Men's Lacrosse Improves to 2-0 in NCAC Play with 12-8 Win over Oberlin

OBERLIN, Ohio—The Wittenberg Tigers improved to 2-0 in NCAC play with a 12-8 victory over the Yeomen Saturday afternoon. An early Wittenberg penalty allowed the Yeomen to jump out to a 2-1 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the Tigers would not trail for the rest of the game after regaining the lead in the opening minutes of the second quarter. Andrew Fuss (Gahanna, Ohio/Gahanna Lincoln) continued his fast start to 2016 with three more goals and four more assists in the 12-8 victory.  The win moves the Tigers to a 6-2 mark overall, and a 2-0 start in NCAC play.

GAME BREAKDOWN

• Fuss and Sean Kelleher (Lake Forest, Illinois/Lake Forest) netted two early goals in the opening minutes of the second quarter to give the Tigers the lead.
• Austin Brady (Pickerington, Ohio/North) netted the final goal of the half for the Tigers, helping the visiting squad carry a 5-3 lead into halftime.
• Fuss and Joseph Crawford (Arlington, Virginia/Yorktown) both netted their second goals of the game in the third quarter to give the Tigers a 7-5 lead late in the quarter.
• Thomas Fuss (Gahanna, Ohio/Lincoln) came up big for the Tigers in the final quarter, as the senior found the back of the net twice on assists from his brother Andrew and TJ Smith (Atlanta, Georgia/The Marist School).

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Wittenberg managed to get 25 of their total 41 attempts on goal in the victory.
• The Tigers picked up 26 ground balls, while forcing the Yeomen into 19 turnovers on the day.
• On the day, Wittenberg committed 11 infractions that resulted in eight and a half minutes of penalty time, while the Yeomen committed three infractions for three minutes of penalty time.

KEY STATS

• Seven different Tigers found the back of the net in the NCAC victory, while Andrew Fuss and his four assists helped distribute the scoring in a big way.
• Brady led Wittenberg in shot attempts with seven, but only produced one goal to show for it.
• Nick Gregory (Mukilteo, Washington/Kamiak) and David Strahm (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington) led the Tigers with two caused turnovers a piece on the day.

FROM THE BENCH

• "We really grinded this one out  as we fought through some adversity today…I am proud of the way we finished the game, ending up on top. We now have our biggest couple weeks of the season coming up, as we are excited to get right back to work," said Coach Owen.

UP NEXT

• The Tigers play host to Denison University April 2 at 3:00PM as NCAC play continues.

Written By: Kuris Duggan