Wooster Advances to NCAC Tournament Title Game

Senior back Gina Crough (No. 30) receives congratulations on her second-half goal, which gave Wooster a 2-0 lead.

WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster netted a pair of goals early in the second half and its defense limited visiting Denison University to very few scoring opportunities throughout the teams’ semifinal meeting in the North Coast Athletic Conference Field Hockey Tournament Wednesday afternoon, as the top-seeded Fighting Scots prevailed 2-0 at Cindy Barr Field.

Wooster will host third-seeded Kenyon College, which upended Wittenberg University 5-1 in Wednesday’s other semi, on Saturday in the conference tourney championship game at 3 p.m., and the winner of that will receive the NCAC’s automatic berth into the NCAA Div. III Tournament.

In the first half, the Scots (15-5) kept the ball on Denison’s side of the field for nearly all 35 minutes, holding an 11-3 advantage in shots and 3-2 in penalty corners. However, they couldn’t slide one past goalie Carter Hartung, as it was knotted 0-0 at the break.

Wooster’s offense, which entered averaging 3.05 goals per game, got going early in the second. A little over seven minutes, Anlyn Addis took a point-blank shot that was saved by Hartung, but the Big Red defense couldn’t clear the ball and Brittany Montgomery gained possession just inside the top of the circle, blasting in her 14th goal.

Denison (7-11) would respond with a couple of quick corners, but could not get a shot off either time. Then, the Scots induced a penalty corner of their own and took advantage when Gina Crough, positioned on the left wing, drove a feed from Kate Persing into the lower right corner of the cage for a 2-0 lead with 20:20 remaining in regulation. It marked Crough’s fourth goal and Persing’s first assist of the season.

The Big Red’s best offensive opportunity came around the 12-minute mark, as they had a breakaway, but Wooster goalie Anne Leigh came charging out of the cage for a save to maintain the shutout, her school-record breaking 21st of her career. The former Scot best was Sarah Heath with 20 shutouts from 1985-87.

Statistically, Wooster ended up with a 20-6 edge in the shot department and 12-4 in corners. Leigh made three saves to Hartung’s seven.