Scots Have Week to Prepare for Key Match at Denison

Warren Swegal

The College of Wooster, currently in fifth-place in the North Coast Athletic Conference, has the full week to prepare for a key match at Denison University (8-4-1, 2-3-0 NCAC) this Saturday, Oct. 20. The two teams are among a group of nine within the NCAC that currently have between 6-to-13 points (3 for a win, 1 for a tie), and the top-four at the end of the regular season advance to the league’s postseason tournament. Wooster holds a 19-18-3 advantage in the all-time series against Denison, however, the Big Red prevailed big (4-1) last fall. Game time in Granville, Ohio, is scheduled for 4 p.m.

Last Week: The Scots played a pair of double-overtime matches, tying one and losing the other to move to 6-5-2 overall and 2-2-2 in the NCAC.

On Oct. 9, Wooster battled to a 0-0 deadlock for the second time in three matches, this time tying host Hiram College in NCAC action. At one point during regulation, the Scots did score, however, the goal was waved off by the officials. Defensively, Wooster’s rotating freshmen ‘keepers, Patryk Tenorio (Tawas City, Mich. / St. Stephen’s Episcopal – Texas) and Jordan O’Boyle (Hudson, Ohio / Western Reserve Academy), combined for 10 saves. Tenorio worked the first half, stopping four shots on goal, while O’Boyle went the rest of the way, posting six saves.

On Oct. 12, Ohio Wesleyan University scored with just 31 seconds remaining in regulation to send the match into overtime and then dealt the visiting Scots a heartbreaking loss with a goal in the second overtime to prevail 2-1 in the teams’ NCAC affair. Warren Swegal’s (Sewickley, Pa. / Quaker Valley) goal, assisted by Trevor Day (Wadsworth, Ohio / Wadsworth), for Wooster during the 76th minute looked like it was going to hold up as the only score, but with the time ticking down, Ohio Wesleyan came through in the clutch, collecting a loose ball in the box and sending it into the net for the equalizer. After a quiet first overtime, the Battling Bishops struck on their first attempt of the second extra session. Ohio Wesleyan peppered Tenorio and O’Boyle with 31 shots overall, but the first-years kept the Scots in the game as Tenorio made four saves in the first half and O’Boyle registered four in the second half.