Emma Woods
Staff Writer
The women’s varsity lacrosse team is almost done with its regular season and is fighting for a postseason spot.
Its record is 10-4 overall but 3-3 in conference, making every game an important one if they want to secure their playoff spot.
The Scots had an away game this weekend against DePauw University. The game started slowly as the teams kept pace with each other. The first half ended 5-4 in DePauw’s favor.
During the second half, Wooster was able to turn up the intensity, scoring five more goals while allowing DePauw only one. The final score was 9-6 Wooster.
This was a crucial in-conference game for the girls, as it tied their record with DePauw, which is now also 3-3 in conference.
The low-scoring game (the team averages roughly 14 goals a game) showcased the team’s grit and ability to battle for a win.
Ellie Hudson-Heck ’16 scored five of the team’s goals, while Abby Szlachta ’16 and Heather Szymanski ’17 each scored two.
This offense was assisted by a solid defense. Szymanski won four ground balls, as did Mara Sheban ’18, and a stellar performance by goalkeeper Isabel Perman ’16 held DePauw to only one goal in the second half. She notched five saves in the half and nine total in the game.
“We are a young team but have really grown a lot along the way and have developed into what I believe is a championship team,” Perman stated. “Our win against DePauw was our most critical game thus far, simply because we had to win to still have a chance at making the tournament. As a team, we are really trying to focus on what we can do to make it into the tournament and not how other teams winning and losing to each other can help us. We are trying to ignore all of those games and just focus on us. We have two big games coming up that need to be, and I believe will be, wins.”
The women only have two games left in their season as of press time.
The first was a home game against defending NCAC champions Wittenberg University on Wednesday, April 27 after press time.
Their last game is this Saturday at Oberlin College at 1 p.m.
Only the top four teams in the conference will advance to the postseason, so the Scots must win these next two in order to advance.
Looking forward Sheban stated, “We play best when we are having fun and cheering each other on. And that actually takes more discipline than most people might think. This time of the year it’s easy to lose enthusiasm, but coming off of our win against DePauw [we] feel really good about where we are.”