GRANVILLE, Ohio (November 6, 2021) – The third-seeded Denison University field hockey team's quest to capture a fourth-straight North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament Championship came to an end on Saturday afternoon as the Big Red came up short by a final score of 2-1 in overtime against fourth-seeded Ohio Wesleyan University inside Deeds Field-Piper Stadium.

Denison was held to without a shot in the first quarter while Ohio Wesleyan struck first with a goal in the 11th minute off a penalty corner, but in the second quarter, the Big Red found the equalizer in the 28th minute as Maya Tumiwa passed back to Madeleine Hunt, who then sent the ball into the box to Caitlin Ahearn, who hit it toward the goal for the tap-in by Kristin Kelley.

Unfortunately, in overtime, OWU came up with the game-winner only 33 seconds in to silence the raucous home crowd for Denison.

The Big Red were limited to only five shots on the game, but had four shots on goal, three of which were by Kelley and the other of which was by AC Veith.

Maren Kraak finished with three saves for Denison in goal.

In the postgame awards ceremony, Kraak, Veith and Abigail Hano were each named to the NCAC All-Tournament Team. Kraak finished with seven saves across the two matches for Denison while Veith netted the game-tying goal in the semifinals against Earlham.

Denison is now 10-8 overall on the season while Ohio Wesleyan (10-5), which upset top-seeded Kenyon College 1-0 in the NCAC semifinals to reach the championship game, claimed its first-ever NCAC Tournament Championship and will now receive the NCAC's automatic bid to next week's NCAA Division III National Tournament.

The NCAA will announce the field for this year's tournament on Sunday, November 7, on NCAA.com. The NCAA tournament opens with the first round on Wednesday, Nov. 10.

For more information on the 2021 NCAA DIII field hockey tournament selections and tournament dates, please click HERE.