NCAC Tri-Champion Scots are No. 2 Seed for Conference Tourney

Taylor Lamborn

The College of Wooster, which split the 2007 North Coast Athletic Conference championship three ways with Kenyon College and Wittenberg University as each finished with an 8-4 league mark, will attempt to advance to the NCAA Div. III Tournament this week. After a series of tiebreakers, Wooster (11-6), which now has won or shared four NCAC championships the last seven seasons, ended up as the No. 2 seed, and thus, hosts third-seeded Kenyon (9-11) on Wednesday, Oct. 31, at 3 p.m.
The two split the regular season series, with the Scots winning the most recent meeting (Oct. 13) by a 2-1 count and the Ladies prevailing 2-0 earlier in the fall (Sept. 15). Also of note, this represents a rematch of last year’s NCAC Tournament title game when Kenyon upended then-top-seeded Wooster 2-1. Wednesday’s other semifinal game pits Oberlin College (8-10) at No. 1 seed Wittenberg (11-6) at 2 p.m. The two winners will meet this Saturday, Nov. 3, at the highest remaining seed’s home field at a time to be determined for the right to earn the NCAC’s automatic bid to the national tourney. The Scots have not played in the NCAA Div. III Tournament since 2001.

NCAC Tourney Notes: The conference added a four-team postseason tournament in 2002 to determine the league’s automatic qualifier into the NCAA Div. III Tournament and since then, Wooster has been in all six NCAC Tournaments. The Scots are 4-5 (.444) in those games overall, having finished runner-up in 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2006.

Last Week: Wooster won both of its games to finish the regular season at 11-6 overall.

On Oct. 24, the Scots upended regionally-ranked Washington & Jefferson College 3-1, using a flurry of goals late in the non-conference contest to do so. After a scoreless first half, the visiting Presidents were the first to crack the scoreboard 12:55 into the second. They continued to lead 1-0 until there was 11:06 to go when Wooster was awarded a penalty stroke and freshman Briana Lynch (North East, Md. / North East) converted the rare opportunity. It marked just the Scots’ second stroke of the year. Less than two minutes later, Wooster was celebrating another goal after Brittany Montgomery (Glens Falls, N.Y. / Glens Falls) delivered on a breakaway for a 2-1 lead with 9:49 remaining.

Lynch would seal the Scots’ win at the 3:22 mark, emerging from a scramble in front of the cage to slap in a goal. Sophomore goalkeeper Izzy Maffetone (Setauket, N.Y. / Ward Melville) was credited with five saves while facing a dozen shots.

On Oct. 27, Wooster kept its hopes alive for a piece of the NCAC crown with a 4-2 victory over visiting Earlham College early in the day, and later, got some help from Wittenberg University as the rival Tigers shutout Kenyon College 1-0, creating a three-way tie for first-place.

The Scots and Earlham were scoreless at halftime, but then the offensive floodgates opened up in the second. First, the Quakers got on the board, but not long after, Wooster rattled off three goals over a 4:15 span during the middle of the stanza. Taylor Lamborn (Stevenson, Md. / McDonough School) scored first on an assist by Nina Dine (Tuckahoe, N.Y. / E.C. Fieldston School), followed by Eileen Barrer (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Pioneer) slapping home the first of her two goals, which put the Scots up 2-1. Montgomery made it a two-goal cushion on a nifty pass from Kate Valora (Mt. Laurel, N.J. / Lenape Regional). After Wooster drew a penalty corner with just under 7:30 to play, Barrer punched in her team-leading 13th goal this season for an insurmountable 4-1 bulge.