Dana Sprague's goal in the 55th minute sent the DePauw Tigers to a 1-0 victory over Denison in the championship game of the 2012 North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament on Saturday in Granville.

The Big Red controlled offensive play in the early stages of the first period, attempting three of the four shots over the opening 21 minutes.  With 15:45 left in the first half, DePauw's Megann Lear tried to find Sprague streaking towards the goal, but Denison goalie Andrea Karl sprinted off her line to intercept the pass.

In the 33rd minute, junior Jocelyn Festle lofted a ball that found the head of first-year forward Andrea Witte.  Witte flicked the ball over to Emily Carlson who one-touched a shot just wide of the goal.  Over the final 14+minutes, the Tigers attempted three shots, none of which were on goal.

Denison opened the second half with a pair of shots, including a header by senior captain Sara Livingston that was stopped at the line by Sprague.  Less than a minute later, Witte sent a back-post cross that just missed the head of an on-running Keara Kilbane.

Roughly four minutes after making the goal line stop, Sprague settled a long pass, deked around a DU defender and fired a shot past the diving Karl.  Sprague's seventh goal of the season came at 54:49.

Now in search of the game-tying goal, the Big Red attack began applying serious pressure.  In the 62nd minute, Witte settled a failed clear attempt and rifled a shot, through traffic, that was stopped by Tiger keeper Emma Cooper.  In the 75th minute, Witte found Maddy Regan running alone down the left side of the goal.  Regan settled the pass deep in the six-yard box and unloaded a shot that was collected by Cooper.

At 80:16, DU generated another serious scoring threat.  Junior Lauren Jay slipped a pass through the DePauw defense to Witte running down the right side of the net.  With no one between her and the goalie, Witte fired a shot towards the upper right 90 that was knocked over the crossbar by Cooper.

Denison held an 11-10 edge in shots, including a 5-3 advantage in shots on net.  The Big Red also attempted six corners compared to five by DePauw.  The Tigers committed 10 infractions, while DU was flagged for seven fouls.

Witte and Kilbane paced the DU attack with three shots apiece, while Livingston, Jay, Regan, Carlson and Allison Scarlott also attempted a shot.  Karl finished the game with two saves, while her counterpart, Cooper, posted four stops.

Denison closes out the 2012 season with a 6-11-2 record, while DePauw improves to 7-10-1.