After rattling off three straight victories over Ohio Wesleyan, Oberlin and Allegheny over the last two weeks the Denison Big Red qualified for the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament for the 15th consecutive season.  DU will be the No. 4 seed in this weekend's tournament and will take on host, Wooster, on Friday at 2:30 p.m.

This marks the fourth consecutive season that Denison and Wooster will meet in the first round of the NCAC Women's Lacrosse Tournament.  Last year the Fighting Scots prevailed 8-7 thanks to a five-goal performance by Hillary Darragh.  On April 11 of this season, Wooster's Carly Carey broke a 9-9 tie with 10 seconds left to help the Scots to a regular season win over the Big Red.  Nail-biters have been the norm when these two squads meet over the last three years.  Four out of their last five games have been decided by just one goal.

Faced with the task of replacing more than half of the team's offensive output from 2008 after the graduation of Meg Wilcox and Quinn Simmons, the Big Red has done so with a balanced attack which is led by first-year Alex Thurner (Cincinnati, Ohio/Summit Country Day).  Her 25 goals ranks her 15th in the NCAC in scoring.  Right behind with 23 goals is junior Sara Langsam (Philadelphia, Pa./Germantown-Friends) and sophomore Phoebe Myhrum (Pittsburgh, Pa./Shady Side Academy) has been one of the league's top distributors.  Her 15 assists ranks her second in the conference.

Defensively, senior goalie Amanda Wilson (Hudson, Ohio/Western Reserve) is second in the NCAC in save percentage (.477) and has posted 116 saves in 13 starts.

Wooster is led by Carey who checks in fourth in the conference with 44 goals this season.  Senior Taryn Higgins has scored 21 goals and leads the team in ground balls with 28.

The winner of the Denison-Wooster game will take on the winner of the Wittenberg-Kenyon semifinal on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Wooster, Ohio.