Delaware, Ohio- Denison field hockey punched its ticket to the 2025 NCAA Field Hockey Championships after defeating North Coast Athletic Conference rival and top-seeded Ohio Wesleyan 2-1, in an overtime road win. OWU wraps its season with an 11-6 overall record, after earning a piece of the NCAC regular season title with DePauw and Denison. The Big Red's win brings their record to 12-6 for the season, and today's victory notches the team's sixth NCAC tournament title, and first since 2023.

The two teams opened the championship game scoreless with Denison holding a 3-1 advantage in shots and a 3-2 edge in penalty corners in the first quarter. Despite getting numerous looks on the cage, the Big Red struggled to get on the board. The Battling Bishops struck first, finding the back of Denison's cage in the 24th minute and hold its lead for over 25 minutes across three quarters. 

With time winding down and still down a goal, senior midfielder Katherine Flanagan scored the equalizer with 1:42 left on the clock, off a well-executed penalty corner, which ultimately forcing overtime. With both teams looking to extend their season, Denison's pressure in Ohio Wesleyan's defensive end proved to be too much. In the ninth minute of overtime, Denison would tally its 16th penalty corner of the day, and NCAC tournament MVP Emma Gebhart would gather the entry from Reilly Desmond and take it all the way to the cage to score the golden goal to secure the Big Red's spot in the 2025 NCAA Field Hockey championship.

Denison would outshoot Ohio Wesleyan 16 to 5, and held a 16-6 advantage in penalty corners. Therese Lucian finished the day with three saves, while Payton Mindel of the Battling Bishops finished the evening with seven saves.

All-Tournament Team

1. Téa Jerro, DePauw

2. Rosie Ondrla, DePauw

3. Aysha Johnson, Wittenberg

4. Madison Krasnaw, Wittenberg

5. Grace Ammon, Ohio Wesleyan

6. Emma Wright, Ohio Wesleyan

7. Alyssa Markell, Ohio Wesleyan

8. Reilly Desmond, Denison

9. Lulu Keil, Denison

10. Bella Thoms, Denison

11. Rachel Gilio, Denison

12. Emma Gebhart, Denison - MVP

Up Next for the Big Red

Denison has earned the automatic bid for the NCAA Field Hockey Championship and will find out where they will play their first round game on Sunday, Nov. 9, at 9 p.m. on NCAA.com.