Scots Headed to California for Spring Break

Carly Carey

The College of Wooster, which is part of the NCAA Div. III West Region in women’s lacrosse, will play four regional games in California during this year’s spring break trip. First, the Fighting Scots are scheduled to be at Pomona-Pitzer Colleges (1-2) Saturday, March 15, for an 11 a.m. opening draw control. Wooster will remain in the Los Angeles area and take on Whittier College (1-1) on St. Patrick’s Day (Monday, March 17) at 7 p.m. Two days later (Wednesday, March 19), the Scots and University of Redlands (0-0) will match-up at 7 p.m. Last season, the two teams met in Wooster, with the Scots easily prevailing 11-3. Wooster’s final contest of the trip will be a neutral-site affair, as they’ll play traditional regional power Colorado College (3-1) at 11 a.m., on the Redlands campus. All starting times are Pacific Standard Time.

Season Preview: With the return of all but two starters, including offensive standout Carly Carey (Cummington, Mass. / Academy at Charlemont) and defensive standout Romy Eberle (New Haven, Conn. / Hopkins), Wooster appears to have a good opportunity to successfully defend its North Coast Athletic Conference championship. The Scots have won four of the last six NCAC crowns, including last spring when they were supposed to be rebuilding with seven new starters but instead tied for first-place in the regular season (5-1) and then cruised through the NCAC tourney (def. Denison University 19-12, def. Ohio Wesleyan University 13-10) before seeing their year come to an end in the NCAA Div. III Tournament first round with a 12-5 record.

Wooster possesses good balance, with an offense that averaged 13.2 goals per game as a team – the most since the 2001 season (14.4 gpg) – with seven individuals recording double-digit goal totals. Carey led the way, firing in a squad-high 39 goals en route to first-team honors on the All-West Region Team, and through two seasons, the junior attacker has 64 points (51 goals, 13 assists).

Aiding Carey will be a group of skilled midfielders in Taryn Higgins (Marblehead, Mass. / Marblehead), Hillary Darragh (Evanston, Ill. / Evanston Twp.), and Cassie Brown (New Fairfield, Conn. / New Fairfield). Higgins, a junior, was a second-team all-region pick after leading the Scots in groundballs (52), caused turnovers (32), and draw controls (30), in addition to being an offensive threat with 22 goals, four coming during that win over Denison University in the NCAC Tournament semifinals. Darragh, a second-team all-conference honoree each of her first two years, scored 24 goals and was second on the squad in assists with 13 in 2007, while Brown hopes to build off a breakout junior season in which she totaled 36 points (29 goals, 7 assists) en route to honorable mention on the All-NCAC Team.

Other veteran offensive forces include senior Lauren DeZellar (Eden Prairie, Minn. / Eden Prairie), who finished just shy of being another double-digit goal scorer for Wooster last year (9 goals, 6 assists), as well as junior Alex Cotter (Summit, N.J. / Summit) and sophomore Becca Worthington (St. Louis Park, Minn. / St. Louis Park).

The Scots’ biggest strength is its midfield. In addition to Higgins, Darragh, and Brown, senior Jess Baylor (Milton, Mass. / Noble and Greenough) will be stationed there. Baylor, Brown, and Darragh are team captains (along with Carey). Much of Baylor’s focus comes on the defensive end, as the two-time all-NCAC award winner has been among the squad leaders in caused turnovers and groundballs throughout her career while compiling 19 points.

Eberle has proven to be one of the top defenders in the conference. A two-time first-team all-NCAC honoree, the junior is coming off second-team all-West Region recognition as well and will be expected to lead the backfield again. Statistically, Eberle tallied 45 groundballs, 28 draw controls, and 12 caused turnovers last season.

Fellow starters Britta Harman (Hudson, Ohio / Western Reserve Academy), Christina Shiroma (Hilton Head, S.C. / St. Stephens & St. Agnes – Va.), and Cori Finefrock (Berea, Ohio / Berea) also are all back. Harman picked up an all-NCAC spot (second-team) as a freshman, Shiroma, a senior, has appeared in every one of Wooster’s games the last two seasons, and Finefrock should see regular action again in this her junior year.

Senior Allison Rubin (Brighton, Mich. / Brighton) is another defender to note as she scored 11 goals last spring, and additional veterans expected to make an impact on that side of the field include junior Emmy Cassagnol (Silver Spring, Md. / Our Lady of Good Counsel), junior Letitia Clark (West Chester, Pa. / George School), sophomore Jess Cleveland (Evanston, Ill. / Evanston Twp.), and sophomore Amy Denny (Stow, Ohio / Stow-Munroe Falls).