GAMBIER, Ohio – Saturday was Senior Day on the new Field at Benson Bowl and only fitting for
Hannah Sklar to tally the first goal in the Kenyon College field hockey team's 3-0 win over The College of Wooster.
Sklar, a senior team captain, now has four goals and three assists for the Ladies this year. Two of those four goals, including Saturday's, were game-winners. She joined classmates
Lucy Irwin and
Sammy Russell in celebrating the victory, Senior Day, and a share of a regular-season title.
The win marked the end of the regular season for the Ladies, who improved to 14-3 overall and 7-1 in North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) play. They earned a share of the NCAC regular-season title along with Ohio Wesleyan and Denison universities, teams that hold identical 7-1 conference records. The three-way tie, however, won't benefit the Ladies come tournament time. The Kenyon women lost out on a predetermined tiebreaker system and will be the No. 3-seeded team in next week's NCAC four-team tournament.
Back to Saturday, it took just 2:25 of game time for Sklar to put the Ladies in front, 1-0, as she sent her shot past Wooster goalkeeper Katie Shideler and just inside the left post.
In second-quarter play, the Kenyon offense tripled its lead. With 7:17 expired from the clock, freshman
Lydia Turk raced up the middle of the Wooster zone and fed a pass forward to classmate
Bella Kern. Kern took the pass in stride and had a close-range shot, which she used to beat Shideler on the left side. The goal was Kern's sixth of the season and the assist was Turk's third.
Seven minutes after that goal, Kenyon struck again. This time it was junior
Olivia O'Connell driving from right to left across the Wooster goal line. We she got near the cage, she flipped a pass to the goal mouth. Sophomore Orcin Ackman was in great position to knock the pass out of the air and into the back of the cage for her first collegiate goal. The assist was O'Connell's team-leading sixth of the season.
As the Ladies now look forward to postseason play, they'll take on No. 2-seeded Ohio Wesleyan in the semifinal round of the NCAC Tournament. That game will be played at Ohio Wesleyan on Wednesday at 3 p.m. During the regular season, the two teams split 1-0 decisions against each other.