2002 News
Close, it is said, only counts in horseshoes. Wittenberg Head Men’s Lacrosse Coach Vinnie Lang is well aware that it doesn’t count in his sport.
Another banner spring sports season has reaped rich rewards for 41 Wittenberg University athletes who were selected to All-North Coast Athletic Conference teams over the last two weeks.
A frustrating season came to end for the Tiger men's lacrosse team on Saturday as Wittenberg fell to Ohio Wesleyan 23-14, three days after losing to Kenyon 11-9. The losses pushed Wittenberg back to 5-10 overall on the 2002 season.
It was a week for varying emotions for the Tiger men's lacrosse team. But by the end, the feeling was very positive as Wittenberg avenged perhaps its most disappointing loss of the season.
If it weren't for bad luck, the Tiger men's lacrosse team may have no luck at all. Wittenberg's losing streak hit five games last week with a defeat at nationally ranked Denison on Tuesday and a pair of frustrating home losses to Colorado College and Wheeling Jesuit over the weekend.
It was the toughest of weeks for a relatively young, aspiring Tiger men's lacrosse team. In two games last week, victory was in their clutches both times only to lose the games - to arch-rivals Kenyon and Wooster, no less - by a combined total of just four goals.
The Wittenberg men's lacrosse team is now on a four-game win streak heading into a crucial mid-season stretch. Over the last week, the Tigers have beaten Marietta 12-1, dispatched Oberlin in a nonconference game on Saturday by a 17-0 score and defeated first-year program Washington & Jefferson on Monday by a 28-2 margin.
As with many of the Wittenberg spring teams, the weather has been wreaking havoc on the men's lacrosse schedule of late, causing the postponement of one game last week (on the road against Denison) and the first game this week (at home against Washington & Jefferson). The Tigers will return to action after a lengthy midseason layoff on Wednesday when they travel to Marietta for a 4:30 p.m. start. Last year, Wittenberg defeated the Pioneers 23-1 at Edwards-Maurer Field.
Perhaps all the Tiger men's lacrosse team needed was some home cooking. Returning home for the first time since the season opener nearly three weeks earlier, the Tigers pounded Oberlin 15-0 on Saturday to move to 1-3 overall on the 2002 season and even their NCAC mark at 1-1.
The Wittenberg men's lacrosse team opened a 2002 season filled with promise with an extremely encouraging effort against nationally ranked NCAC foe Denison. Playing Sunday afternoon in frigid conditions on Wittenberg's Edwards-Maurer Field - a day later than planned due to the poor condition of Denison's field - the Tigers extended the Big Red to the limit before falling 5-4.
The Wittenberg men's lacrosse team has a lot of holes to fill in 2002, but second-year Head Coach Vinnie Lang feels the Tigers have a great deal of potential.