SPRINGFIELD — The Wittenberg women's lacrosse team improved to 2-0 with a 23-1 victory over Mount St. Joseph in an indoor game at The Steemer on Wednesday evening. The Tigers are off to their first 2-0 start since 2017, when the team began the year 4-0.

The Basics

• Records: Wittenberg (2-0 overall), Mount St. Joseph (0-3 overall)
• Venue: The Steemer - Springfield, Ohio
• The Tigers have scored a combined 40 goals in their first two games of the season against Muskingum and MSJ.

Stat Leaders

• Five players recorded hat tricks, and eight total players scored goals for the Tigers on Wednesday.
• Sophomore Anna Roller (New Albany, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) led the Tigers with four goals and three assists for seven points. She also had four ground balls, six draw controls and four caused turnovers.
• Freshman Essence Wyse (Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy) also scored four goals.
• Sophomore Maren Raymond (Louisville, Ky./Ballard) and junior Grace Hehman (Cincinnati, Ohio/Seton) tallied four points each with matching stat lines of three goals and one assist.
• Sophomore Sophia Meek (Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy Orange) added three goals.
• Freshman Aubrey Stager (Saline, Mich./Saline) posted three points on two goals and one assist.
• Senior Jessica Flick (Lebanon, Ohio/Lebanon) and freshman Margaret Pickrel (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) scored two goals each.
• Junior Gabrielle Weckerly (Delaware, Ohio/Hayes) earned the win in goal for the Tigers after playing the first quarter and recording one save. She improves to 2-0 on the season. Freshman Jorja Williams (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) played the remaining three quarters.

The Game

• Wittenberg put together a 10-goal first quarter, getting two goals each from Roller, Raymond, Meek and Flick and one each from Hehman and Stager.
• The Tigers added six goals in the second quarter for a 16-0 halftime lead. Wyse scored a pair of goals in the period to go with one each from Roller, Meek, Pickrel and Hehman.
• Goals from Stager and Hehman put the Tigers up 18-0 with 8:32 left in the third quarter before MSJ scored its lone goal of the game on a man-up opportunity with 6:56 remaining in the period.
• Wyse closed the third-quarter scoring with a pair of goals to send Wittenberg into the fourth up 20-1.
• Pickrel, Roller and Raymond each scored a goal in the fourth quarter to cap the night.
• Wittenberg finished with a 19-8 edge in ground balls, 44-3 advantage in shot and forced 33 MSJ turnovers.

Post-Game Quotes

• Head coach Becca Joseph on her team's 2-0 start: "It's been a few years since we've been 2-0, and going into spring break for the next two games, it gives us a lot of adrenaline and excitement moving forward. This team has set the bar high. Our issue last year was scoring, so getting that figured out here early in our first two games is a good feeling."
• Joseph on her team's goal-scoring depth: "We had two freshmen who scored their first goals of the season, and one ended up with four, so that's really good to see. Being able to spread out our scoring makes us hard to guard and hard to scout. Whereas before we only had a few goal-scorers, now we have several people who can put the ball away, which is really exciting. And it's a lot of young girls too, so it's cool to see what the future of the program holds."
• Sophomore Anna Roller on the team's play on Wednesday: "I thought we played really well as a team overall. Our ball movement was great, and we really took the time to make sure we swung the ball and stayed wide and did the things we've been working on during practice."
• Roller on the success of the team's offense through two games: "We've really been focusing on feeding instead of driving, which we focused on in the past. We're keeping our eyes up more, and we're getting more comfortable with passing and catching the ball and being smart with our shots."

Records & Milestones

• Wittenberg is now 6-0 all-time against Mount St. Joseph.
• Flick has 107 career points on 93 goals and 14 assists. She is 45 points shy of entering the program's all-time top 10 list in that category. She is the reigning NCAC Player of the Week.
• Hehman has 59 career points on 53 goals and six assists.
• Junior Sidney Sheridan (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Hartley) has 226 career saves, which is 25 shy of joining the program's all-time top 10 list in that category.

Up Next

• The Tigers return to action on Wednesday, March 6, at Averett at 12 p.m.