The Kenyon men’s and women’s lacrosse teams concluded their respective seasons last week, with the women’s team falling to Denison University in the NCAC semifinal and the men’s team defeating Wittenberg University in the regular season finale.
Women: Over the weekend, the Kenyon women’s lacrosse team hosted the Ohio Wesleyan University Battling Bishops on Senior Day and earned its third conference win of the season, punching the Owls’ ticket to the NCAC semifinal. Unfortunately, Kenyon fell to the No. 20 Denison Big Red, concluding its 2025 campaign.
On Saturday, Kenyon started off on the front foot, earning control of the opening draw and taking three quick shots. However, the Battling Bishops overtook them and scored a pair of back-to-back goals to get on the board first. Unfortunately, the Owls were unable to find their offensive groove, and Ohio Wesleyan managed to end the quarter with a two-goal lead. The second quarter began with another goal from the Battling Bishops, but the Owls remained confident. Spencer Kirsch ’26 put Kenyon on the scoreboard, and soon after, Charlotte Skelly ’28 scored a goal of her own. Then, Kirsch scored the equalizer to tie the game going into halftime.
The Bishops regained the lead just two minutes into the second half, but it was all Kenyon after that, as the Owls responded with six straight goals. Of those goals, Kirsch and Mallory Brophy ’25 had two each, with Bridgette Cassidy ’27 and Susannah Zimmerman ’28 both scoring one. Only after that sixth goal was Ohio Wesleyan able to muster a response, sending the teams into the final 15 minutes of play with a score of 9-5 in favor of Kenyon. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Battling Bishops kicked off the scoring once again, but the Owls responded with five more goals, four of which came from Skelly and one from Blythe Karras ’25. Kenyon not only earned itself a dominant 14-6 win, but another chance to play on Wednesday in the NCAC conference tournament.
On Wednesday, Denison came out hot, scoring three quick goals. A minute after the third goal, Brophy got on the board for Kenyon, but Denison was quick to respond. In the last two minutes of the quarter, the Owls saw goals from Lily Mason ’26, Ashley Auerbach ’28 and Kirsch to tie the game 4-4. Mason opened the second quarter with a quick goal, but Denison wasted no time, netting three straight. Kenyon struck back with two goals from Skelly and Kirsch before Denison netted a pair of its own. Mason mustered one more, but the Big Red had the last word and the Owls ended the half down 10-8.
In the third quarter, Denison scored six goals while holding Kenyon to two, scored by Ella Baxter ’28 and Karras, as the Owls went into the final 15 minutes of play down 16-10. The Big Red ran away with the game in the fourth quarter, scoring five goals while keeping the Owls to just one, laced by Auerbach. Kenyon ultimately fell to Denison 21-11.
Men: Over the weekend, the Kenyon men’s lacrosse team defeated the Wittenberg University Tigers 22-8. Despite the win, the match ended the Owls’ season, as they were eliminated from playoff contention. However, Kenyon fought until the end, maintaining its winning season at 10-6 (5-3 NCAC).
The Owls’ offense came to play in the first quarter, taking an early 5-2 lead. After Wittenberg secured the first goal of the game, Mike Kapral ’26 scored to get the Owls on the board. David Chintala ’26 scored less than a minute later to take the lead and Lucas Flynn ’27 and Cameron Longway ’25 both secured goals shortly after. After another goal by the Tigers and a second from Chintala with 58 seconds left in the period, the Owls ended the first quarter up 5-2.
Kenyon extended its lead in the second quarter with more impressive offensive play, while the defense held the Tigers to just three goals in the period. The Owls began their attacking run with a goal from Alex Haag ’28 two minutes into the quarter before Hill Carter ’25 laced another one. Then, Chintala earned his hat trick. The Tigers responded with a quick three-goal run. Luckily, for the rest of the quarter, the Kenyon defense shut down the Tigers, and Gavin Gumucio ’26 broke up Wittenberg’s offensive momentum with a goal of his own. Longway launched in another, followed by Chintala and Rollins Heath ’25 before Tanner Lewis ’27 closed out the quarter by scoring his first goal of the game after a big faceoff win by Thomas Nelson ’25. Kenyon ended the half ahead 13-5.
Nelson started the third quarter by winning a faceoff and taking the ball immediately to the goal to score. Chintala then scored two more and Flynn put one in too. Kyle Becker ’25 scored to end the quarter with a commanding 18-7 advantage.
In the last quarter of play, the Tigers only scored one goal while the Owls scored five. Harry Clark ’28 and Carsten Viravec ’28 both scored to start. Then, Nelson scored on a man-up play to increase the lead. The game ended 22-8. “Ending our season on a win was a great feeling. To do so with all the seniors on the field together was a fun way to finish things out,” Nelson wrote in an email to the Collegian.
On the season, Chintala led the team with 41 goals, followed by Kapral with 29 and Gumucio with 21. Heath had the most assists of any player, setting up 21 goals. Adam Hall ’26 had an outstanding season, playing over 860 minutes and making 193 saves with a .561 save percentage, the highest in the NCAC. Additionally, he reached the 500 save mark as a junior, a tremendous achievement.