Round Up: Tigers Take Two Wins to Change Pace for the Season
The Wittenberg field hockey team got off to a tough start to the 2005 season, but the ship appears to be righted with a pair of 2-0 victories in the last week over North Coast Athletic Conference rivals Wooster and Earlham.
The Wittenberg field hockey team got off to a tough start to the 2005 season, but the ship appears to be righted with a pair of 2-0 victories in the last week over North Coast Athletic Conference rivals Wooster and Earlham. The Tigers, who lost three of their first four games by one goal in overtime, are now 2-4 overall and 2-2 in the NCAC with plenty of time remaining to get back to the top of the heap for a fourth consecutive season.
To do that, however, the Tigers are going to have to find ways to get the ball into the back of the cage. Offensively, Wittenberg is still trying to find its way after losing several outstanding players from one of the most successful senior classes in school history following the 2004 season. Through six games this year, the Tigers have managed just six goals and have suffered three shutout defeats.
The top scorers on the team so far are junior forwards Katy Barrett (Powell, Ohio/Watterson) and Melissa Jackson (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington), both with two goals on the season.
Defense has been a different story in 2005, in large part thanks to the outstanding play of sophomore goalkeeper Nicole Irvin ( Gettysburg, Pa./Littlestown). Irvin has allowed just eight goals all season, but six of those goals came in just two games, losses to Kenyon and Denison. She has saved 84 percent of the shots headed her way.