Tournament Time
The Ladies' appearance in the five-year-old, four-team tournament is their first. They earned their spot by posting a 10-6-1 overall record and second-place record of 5-3-0 in NCAC action. Their conference mark was the same as that of Ohio Wesleyan and Wittenberg, however, the Ladies earned the tournament's No. 2 seed by virtue of their regular-season victories over those two teams.
While the Ladies are excited about extending their season, they certainly aren't happy about heading toward the playoffs in a funk. They have dropped three of their last four games and have not scored a goal in their last 140 minutes of play. The Kenyon women are currently ranked fifth among all teams in the Great Lakes Region, while Ohio Wesleyan, which carries an 11-5-0 overall record, is ranked sixth.
During their regular season meeting here on October 1, the Ladies handed the Battling Bishops a 2-1 loss when sophomore Amanda Drummond netted the game-winner with just two minutes left in the game. First-year student Amy Kessler, who leads Kenyon with five goals and three assists this season, scored the other Ladies' goal. Entering that game, Ohio Wesleyan was ranked as the No. 19 team in the nation and owned an all-time series record of 17-5-1 over Kenyon.
The Bishops will march into Wednesday's game as the highest-scoring team in the conference. They've scored 45 goals this season and average 2.81 goals per contest. First-year forward Michelle Corbett has accounted for 18 of those goals and senior forward Sarah Wall has a conference-best 14 assists. Ohio Wesleyan is the defending conference champion and has won five of the last six NCAC titles.
The semifinal game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start at Mavec Field. Admission is $5 for adults and $2 for children, age 14 and under. Faculty and staff from both institutions will be admitted free of charge with proper identification, while Kenyon students will also be permitted to attend the game for free with their College identification card.
Wednesday's other NCAC semifinal matchup sends Wittenberg to conference champion Denison. The semifinal winners will square off in the tournament championship game, scheduled for Saturday, November 5, at the site of the highest remaining seed. The NCAC tournament winner receives the conference's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III championship tournament.