Last-Minute Tiger Goal Delivers Win Over Sewanee

Alex Previte

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — With 16 seconds left in regulation, Wittenberg men's lacrosse senior Brady Christensen (Medina, Ohio/Medina) found the net to break a 5-5 tie and hand the Tigers a 6-5 victory over Sewanee on Saturday. Wittenberg improves to 2-0 on the season, while Sewanee falls to 1-1.

The Tigers are off to their fourth straight 2-0 start following a 7-6 victory over traditional power Washington & Lee one week ago. The win also marked their fourth straight victory over Sewanee, played for the third consecutive year at the Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, Tenn.

Within the first six minutes of the game, Wittenberg posted three unanswered goals. Sewanee answered with two of their own in the first quarter and tacked on one more in the first two minutes of the second period to knot things up at 3-3.

The two teams traded goals twice in the remainder of the third and 10 minutes into the fourth to reach another stalemate at 5-5. The Tigers then broke the tie and secured the victory with Christensen's goal in the closing seconds.

Sophomore Alex Previte (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) opened the scoring just 26 seconds into the contest to kick off the three-goal outburst and just 40 seconds later assisted on a goal by senior Mitch Cohagan (Pickerington, Ohio/North).

Senior Matt Lord (Pickerington, Ohio/North) capped off the rally with the third goal before Sewanee matched with three of their own. With eight minutes to play in the third, senior Chris Gipson (Naperville, Ill./Neaqua Valley) made it a 4-3 game, and Previte put his team-best second goal into the net with 3:50 remaining in the third to gain a 5-4 lead on an assist from freshman Jack Bornhofen (Peachtree City, Ga./McIntosh).

Lord tallied a team-high eight shots in the game, followed by Previte with six, Christensen with five and Gipson with four. Seven additional Tigers registered at least one shot.

Tiger junior faceoff man Elliot Avis (Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids) went 9-for-13 in the circle, while senior goalkeeper Mark DeOliveira (East Hanover, NJ/East Hanover) stopped 10 shots in the crease.

Senior Danny Johnson (Cincinnati, Ohio/Indian Hill) paced the team with five groundballs, joined by three each from Christensen and junior Michael Cocking (St. Louis, Mo./CBC) and two each by Previte, DeOliveira and junior Lynn Crum (Wooster, Ohio/Wooster). Senior Dan Gaines (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) caused three turnovers, and Cocking and Bornhofen each caused one.

The Tigers outshot Sewanee 37-24 and won the groundball battle 26-11, but failed to convert on two man-up opportunities.

Wittenberg plays in its home opener at Edwards-Maurer Field in Springfield on Wednesday, March 2, hosting Mount St. Joseph at 7 p.m.

John Strawn '07