Tiger Men's Soccer Hosts Annual Wittenberg Invitational

Nate Ayres and his teammates will face Earlham and St. John Fisher on back-to-back days at Edwards-Maurer Field.

Springfield, Ohio — The Wittenberg University men's soccer team hopes to build some momentum for the second half of the 2010 season as Head Coach Steve Dawson welcomes three outstanding teams to Edwards-Maurer Field for the annual Wittenberg Invitational Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 18 and 19.

Earlham College, Mount Union College and St. John Fisher College will join the host Tigers in this year's Wittenberg Invitational. Two games will be played on both days, starting with a contest between Earlham and Mount Union at 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18. Wittenberg and St. John Fisher will square off at 7:30 p.m. that day. On Sunday, Sept. 19, St. John Fisher and Mount Union will play at 2 p.m., followed by Wittenberg and Earlham at 4:30 p.m.

Wittenberg is coming off a 3-13-2 season in 2009, and the Tigers were picked to finish eighth in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) this year. Wittenberg is 2-3-1 in the early going of the 2010 season after a 2-0 loss to Ohio Northern on Tuesday.

Earlham, which is playing its first season in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference after spending the last 20 years in the NCAC, is off to a deceiving 1-4 start, which includes losses to three perennial NCAA Division III Tournament contenders and a 2-0 win over Denison on Tuesday. Mount Union is 3-2-1 so far in 2010, although the Purple Raiders head to Springfield on a four-game unbeaten streak after a 0-2 start. St. John Fisher, which is 0-4-1 in the early going of the 2010 campaign, rounds out the competition.

Steve Dawson is in his 28th season as the university's men's soccer head coach with a career record of 270-199-32. He ranks among the top 40 in NCAA Division III all-time coaching victories.

Written by: Ryan Maurer
Photo by: Erin Pence

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