Wittenberg Rallies Past Ohio Wesleyan in Overtime

DELAWARE, Ohio - When trying to win a conference championship, it's never advisable for a team to spot its homestanding opponent two first-half goals. However, sometimes a team learns just what it is made of in times of crisis, and that just may have been the case for the Wittenberg Tigers as they rallied past Ohio Wesleyan 3-2 in overtime.

The win moved the Tigers to 9-6 overall on the season and, more importantly, 7-3 in the North Coast Athletic Conference, just one game back in the loss column of current leader Oberlin. Ohio Wesleyan dropped to 5-9 overall and 4-6 in the NCAC.

Both teams took four shots in the first 35 minutes, but Ohio Wesleyan made two of them count to take a commanding lead in the halftime break. However, just over a minute into the second half senior Julia Wickham banged home a shot off a feed from freshman Mackenzie Huber to cut the lead in half and provide the Tigers the necessary momentum for what turned out to be a very important win. The Tigers are trying to become the first NCAC team to win four conference titles in a row since Ohio Wesleyan won seven straight between 1987 and 1993.

With less than eight minutes left in the game, Wittenberg tied it up on a goal by junior Holly McHugh, who was assisted by sophomore Alison Voigt. McHugh needed nine minutes of overtime to come up big again, this time finding the back of the cage off a feed from junior defender Rachel Dunn.

After a loose first half, the Tiger defense did not allow a goal despite 12 more shots by Ohio Wesleyan, which was credited with 16 attempts to 13 for the Tigers. Sophomore goalkeeper Nicole Irvin closed the books on her day with five saves.