Tigers Finish Off Regular Season Slate With 13-4 Victory At Otterbein

Jimmy Luckino

WESTERVILLE, Ohio — The Wittenberg men's lacrosse team outshot Otterbein University 37-16 on their way to a 13-4 win on Tuesday, completing the regular season schedule with a 13-1 overall record, the best in team history.

The Tigers capitalized on six Otterbein penalties with three extra-man goals and was nearly perfect in clearing at 12-of-13. The defense ahead of senior goalkeeper Mark DeOliveira (East Hanover, NJ/East Hanover) allowed him to face just 16 shots, four of which he saved and eight which were off target.

Pacing the stiff defense was senior Danny Johnson (Cincinnati, Ohio/Indian Hill) with seven ground balls and three caused turnovers, and close behind him was senior Ryan Spain (Concord, NH/Bishop Brady) with six.

Johnson and Spain were aided by the rest of the defensive unit, including senior Kevin Pfotenhauer (Chesterfield, Mo./CBC), junior Michael Cocking (St. Louis, Mo./CBC), junior Will Emery (Columbus, Ohio/Wellington), senior Charles Harreys (Essex, Conn./Valley Regional), senior Dan Gaines (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) and senior Adam Ansel (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington).

Many of the defenders were participating in their final regular season game in the Tiger red and white, and they were joined in that distinction by seniors Matt Snider (Cookeville, Tenn./Cookeville), Matt Lord (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington), Chris Gipson (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley), Brady Christensen (Medina, Ohio/Medina) and Mitch Cohagan (Pickerington, Ohio/North).

Multiple projections indicate that the seniors will yet have an additional opportunity to don the colors in the NCAA Division III Tournament. The NCAA selection committee will announce the field on Sunday, May 8, at 10 p.m. during a special web broadcast at NCAA.com. As part of the North Coast Athletic Conference, which does not have an automatic qualifying bid, the Tigers are in contention for a Pool B bid.

The Tigers took an early 2-0 lead over the Cardinals through the first quarter and expanded the margin to 7-1 by the end of the first half. The lead increased to 11-3 after three periods and settled at 13-4 following the concluding goal by junior Jimmy Luckino (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne).

Lord led the offense with four goals while Gipson chipped in three and one assist and sophomore Alex Previte (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) tallied three goals as well. Luckino and Cohagan both finished with one goal as did Christensen, who also added two assists. Freshman Jack Bornhofen (Peachtree City, Ga./McIntosh) and junior George Gion (Northfield, Ill./New Trier) each assisted once.