Scots Aiming for NCAC Championship, NCAA Berth This Weekend

Jamie Dannenberg

After concluding the regular season with a 10-4 overall record and tied for first in league action (5-1), The College of Wooster women’s lacrosse team has its sights set on winning the 2007 North Coast Athletic Conference championship this weekend, May 4-5. After a set of tiebreakers, the Fighting Scots ended up as the No. 3 seed for the four-team NCAC Tournament, which will take place on the campus of Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio. Ohio Wesleyan (10-3, 5-1 NCAC), which ended up with the top seed, will kickoff the tourney on Friday at 3 p.m., against fourth-seeded Kenyon College (8-7, 3-3 NCAC), followed by the No. 2 seed, Denison University (7-7, 5-1 NCAC), and Wooster at 5 p.m. The winners will then battle on Saturday at 3 p.m., for the NCAC title and the league’s automatic berth into the NCAA Div. III Tournament.

Last Week: The Scots closed the regular season with a 2-1 week.

On April 24, five different Wooster players scored during a 6-0 run that spanned the first half early into the second, as the Scots built an 8-2 lead en route to beating Allegheny College 14-7. The closest the visiting Gators ever got after that six-goal run was at 11-7 midway through the second half. Carly Carey (Cummington, Mass. / Academy at Charlemont) had a career-high day, throwing in five goals, while Cassie Brown (New Fairfield, Conn. / New Fairfield) contributed a hat trick. Also turning in multiple-point games were Taryn Higgins (Marblehead, Mass. / Marblehead) with two goals and Annie Steward (Littleton, Mass. / Lawrence Academy) with a goal and an assist. In net, Jamie Dannenberg (Framingham, Mass. / Framingham) produced a then-career-high 16 saves on the afternoon.

On April 28, Denison used an 11-2 run in the second half to overcome an 8-3 deficit at the break and then held off a late rally by Wooster for a 14-13 victory in the squads’ final regular season conference game. It marked the end of the Scots’ eight-game winning streak and kept them from hosting the NCAC Tournament. Trailing 14-10 with less than five minutes to go, Steward kickstarted a three-goal Wooster run that only took a minute off the clock, however, the Scots couldn’t come up with the equalizer. Steward scored twice during that sequence, part of her team-high four goals, while Brown netted one, which gave her a hat trick on the afternoon. Also with a three-goal outing was Higgins, and defensively, Dannenberg made nine saves.

On April 29, Wooster bounced back, disposing of the University of Redlands 11-3 during non-league action at Carl Dale Field, behind a career-high 18 saves from Dannenberg. The Scots opened the game with an 8-0 scoring blitz that spanned nearly the entire first half. Allison Rubin (Brighton, Mich. / Brighton), Carey, and Emily Baab (Chagrin Falls, Ohio / Walsh Jesuit) each accounted for two goals in the opening half, as Wooster took an 8-1 lead. Redlands tacked on the first two scores of the second half to pull within five (8-3), but the Scots put the game away via a three-goal run. Baab scored one more goal for a hat trick, while Darragh registered one goal and one assist.