Big First Half Powers Tigers Past Oberlin

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers continued their season-long pattern of strong starts to games. For the third straight time, the Tigers finished successfully as well in a 15-7 win over Oberlin.

The was evened Wittenberg's record at 3-3 overall, with two of the three victories coming against North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) competition. Oberlin fell to 3-4 overall and 0-2 in the league.

The key for Wittenberg on a sunny afternoon in front of the home crowd was a dominating first-half performance. The Tigers outshot Oberlin 11-2 in the first quarter to take a 2-0 lead, and by halftime Wittenberg's advantage was 23-8 in shots, leading to a commanding 9-1 lead on the scoreboard.

The two teams split 12 goals right down the middle over the final 30 minutes. By game's end, Wittenberg's shots advantage was still 42-21, even as Oberlin won 14 of the game's 25 face-offs. The Yeomen committed 24 turnovers in the game.

The Tiger offense was led by senior Sean Kelleher (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) with four goals and two assists and juniors Andrew Fuss (New Albany, Ohio/Gahanna Lincoln) and Thomas Fuss (New Albany, Ohio/Gahanna Lincoln), who combined for four goals and five assists between them. Also of note was the play of senior Matt Hugdahl (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie), who contributed two goals and one assist.

Five different Tigers finished the game with three ground balls in the game, one off the pace set by senior Nick Bergenty (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater-Raritan) with four. Seniors Riley Boehm (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) and Brett Wilson (Lenaxa, Kan./St. James Academy) each produced two caused turnovers.

In goal, senior Jay Dolan (Andover, Mass./Phillips Andover) played well, finishing with six saves.

Written By: Ryan Maurer