DELAWARE – The College of Wooster men's lacrosse team attempted to give Ohio Wesleyan University its first North Coast Athletic Conference loss on Wednesday but fell short in a 23-8 result.
Ohio Wesleyan, ranked second regionally only behind Denison University, improved to 12-3 overall and 7-0 in conference play. They will square off against the other undefeated NCAC team on Saturday to determine the regular season title when they host the Big Red (12-4, 7-0 NCAC).
Meanwhile, Wooster moves to 7-7 overall and 3-3 in the conference. With two spots left to claim for the upcoming NCAC Tournament, Wooster is in a fight with Oberlin College and Kenyon College, all of which have three conference losses to date.
On Wednesday, the Battling Bishops scored the first five goals of the contest until Jack Holub put Wooster on the board with 7:44 left in the first quarter.
Unfortunately, that started another run of five goals from Ohio Wesleyan, and when Wooster scored again with 6:05 in the second quarter thanks to Will Fink, Wooster was down 10-2.
Wooster showed some fight coming out of halftime with a 4-4 third quarter. They scored four of the first five goals as Aidan Hyatt, Jesse Fisher, Holub and Fink each found the back of the net.
Fink's goal cut the lead to 14-7, but nine straight from Ohio Wesleyan put the game out of reach.
Holub scored one final time with 4:30 left in the game to secure the four-goal outing. For the first-year, it's the third time this season hitting that mark, running his goal total on the season to 22.
Will Crane, Domenic Cuda and John Allen Ginder each recorded an assist. Cuda also led the team with five groundballs.
Wooster took 28 shots but couldn't match Ohio Wesleyan's 65 attempts. Wooster's goalies did all they could. Case Lowery made nine saves, while Charlie Zabatta made five.
Ohio Wesleyan was led by two five-goal efforts from Carson Geier and Wade Beckstrom. The Battling Bishops also took 27-of-34 faceoff victories.
Wooster wraps up its regular season this weekend with a pair of home games. They host Hiram College on Friday and Wabash College on Saturday.
