Eberle Headlines Scots' Seven All-NCAC Picks, Ford C-O-Y

Romy Eberle

Fresh off its fourth North Coast Athletic Conference championship and trip to the NCAA Div. III Tournament, seven members of The College of Wooster women’s lacrosse team landed on the all-conference team, as announced by the league office on Tuesday. Highlighting this year’s selections are sophomore Romy Eberle (New Haven, Conn. / Hopkins), making her second appearance in as many seasons as a first-team defender, and Liz Ford, who shares the NCAC’s Coach-of-the-Year award along with Kenyon College’s Jill Boffa.

Wooster players joining Eberle included fellow sophomores Carly Carey (Cummington, Mass. / Academy at Charlemont), Hillary Darragh (Evanston, Ill. / Evanston Township), and Taryn Higgins (Marblehead, Mass. / Marblehead), and freshman Britta Harman (Hudson, Ohio / Western Reserve Acad.) on the All-NCAC Second Team, and juniors Cassie Brown (New Fairfield, Conn. / New Fairfield) and Jess Baylor (Milton, Mass. / Noble and Greenough), both of whom received honorable mention.

Eberle again proved to be one of the top defensive players in the league, anchoring a backfield that held opponents to 9.65 goals per game. She started all 17 contests, and statistically, totaled 45 groundballs and 28 draw controls, ranking second and third on the Fighting Scots in those respective categories. Additionally, Eberle, who caused 12 turnovers, contributed a boost on the offensive end, scoring two goals and assisting on another.

Carey earns her first postseason honor after serving as one of Wooster’s top attackers, including a team-high 39 goals. She added three assists for 42 total points, while starting all 17 games. Carey tallied a hat trick (3 or more goals) eight times this season, highlighted by a five-goal game against Allegheny College April 24, and also collected 20 groundballs during her breakout season.

Darragh, a repeat second-team all-conference performer at midfield, continued to be a force for the Scots in 2007. A starter in all 17 games, she netted 24 goals and assisted on another 13 for a 37-point campaign to tie for third on the squad in scoring. Darragh, who had a career-high seven points (3 goals, 4 assists) against the University of Puget Sound April 15, was a standout in other areas as well, ranking among the top-five on the team in groundballs (31), draw controls (29), and caused turnovers (16).

Higgins, who moved up to the All-NCAC Second Team after being an honorable mention pick last spring, was a key component to Wooster’s success, providing a variety of intangibles as a midfielder. She led the Scots in three categories – groundballs (52), caused turnovers (32), and draw controls (30). Averages of 3.06 groundballs and 1.88 caused turnovers per game put Higgins third in both of those conference statistics. Scoring wise, she registered 23 points on 22 goals and an assist, highlighted by a career-high four goals versus Denison University during the NCAC Tournament semifinals.

Harman was Wooster’s top newcomer, starting in 14 games and appearing in the other three. She made a significant impact for a defense that limited opponents to 10 or less goals in 11 of the 17 contests, producing the third-highest amount of groundballs and caused turnovers on the squad with 42 and 18, respectively, to go with 13 draw controls. Recently, Harman earned a spot on the all-NCAC tourney team.

Baylor, who garnered a second-team all-league award last season as a midfielder, played more of a defensive role throughout 2007. She started all 15 games she played in and ranked second in the NCAC in caused turnovers, averaging 1.93 per outing. Baylor also contributed 11 points (6 goals, 5 assists), 23 draw controls, and 34 groundballs.

Brown enjoyed a breakout year, not only starting for the first time in her three-year career, but finishing as the team’s fifth-leading scorer with 36 points. An attacker, Brown tossed in 29 goals highlighted by the game-winner during overtime of a key 13-12 victory against Kenyon College April 21, and passed out seven assists. Also noteworthy, she notched a career-high five-point performance (4 goals, 1 assist) against Puget Sound, and recorded 14 groundballs on the season.

Guided by Ford, the Scots won the NCAC title, earning the No. 3 seed for the league tournament via a 5-1 regular season NCAC record and then knocking off the top-two seeds – Denison 19-12 in the semis and Ohio Wesleyan University 13-10 in the finals. That gave Wooster the NCAC’s automatic bid into the NCAA Div. III Tournament, in which it lost a first-round game at Washington & Lee University 14-4, capping the Scots’ season at 12-5 and putting Ford’s two-year career record to 23-8.