Kenyon’s postseason starts with semifinal at Denison

11/2/2026 4:30:00 PM

GAMBIER, Ohio -- The Kenyon College Owls will commence postseason play Wednesday as the No. 3-seeded team in the four-team North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Women's Soccer Tournament. Their first test will be against the No. 2-seeded Denison University Big Red, who will host the semifinal game at Kienzle-Hylbert Stadium with a 7 p.m. start time.

Kenyon enters the contest with a 7-2-7 overall record, including a 3-1-3 record within NCAC play. Denison will take the field with a 8-2-5 overall record and a 4-0-3 mark in NCAC play. During the regular season, the two teams met at Kenyon on October 3 and came away with a scoreless draw.

More recently, the Owls were on an 11-game undefeated streak before falling at The College of Wooster in Saturday's regular-season finale. Wooster, which claimed the NCAC Championship, is the No. 1-seeded team in the tournament. It will host John Carroll University, the No. 4 seed, in Wednesday's other NCAC semifinal bout. The winners of Wednesday's games will meet Saturday in the NCAC Tournament final, which will be hosted by the highest remaining seed following the semifinal games.

Kenyon's spot in the NCAC Tournament is its second in a row and its tenth over the last 12 seasons. One year ago, the Owls played at John Carroll University in the NCAC semifinal round and lost, 1-0, to the Blue Streaks, who went on to win the tournament with a 1-0 decision against Denison in the final.

Since the NCAC started a postseason tournament format for women's soccer in 2000, Kenyon and Denison have met three times and Denison came away a winner all three times, including the most recent match-up, which occurred in the 2022 semifinal with a 1-0 Big Red win.

Throughout the 2026 regular season, Kenyon's offense averaged 1.50 goals per game, while the defense yielded just 0.63 goals per game. Those averages rank third- and second-best, respectively, among all teams in the conference. Denison owns similar numbers with 1.93 goals per game on the offensive end and 0.60 goals per game allowed on the defensive end. Both of those averages rank as the best in the conference. Additionally, both teams are at the top of the NCAC chart in terms of shots taken. Kenyon leads the way with 287 shots this year, while Denison is a close second with 274 shots.

As mandated by the conference office, semifinal tickets are $10 for general admission. Children (five and under) will be admitted free of charge, as will college students who can present a valid ID from an NCAC institution.

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