GRANVILLE, Ohio – The College of Wooster men's lacrosse team gained a 2-0 lead on No. 19 Denison University in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal before seeing its season end with a 19-7 loss against the Big Red on Wednesday afternoon at Kienzle-Hylbert Stadium.
Wooster (9-8) first-year Domenic Cuda caused two turnovers right out of the gate. The second was cleaned up by senior Bill Holtzer, who led the Fighting Scots on a clear attempt. At the other end, sophomore John Allen Ginder opened the game's scoring with 13:11 on the clock.
Next, junior Luke Peter shut down a hard dodge try by Brady Monturio for the Scots' third caused turnover in the opening 2:30. Once on offense, senior All-American Will Fink made it 2-0 with the Scots just out of the player-up opportunity.
Wooster's hot start was quickly quieted, as Denison went on to score 13 of the remaining 16 first-half goals to take a commanding 13-5 halftime lead. Wooster did capitalize on its scoring chances, as all five shots on goal went in. Ginder netted two scores in the first half, while seniors Colton Beaudoin and Renick Wiltshire added their names to the scoring log.
Defensively, Wooster caused nine in the opening 30 minutes turnovers, and Denison had 13 as a team. Four came from Cuda, while Holtzer was just as active in the havoc department with three.
Cuda's defense stood out in the second half, as he caused three more turnovers to finish with seven. That gave the first-year standout 42 on the year, the third-most in program history, trailing just one of Div. III's finest at causing turnovers in Casey Steffen, who had 86 in 2023 and 65 more in 2024.
Beaudoin and Ginder scored two goals each to lead the offense. Cuda added eight groundballs to the seven caused turnovers. First-year Case Lowery made 10 saves in goal.
Jack Hines netted the game-high with four goals. Six assists were passed out by Kevin Berutich. Grant Larson facilitated multiple extra offensive looks for Denison, thanks to a 14-of-19 mark on faceoffs. He cleaned up 13 groundballs. Andrew Albert bounced back from a saveless first half with five for the game.
Denison had 48 shots to 23 for Wooster. Groundballs also favored Denison at 39-26. Faceoffs went Denison's way at 23-6, while the teams were effective clearing the ball, combining for just three fails on 38 attempts.
Wooster played as the third seed for the first time since 2013, the inaugural year of the NCAC Tournament for men's lacrosse.
Denison advances to Saturday's championship where it plays No. 20 Ohio Wesleyan University (14-3). Ohio Wesleyan rallied to overcome Oberlin College (11-5) 11-10.
GRANVILLE, Ohio – The College of Wooster men's lacrosse team gained a 2-0 lead on No. 19 Denison University in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal before seeing its season end with a 19-7 loss against the Big Red on Wednesday afternoon at Kienzle-Hylbert Stadium.
Wooster (9-8) first-year Domenic Cuda caused two turnovers right out of the gate. The second was cleaned up by senior Bill Holtzer, who led the Fighting Scots on a clear attempt. At the other end, sophomore John Allen Ginder opened the game's scoring with 13:11 on the clock.
Next, junior Luke Peter shut down a hard dodge try by Brady Monturiofor the Scots' third caused turnover in the opening 2:30. Once on offense, senior All-American Will Fink made it 2-0 with the Scots just out of the player-up opportunity.
Wooster's hot start was quickly quieted, as Denison went on to score 13 of the remaining 16 first-half goals to take a commanding 13-5 halftime lead. Wooster did capitalize on its scoring chances, as all five shots on goal went in. Ginder netted two scores in the first half, while seniors Colton Beaudoin and Renick Wiltshire added their names to the scoring log.
Defensively, Wooster caused nine in the opening 30 minutes turnovers, and Denison had 13 as a team. Four came from Cuda, while Holtzer was just as active in the havoc department with three.
Cuda's defense stood out in the second half, as he caused three more turnovers to finish with seven. That gave the first-year standout 42 on the year, the third-most in program history, trailing just one of Div. III's finest at causing turnovers in Casey Steffen, who had 86 in 2023 and 65 more in 2024.
Beaudoin and Ginder scored two goals each to lead the offense. Cuda added eight groundballs to the seven caused turnovers. First-year Case Lowery made 10 saves in goal.
Jack Hines netted the game-high with four goals. Six assists were passed out by Kevin Berutich. Grant Larson facilitated multiple extra offensive looks for Denison, thanks to a 14-of-19 mark on faceoffs. He cleaned up 13 groundballs. Andrew Albert bounced back from a saveless first half with five for the game.
Denison had 48 shots to 23 for Wooster. Groundballs also favored Denison at 39-26. Faceoffs went Denison's way at 23-6, while the teams were effective clearing the ball, combining for just three fails on 38 attempts.
Wooster played as the third seed for the first time since 2013, the inaugural year of the NCAC Tournament for men's lacrosse.
Denison advances to Saturday's championship where it awaits the winner of the 7 p.m. semifinal between No. 20 Ohio Wesleyan University (13-3) and Oberlin College (11-4).
