The Kenyon College lacrosse program scored two tournament wins May 4, as both the men’s and women’s teams won semifinal matches and advanced to the finals.
The Lords beat Ohio Wesleyan, 12-6, and the Ladies dominated Wooster, 20-8.
Lords score quickly
A lightning-fast start backed by a stout defense the rest of the way carried the Kenyon College men’s lacrosse team past Ohio Wesleyan University and into the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament final. The host Lords dropped the Battling Bishops in Wednesday’s semifinal, 12-6.
Kenyon, making its second consecutive appearance in the conference final, improved to 14-3, a program single-season record for wins. In the upcoming NCAC final, which will take place Saturday, the Lords will take on the winner of the other NCAC semifinal game between Denison University and Oberlin College.
While the Kenyon defense has been the team’s backbone all season, the offense blitzed Ohio Wesleyan on Wednesday, scoring six straight before the visitors could respond. Matt Pollack and Mike Matteo opened the scoring for the Lords. Weston Powell added a man-up goal, and Declan Curry and Jack Giuffre followed, boosting Kenyon to 5-0 lead after one quarter of play.
Midway through the second quarter, Joe Boesel fired in a man-up goal, and the Lords were ahead 6-0.
The lead grew to 8-1 in the third quarter and then 11-3 at the start of the fourth quarter. At the 6:07 mark of the fourth, Giuffre scored again to give Kenyon its largest margin at 12-3. Giuffre ended up leading all scorers with four points on two goals and two assists.
At the back end of the defense, senior goalkeeper Mayo Amorello made 10 saves. He now has 169 saves on the season and a sparkling .619 save percentage, which ranks 12th best among all goalkeepers in NCAA Division III.
Ladies advance with rout
Playing host to the fourth-seeded College of Wooster Fighting Scots, the Kenyon College women’s lacrosse team proved why it is the top seed in the 2022 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament. The Ladies commanded the game from start to finish, winning by a score of 20-8.
Caroline O’Neil started the scoring for the Ladies less than 90 seconds from the opening draw. Following a brief break, Ella Murphy pushed the Kenyon lead to two with her first goal of the afternoon. Maddie Garner and O’Neil each netted another goal before Murphy tacked on the Ladies’ fifth in the first quarter. Wooster cracked the scoreboard with a minute to go in the period, but Mallory Brophy answered back with her 12th goal of the season. The Fighting Scots took advantage of the final look of the quarter, scoring with four seconds left. After the first 15 minutes of action, Kenyon held a commanding 6-2 lead.
Wooster scored the second quarter’s first goal to cut the Ladies’ lead to three, but Kenyon scored five consecutive over the course of five minutes, ballooning its lead to eight. A Scots goal with 5:29 left before halftime stopped the Ladies’ streak. With 4:57 remaining in the quarter, Murphy picked up her fourth of the game. Julia Losey followed with a goal 40 seconds later, while Brett Bearrows scored on a woman-up opportunity to push the lead to 10. Wooster temporarily stopped the running clock with a pair of goals by Ciara O’Connor. At halftime, Kenyon comfortably sat ahead with a 14-6 lead.
Murphy finished with five goals, and O’Neill put four into the net and added on assist.
The win was the Ladies’ 12th in a row.
