Denison senior Kristen Schneider (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington) scored the game-winning goal with no time remaining on the clock, sending her Big Red past the previously unbeaten College of Wooster by a final score of 3-2 from Deeds Field-Piper Stadium on Saturday.
Trailing 2-0 at the half, Schneider led a furious Denison charge over the final 35 minutes of play which saw the Big Red dominate possession and take an astounding 14 penalty corners in the period. Their comeback attempt got going quickly when Schneider scored the first, of what would be two goals on the day, in the 40th minute of play, off the team's sixth corner of the game.
Nine minutes later, after eight corner attempts by the Big Red, DU knotted the game at 2-2 when Schneider played a penalty corner into first-year Kelsey Flowers (Darien, Conn./Darien) who spotted Brooke Donovan (Westport, Conn./Staples) hiding on the left corner. Just like they draw it up on the sidelines, Donovan was there to send the ball past Wooster goalie Madalyn Myers for the tying goal.
After Denison's second goal they would get another shot on goal in the 54th minute but the Scots fought back with their best chance of the second half when Brittany Montgomery saw an opening and sent a shot at an empty DU cage. Luckily, senior defensive standout Bethany Keller (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) was there for the save.
Wooster would take a total of three shots in the second half compared to 10 for the Big Red.
The final goal for the Big Red would be played after time had expired on the clock. With back-to-back corners with the clock reading 00:00, DU came through with a thrilling victory when Schneider came up with the ball in a crowd on the left side of the cage. Her shot snuck into the cage and sent her teammates rushing on to the field to celebrate the program's biggest victory in years.
Wooster entered the match with a sparking 8-0 record and was scoring at a prolific 5.3 goals per game pace. The two goals scored was their lowest total of the season.
Denison goalie Brittany Benson (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) finished with four saves for DU while Myers stopped seven shots for the Scots. Wooster was led by Amanda Artman and Eileen Barrer who each took three shots and scored one goal apiece.
The Big Red improve to 6-4 overall and 4-2 in the North Coast Athletic Conference with the win. They will return to action next Saturday (Oct. 3) when they host Washington & Jefferson at 1 p.m.
