Scots Set to Host OWU in Regular Season Finale

The College of Wooster men’s lacrosse team will conclude its 2007 regular season this Thursday, May 3, when it welcomes North Coast Athletic Conference foe Ohio Wesleyan University (11-3, 4-0 NCAC) to John P. Papp Stadium for a key game, starting at 4:30 p.m. Ohio Wesleyan will be aiming for the outright NCAC championship, while Wooster is looking to keep its hopes alive for an at-large berth into next week’s NCAA Div. III Tournament. The Battling Bishops lead the squads’ all-time series 42-2, however, the Fighting Scots have been much more competitive in recent years, including a heartbreaking 14-13 overtime loss last year and a 7-5 win in 2004.

Last Week: Wooster was in action only once last week, producing a conference victory to move to 8-3 overall and 2-2 in the NCAC.
    On April 28, the Scots had a run of 12 unanswered goals, sandwiched around an early score and a late score by visiting Wittenberg University, as Wooster routed the rival Tigers by a 10-goal margin (12-2) for the second-straight season in NCAC action. The Scots, who toppled Wittenberg by a nearly identical score of 11-1 last spring, fell behind 1-0 midway through the first quarter, but it was all Wooster from that point on. The Scots exploded for four goals during a 5:00 stretch towards the end of the first, including two by Ben Abbott (Yarmouth, Maine / Canterbury School – Conn.), and for four more in the second quarter to take a commanding 8-1 lead into halftime. Hisham Hassan (Winchester, Mass. / Winchester) accounted for three first-half goals, two coming in the second period. During the third, Wooster continued to control the action, with a couple of Chris Vaccaro (Plano, Texas / Plano) goals being the only scoring that quarter. While freely substituting in the fourth, the Scots put in two more tallies before the Tigers finally lit up the scoreboard again with just :59 remaining. Hassan led the Wooster attack with a five-point game, including four goals. Vaccaro had two assists, to go with his two third-quarter goals, and Abbott also finished with a two-goal, two-assist day. Additional multi-point scorers were Mark Weschler (Silver Spring, Md. / Our Lady of Good Counsel) with two goals, Chris Gatsch (Princeton, N.J. / Blair Academy) with one goal and one assist, and Pat Coyne (Chatham, N.J. / Chatham) with two assists. Also of note, the Scots controlled the ball by winning 12-of-18 face-offs as a team, thanks to specialists John MacVarish (Hingham, Mass. / Pomfret School – Conn.) and Ian Parsons (Hudson, Ohio / Hudson) at 6-of-7 and 6-of-11, respectively. Defensively, Wooster limited Wittenberg to just 12 shots through the first three quarters, as starting goalie Matt Biester (Wallingford, Pa. / Strath Haven) only needed to make four saves to preserve the victory. Calvin Todd (Deerfield, N.H. / Concord) came in for the fourth and made four saves himself on 13 Tiger attempts.