Tigers Cruise Past Hiram, 6-0
It was a cold night at Edwards-Maurer Field, but the Wittenberg offense was on fire. The Tigers captured another North Conference Athletic Conference victory by defeating the Hiram Terriers 6-0.
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SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — It was a cold night at Edwards-Maurer Field, but the Wittenberg offense was on fire. The Tigers captured another North Conference Athletic Conference victory by defeating the Hiram Terriers 6-0.
With the victory the Tigers improve to 9-3-2 overall and 2-1-1 in the conference, rebounding well after their first loss in more than a month, a 2-0 defeat at nationally ranked Denison on Wednesday. Hiram dropped to 3-11-1 overall and 1-4 in the NCAC.
The Tigers started scoring early and did not stop. Just 45 seconds into the game junior Lindsey Rusch (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) scored on a breakaway, blasting a shot off a feed from freshman Kyra Macke (Fort Thomas, Ky./Newport Central Catholic). The offensive highlight of the game, and maybe the season, occurred in the 20th minute when junior goalkeeper Meghan O'Rourke (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) scored her first career goal. Junior Sydney Bates (Loveland, Ohio/Milford) was awarded a penalty shot after she was tackled in the box and O'Rourke took the shot and made the most of the opportunity. Nearing the end of the first half, the Tigers added another goal when Kristy Parker (Hamilton, Ohio/Ross) found the back of the net, and then the final goal of the first half came with five minutes remaining as Sara Pirozzi (Akron, Ohio/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy) took a feed inside the penalty box and knocked a shot home.
In the second half it was more of the same. Ten minutes into the second half, Bates got a goal of her own off a corner kick. Sophomore Suzanne Medwid (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) had the assist as she kicked the ball perfectly into the box from the corner for Bates to head it into the net. Seconds later, junior Amanda Farrell (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland) collected her sixth goal of the season.
Beyond the offensive displays of O'Rourke and the rest of the Tigers, they recorded their eighth shutout of the season. Helping O'Rourke preserve the shutout was sophomore Jamie Mack (Rochester, New York/Penfield) who made a save as she headed the ball away from the goal when O'Rourke slipped and fell down. Mack also had the assist on Pirozzi's goal.
The six goals is Wittenberg's high for the season. The Tigers return to action at home on Wednesday, Oct. 18, against the Earlham Quakers in another crucial conference match-up.