Tiger Luck May Be Changing

The positive vibrations emanating from the soccer pitch at Bill Edwards Field following a pair of women's soccer victories carried over on Saturday afternoon as the Tiger men's soccer team stunned nationally ranked Ohio Wesleyan for the second straight year. The 2-1 win for the hard-luck Tigers, who have lost six games by one goal this season, improved their NCAC record to 1-3 and kept their slight postseason hopes alive. The top four teams in the conference make the postseason tournament.

Junior forward Mike Walsh (Springfield, Ohio/North) joined Alecia Dimar as an NCAC Player of the Week by bagging two goals in 13 minutes to give Wittenberg the victory against OWU, which came in ranked No. 17 in the country and was a national semifinalist in 2001. The goals both came late in the second half, made even more sweet as Wittenberg played 80 minutes with 10 men after having one sent off by a red card. The resulting penalty kick was placed into the goal by Ohio Wesleyan for the early lead.

The game appeared beyond reach with less than 15 minutes to go before Walsh bagged his fourth and fifth goals of the season, the first a header off a Steve Doring (Huber Heights, Ohio/Wayne) cross. The game-winning goal came courtesy of a long ball played into the box by senior forward Brian Armstrong (Delaware, Ohio/Dublin Coffman).

The Tigers hope to continue this newfound form into their next match against Wabash, one of the teams battling to get back into the NCAC postseason picture. Wittenberg must win at least four of its last five games to have a chance to make the tourney.