Reed Dickerson,

Women’s lacrosse ended their season on a high note last Saturday with a staggering 17-5 win against DePauw University, despite two game-opening goals from their opponent.

“I think we needed to shake off some nerves in the last game of the season,” Head Coach Meredith Buzzi said in an email.  “We had a couple of chances to score goals in the first few minutes, but we missed them and nerves struck. I called a timeout and told them it was time to start over and play the game we planned and I give the players all the credit. They checked into the game plan and got a great win to end on.”

The Ladies then collected a string of nine uninterrupted goals. Ansen Burr ’16 scored the first goal, followed by seniors, co-captain Kate Lang ’14, co-captain Alex Bair ’14 and Amy Morgan ’14. Allie McLane ’17, Abby Coleman ’17 and Co-Captain Susie Gurzenda ’14 continued the streak by each scoring one goal, bringing the score to 7-2. Bair scored again while the team was man-up, and McLane put another away with three minutes left in the half, bringing the game to 9-2 at halftime.

DePauw struck first in the second half, but the Ladies kept their momentum with goals by Burr and Morgan. DePauw scored again but the Ladies offered a rebuttal of two goals by Morgan and Gurzenda, assisted by Kelley Russell ’16. DePauw scored an additional goal, but the Ladies pulled further ahead with another continuous scoring streak of four goals by Lang, Bair, Morgan and Lara McMahon ’14. “McMahon in particular had a great read on the ball and came up with a bunch of ground balls and draw controls for us,” Buzzi wrote in an email.

Kenyon out-shot DePauw, taking 27 shots on goal to DePauw’s 16.  Defensively, Meredith Bentsen ’15 made 11 saves to DePauw’s 10, and while Kenyon had 14 turnovers, the Ladies forced 19 from DePauw.

“We really wanted to slow them down in the midfield,” Buzzi wrote. “They have a couple of really quick players and we needed to slow them down to force them to make a decision with the ball and hopefully get them to make a mistake. Their center is also good at placing the ball where she wants it to go off of the draw, so we positioned ourselves well around the center circle to get the ball and be able to run it into our attacking end and put it in the back of the net.”

The Ladies finished their season with a record of 9-6 (3-5 in North Coast Athletic Conference games).  The team’s eight seniors have helped the women’s lacrosse program achieve a 38-20 record in the past four years.

“The senior class has worked incredibly hard for three to four years,” Buzzi wrote. “I think they have been an outstanding group of athletes and great Kenyon community members. I have had the privilege of coaching them and they are a wonderful group of women to work with.”