Elizabeth Plumley
Staff Writer
The Fighting Scot women’s soccer team traveled to Meadville, Pa. to take on the Allegheny Gators in the first round of the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament last Wednesday.
The Scots (9-7-3) entered the semi-final contest ranked third in the conference while Allegheny (11-4-3) earned the second seed during the regular season.
The first half was a hard fought battle in all areas of the field that took both teams to the half with a blank slate. Allegheny barely led in shots, with a 4-3 advantage at the end of the first period.
The Scots came out strong with Maggie Kehm ’12 and Paige Piper ’13 blasting quality shot opportunities in the second half, but both were saved by Allegheny’s keeper, and Wooster was unable to convert on them.
The first 72 minutes were a tightly contested defensive match in which the Scots’ defense, led by key seniors Kelsey Peters ’12, Bri Fulmer ’12, and Esther Bryant ’12, was unable to stave off the offensive attacks of Allegheny as the match went deeper into regulation.
Although the Scots were only outshot 11-7, with 18 minutes remaining in the second half, Katrina Gazsi of the Gators broke through with a shot that would be the deciding goal. After the initial goal Allegheny was able to add two more quick goals within a period of eight minutes.
Wooster had two cornerkicks late in the second half that they were unable to capitalize on, and Erika Kay ’12 and Maggie Kehm ’12 both had shots late in the second without reward.
Starting keeper Michele Ring ’12 recorded four saves and Caitlin Zusy ’12 entered in the final few minutes of the game but did not end up recording a save.
For the second year in a row, The College of Wooster was eliminated from the NCAC conference tournament in the semi-finals by Allegheny.
Wooster has been snake-bitten in the playoffs for the past two years. However, the team continuously gives a strong performance every season and ends their season in the conference tournament.
Next year, the women return several of their key players and will look to have another solid year in both the NCAC and possibly the NCAA Div. III Tournament.