GRANVILLE – In a battle of the top seeds, the No. 2 seed College of Wooster women's lacrosse team faced off against host and No. 1 seed Denison University in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament Championship on Saturday.

The 20th-ranked Big Red won its conference leading 18th tournament title, and its third straight, defeating the Scots 12-5.

Wooster (16-3) did not get off to the fast 3-0 start when they saw Denison (14-4) in the regular season, but they did score the game's opening goal. 

What started with a save from sophomore Audrey Richardson making a 1-on-1 save, it ended with junior Lizzie Hardy scoring on the other end from the assist from first year Mizan Jacobs. 

Unfortunately for the Scots, Denison would reel off the next four scores to lead 4-1 at the end of the first quarter in what would be an ongoing trend.

To kick off scoring in the second quarter, Hardy returned the favor for Jacobs, assisting her on a man-up goal with 12:31 remaining.

However, the Scots were limited in their scoring opportunities and found themselves trailing 6-2 at halftime.

Wooster started the scoring again in the third quarter, this time with Jacobs assisting Sophia Mellis with 11:58 remaining. Yet again, Wooster could not find the back of net for the remainder of the quarter, and Denison grew its lead to 9-3.

Denison started the fourth with the opening goal, but Wooster answered a minute later as Brynne Snaguskiscored thanks to a feed from Madelyn Noll.

The teams traded goals again later in the quarter. For Wooster, Snaguski found the back of the net with 2:19 left, this time assisted by Bella Woodbury.

Not to be outdone, Denison raced down the field to score the game's final goal with 1:30 remaining.

Denison outshot the Scots 30-21. They also succeeded in 20-of-23 clear attempts, while Wooster converted 16-of-24.

Conference leading scorer Anna DeVuono scored five times for the Big Red.

Wooster's Richardson ended with a game-high 10 saves. Her counterpart Julianne Henigan made seven saves.

Senior Lexi Sarne ended with four caused turnovers and two groundballs, which were both team-highs.

This was the 15th appearance in the title game for the Scots, who now fall to 5-12 versus the Big Red historically in the NCAC Tournament. Before Saturday, Wooster's last three championship appearances came versus the Big Red with the last being in 2021 when Denison edged the Scots, 14-13.

Wooster will now await their fate with the selection show Monday morning, hoping to earn an at-large bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament.

2025 NCAC All-Tournament Team: