-8 tie, and the sophomore attacker scored again less than two minutes later in The College of Wooster men's lacrosse team's 11-9 win over former North Coast Athletic Conference rival Allegheny College on Wednesday evening.
Wooster (6-3) earned the player-up opportunity when Allegheny's (2-3) Tyler Rippole was sent off for a slash, and the Fighting Scots needed just 19 seconds of the minute penalty to break the tie. Possession remained with Wooster following an Allegheny faceoff violation and the Scots' attack continued to funnel through Jourde. The sophomore's third shot of the possession found the back of the net for his 10th score of the season. Junior Will Fink followed with his 20th goal of the year and fifth of the night to put Wooster ahead 11-8 with 9:15 remaining in Wednesday's win.
Wooster quieted Allegheny's late rally when senior Casey Steffen scooped up his fifth groundball of the night inside the final two minutes. Allegheny had one final attempt to pull within one in the last minute, but the Scots kept the Gators in check allowing just one shot.
Wooster dominated the second quarter, thanks to goals from Fink, sophomore Lane Kellogg, and sophomore Cooper Nichols. The three-goal stretch had the Scots ahead 4-1 with 3:06 to go before halftime. The score was 6-2 once Fink pumped in consecutive scores 1:40 apart in the third. Allegheny was within one on Giedon Sullivan's goal with 9:10 remaining in the third and tied the game at eight when Jack Cushwa beat senior Paul Chandler with 13:14 remaining in the game.
Senior Jimmy Fisher hit another milestone, reaching 500 career faceoff wins in the fourth quarter. He went 15-of-24 on the night and is 66 away from having the most faceoff wins in program history. Of note, 92 of Fisher's 501 faceoff wins have come against Allegheny.
Jourde's two goals backed up Fink's game-high five. DiLeo was more of a distributor for the Scots, with three assists to one goal. The four-point night moved him to 199 career points.
Other stats of note included five groundballs and three caused turnovers by Steffen and 14 groundballs by Fisher, which marked a season-high. Chandler ended the night with nine saves.
JP Rakis scored three times for Allegheny. Garin Stearns kept the Gators in the game with 15 saves on 25 shots faced.
Wooster held a slight 38-36 edge in shots. Wooster went 17-of-23 on clears to 18-of-28 for Allegheny.
Next, Wooster starts conference play against DePauw University (5-2). Opening faceoff from John P. Papp Stadium is set for 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 23.