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DELAWARE, Ohio – The Kenyon College women’s lacrosse team faced off against Ohio Wesleyan in the semifinal round of the 2024 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Women’s Lacrosse Tournament on Wednesday night on the road.
Powered by a five-goal first quarter to build an early lead and a six-goal fourth quarter to put the game away, the Owls battled past the Bishops 16-9, and will meet Denison University in the conference final.
Similar to Kenyon’s last matchup against Ohio Wesleyan on April 5 in the regular season, the Owls built an early lead. The Bishops opened up the scoring at 13:23, but the Owls charged back and outscored the home team 5-1 for the rest of the quarter to get off to a 5-2 lead after 15 minutes.
Ella Rigoli netted her fifteenth goal of the season to put the Owls on the board, and reigning NCAC Player of the Week Kate Lengel scored two in a row to give Kenyon the lead, which the team never surrendered for the rest of the contest. Lily Mason and Bridgette Cassidy found the back of the net to end the first, while Mallory Brophy and Alex Tiatia found twine in the second quarter to go up 7-5 at the half.
In the regular season matchup, Kenyon was up 10-3 early in the second half and let Ohio Wesleyan back into the game, allowing a 12-5 goal differential in the final 30 minutes for a 15-14 overtime loss. This time, however, the Owls outscored the Bishops, who only lost one conference game coming into the contest, 9-4 in the final quarters. Spencer Kirsch and Ashley Quinn each scored hat tricks in the second half to lead the offensive effort en route to six goals in the fourth to close the game 16-9.
On the other side of the field, Maren Helmacy caused a team-high three turnovers, while Quinn (2) and Cassidy (1) combined for three. As a team, the Owls won the ground ball battle 22-15 and had a 16-12 advantage in draw controls. In net, Nola Garand made 13 saves to keep the Bishops off the scoreboard.
Kenyon’s record improves to 8-7 and 4-3 in the NCAC. The Owls will now travel to Granville, Ohio to face Denison University in the NCAC Championship on Saturday, May 4.
