Jenny Schaafsma
GRANVILLE, Ohio — The Denison Big Red pressured the Wittenberg goal for more than 50 minutes before finally breaking through on a penalty stroke and then adding an insurance goal to advance to the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament championship game with a 2-0 win over the visiting Tigers.
The Big Red recorded their third win in 2011 over Wittenberg to improve to 17-1 overall. Denison, which avenged a semifinal loss to Wittenberg on the Tigers' home field a year ago, is the tournament's top seed after winning the NCAC regular season crown with a 13-1 record.
Wittenberg, which did not score a goal in three games against Denison in 2011, ended its season with a 9-9 overall record. The Tigers, one of two teams to appear in every NCAC Tournament since its inception in 2002, were the tourney's fourth seed after posting a 7-6 NCAC record.
Denison peppered the Wittenberg goal throughout the game, outshooting the Tigers 27-4 and attempting a whopping 23 penalty corners to Wittenberg's three. Thanks to a superb collegiate finale for senior goalkeeper Jenny Schaafsma (Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids), however, the game was scoreless until the Big Red were awarded a penalty stroke, which Kelsey Flowers converted at the 52:58 mark. Nearly seven minutes later, Denison put the game out of reach with a goal from Catie Merrick.
Schaafsma finished the game with 14 saves, in addition to numerous plays in which she broke up crosses or disrupted scoring opportunities. Freshman Jenny Pampreen (Ann Arbor, Mich./Greenhills) was credited with a first-half defensive save, while sophomore Mallory Skrobot (Dublin, Ohio/Watterson) added a defensive save in the second half.
The game was the last for Schaafsma and fellow seniors Darcey Caciano (St. Louis, Mo./Kirkwood), Alyssa Ashbaugh (Gahanna, Ohio/Columbus School for Girls) and Elizabeth Dwyer (St. Louis, Mo./LaDue).
UPDATE: After Denison won the tournament, Schaafsma and Skrobot were named to the 2011 All-Tournament Team.