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WOOSTER, Ohio – The Kenyon College men’s lacrosse team battled their fair share of adversity on Tuesday night in the team’s final North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) regular season road matchup this season, taking on The College of Wooster from a cold and rainy John P. Papp Stadium.
Although the Owls started the contest down 4-0 and lost the turnover margin 27-16, a strong second half highlighted by a 9-3 goal differential and a career-high 20 saves from Adam Hall pulled Kenyon to a 15-10 victory over Wooster.
Wooster shot out to a 4-0 lead through eight minutes in the first quarter, as the weather certainly took time to get used to. The Owls coughed up eleven turnovers in the opening period, but once the team settled things down, the offense began to roll. Rollins Heath got his team-leading effort started with two straight goals in just over a minute, followed by a Jack McCarren missile to end the first quarter down 4-3.
The Scots regained a three-goal lead to open the second, as Austin Jourde netted two straight in the first two minutes. However, Kenyon battled back for another trio of unanswered goals, as Tanner Lewis, Chase MacCartee, and Mike Kapral each beat the Wooster keeper to tie it up at six with 5:41 to play in the half. Wooster took back the lead one minute later to end the first 30 minutes up 8-7.
After halftime, the Owls offense continued its outburst of goals, outscoring the Scots 9-3 in the half, but the defense had perhaps the biggest hand in helping Kenyon take its first lead of the day and never give it back. Hall stopped eight shots in the third quarter, his highest of any other period in the game en route to a 13-save second half and a 20-save game, the sophomore’s career high.
Miles Malawer had the quarter’s first goal, followed by two more from David Chintala to gain Kenyon’s first lead of the game at 9-7 with 9:21 to play in the third. Wooster got two past Hall in the period, but Kapral and Heath added to their stat lines to put the Owls up 11-9 headed into the fourth.
Heath scored his game-high fourth of the game to start the final quarter, followed closely by Gavin Gumucio 30 seconds later to give Kenyon a 13-9 advantage. The Scots cut it to three in the middle of the period, but goals by Kapral and McCarren put the finishing touches on the 15-10 win.
While Heath led the team in goals, Kapral’s hat trick and two assists put him at the top of the stat sheet with five points. First-year Henry Moderelli led the Owls with three caused turnovers, while Thomas Nelson headed up the faceoff efforts, going 18-of-27 (66.7 percent).
The win moves Kenyon’s record to 11-5 and 5-2 in the NCAC. The Owls will return to Gambier for the conference finale on Saturday, April 27 at 12:00 pm to face off against the Hiram College Terriers.
