The Kenyon women’s lacrosse team closed out its regular season with an 18-6 win against Wittenberg University, securing third in the NCAC standings and the No. 3 seed for the conference tournament. The Owls finished the regular season at 9-7 overall (5-2 NCAC). On Wednesday night, in the semifinals of the NCAC Tournament, Kenyon fell to The College of Wooster in the final seconds of the match, losing 18-17, preventing the Owls from going on to the championship game. 

On Saturday, Wittenberg opened the scoring in the first minute, but Kenyon responded soon after. Goals from Spencer Kirsch ’26 and Lily Mason ’26 turned the score on its head, and the Owls surged ahead. Charlotte Skelly ’28 led the way in that stretch, finding the back of the net four times to put Kenyon up 7-3 by the end of the first. The advantage only grew in the second quarter as Kirsch added another goal, and Ella Baxter ’28 followed with a man-up conversion to extend the lead. Ella Rigoli ’26 contributed as well, pushing the margin to seven goals. Wittenberg responded with three goals during the middle portion of the quarter, cutting the deficit to 10-6, but that would be its final scoring stretch of the game.

 Kenyon controlled the second half, beginning with a five-goal run in the third quarter. Kirsch accounted for most of that production, scoring four times in the period, including a free-position goal. Delaney Champeau ’26 added a man-up goal during the run, and by the end of the quarter, Kenyon had extended the lead to 15-6. The Owls tacked on three more in the fourth quarter, one of which came from Mamie Kasten ’29, marking her first collegiate goal. 

Kirsch led all players with six goals and two assists, accounting for a large portion of Kenyon’s offense. Skelly followed with four goals, while Baxter and Champeau each recorded two goals and two assists. Mason, Rigoli, Ashley Auerbach ’28 and Kasten each added one goal, demonstrating the Owls’ depth of roster. Kenyon finished with 36 shots and held the advantage in draw controls. Goalie Meagan Lacombe ’27 recorded eight saves, and the defense allowed only five shots on goal in the second half. 

In the NCAC semifinals on Wednesday, Wooster made the first move less than a minute into play, but the Owls were quick to retaliate, evening the score a minute later. The two teams continued to trade goals until the Fighting Scots strung together three goals in a row, giving them a 7-5 advantage after the first 15 minutes of play. Wooster held onto the advantage until late into the first half, when a Kirsch goal leveled the playing field once more at 10 apiece. Each team added one more goal and the two went to halftime deadlocked at 11-11.

The Owls came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders and started to build their lead immediately, thanks to three back-to-back goals from Auerbach. Kenyon went into the final quarter with a three-point advantage and all the momentum. Though the Fighting Scots continued to fight, the Owls retained their lead for the majority of the quarter. Everything changed, however, with six minutes to play, when Wooster began its comeback. The Fighting Scots notched three goals in a row to tie the game 17-17 with under a minute left in regulation. As the clock wound down, it appeared that the game was headed to overtime, until a man-up opportunity in the final three seconds gave Wooster one last chance to score, resulting in an 18-17 Fighting Scots victory as the buzzer sounded.

Although the end of their season came sooner than the Owls would have hoped, Kenyon’s talented young roster now has a clear goal to make the championship game next year.