The College of Wooster women's lacrosse team made its seventh NCAA DIII Women's Lacrosse Championship appearance on Friday and gave the program its first tournament win, defeating Hope College 20-9 in the first round in the confines of Papp Stadium.
It also was Wooster's 17th win on the season, as they now stand alone in program history as the winningest team, overcoming the 2019 team's 16-2 mark.
Wooster accomplished the task on Friday by doing what they do best, scoring a lot of goals. The North Coast Athletic Conference's top-rated scoring offense hit the 20-goal mark for the third time this season.
"Scoring was on point today and that was something that we talked about since coming out of our conference game with Denison, putting that back on the bucket for us, and I think they did a really good job with that," said Wooster head coach Liz Ford.
Wooster had four players score a team-high four goals – juniors Bella Woodbury, Lizzie Hardy and Brynne Snaguski.
Snaguski also claimed bragging rights within her household, surpassing her mother Jennifer's career goal (88) total. She currently sits at 91 goals.
To open the game, Snaguski found Woodbury for the game's first goal a little over 30 seconds into the contest. Wooster then took advantage of being a player up, as junior Sophia Mellis scored on a free position shot to give Wooster the early 2-0 lead.
Hope got one on the board for the first time less than a minute later, and the two teams played a 2-1 game for about the next seven minutes.
Wooster then got hot, scoring seven goals in the final 5:23 of the first quarter. Woodbury and Mellis each scored again while Snaguski, Kaitlyn McBride and Lizzie Hardy each found the back of the net for the first time.
First-year Mizan Jacobs started the run, scoring twice in that span as well.
"We did a really great job of sharing the ball on attack," Woodbury said. "We wanted to stay big, keep the ball hot . . . the open looks just materialized."
It was an 11-8 game the rest of the way in Wooster's favor as the Scots multiple times forced the running clock.
The first instance came after the teams traded a pair of back-to-back goals to start the second quarter. Wooster then put together three straight scores from Rowan Pilon, Madelyn Noll and Hardy which led towards a 14-5 halftime lead.
Wooster then distanced themselves more with a 3-1 third and by the fourth quarter they were in complete control.
Snaguski noted it was a total team effort from start to finish.
"I think one thing that was a really, key part was our team's enthusiasm," she said. "This win really shows who we are and how we play as a team. We put it all out there."
Capturing the team's 17th win and the program's first NCAA Tournament win meant a lot to the team. Something that has stuck with them since before the year even started has been the conference preseason poll where they were predicted to finish fifth.
"That was kind of a sting, and we all knew we could go beyond that," Woodbury said.
"This team's been pretty special in a lot of ways," Ford added. "They did what I asked, put it together, and I couldn't ask for much more, and I think it's a special time for them and exciting to be a part of it."
Wooster outshot Hope 36-24 and powered through a physical defense from Hope, which committed 23 fouls.
Wooster was 18-of-21 on clear attempts and controlled 18 ground balls. Hardy led the Scots in that category with four. She also had five draw controls, one shy of the team lead of six from Sidney O'Rourke.
Keeper Audrey Richardson made five saves for the win in net.
Wooster advances to play No. 21 University of Chicago (12-4) in the second round at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday. The game will be held once again at Papp Stadium.
Photo by Matt Dilyard
