Tigers Stumble In Overtime Against Ohio Wesleyan

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers were unable to officially secure a spot in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament as Ohio Wesleyan rallied for a 2-1 overtime win.

The loss dropped Wittenberg below .500 overall at 8-9, while the Tigers now stand at 6-6 in the NCAC with two games remaining. Ohio Wesleyan remained alive for the race for the postseason with records of 9-8 overall and 5-7 in the league.

Things started well enough for the Tigers on a cold, gray fall afternoon. Wittenberg outshot Ohio Wesleyan by a whopping 13-0 count over the first 35 minutes, but the Tigers managed to find the back of the cage just once, on an unassisted score by freshman Carlijn van den Berg (Zwolle, The Netherlands/Thorbecke) in the 21st minute.

The Battling Bishops came out and controlled much of the second half, however, outshooting the host Tigers by an 8-3 margin. The game-tying score came at the 53:50 mark, forcing a golden-goal overtime session.

Ohio Wesleyan built on their second-half momentum quickly, building an attack that resulted in a goal by Haley Savoie just 1:36 into the overtime period.

Wittenberg finished with an advantage of 16-9 in shots for the game and an 8-7 edge in penalty corner opportunities. Van den Berg led with six shots, followed by senior Kim Loofbourrow (Prospect, Ky./Ballard) with three. At the other end of the field, sophomore goalkeeper Laura Jansing (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) was credited with two saves.

Wittenberg has two games remaining on the schedule, at Earlham on Saturday, Oct. 25, and at home against DePauw on Saturday, Nov. 1. One win will give the Tigers a berth in the four-team NCAC Tournament.

Written By: Ryan Maurer