Rebecca Russ

Deb Muller

A fairy tale 2002 season continued last week as the Wittenberg field hockey team claimed two more victories to race out to an 11-0 overall record, including a 7-0 mark in the NCAC. The Tigers held strong in the national rankings that are dominated by traditional east coast powers, moving up two spots to No. 12. Wittenberg has the most wins of any team in the poll, which was released Monday evening.

As an added bonus, senior Tiger captain Rebecca Russ (Louisville, Ky./Sacred Heart) was named NCAC Player of the Week for the first time in her career. A 2001 third-team All-America selection, Russ spearheaded a defensive effort that allowed just 11 shots on goal in two games last week.

A mid-week 1-0 victory over Earlham was made possible by the usual stellar defensive effort and yet another timely score by senior forward Emily Duh (Hellertown, Pa./Saucon Valley), who put home her 14th goal of the season in the second half after sophomore Deb Muller (Weston, Conn./The Millbrook School) providing the assist.

Duh was ranked No. 2 in the country last week in goals with 14 and first in scoring with 34 points. Her 3.09 points per game leads the NCAC by a wide margin.

On Friday, there was a rare occurrence - someone scored against Wittenberg and sophomore goalkeeper Jen Meyer (Solon, Ohio/Hathaway Brown). Meyer, who hadn't conceded goals in any of her previous six NCAC games and was on a four-game shutout streak, gave up an early tally against Wooster in a key mid-season showdown between two of the top conference title contenders. Meyer came into the weekend ranked among the nation's best in save percentage and goals against average.

In response, freshman Emma Rufleth (Clinton, Conn./The Morgan School) provided a quick cross for sophomore forward Katie Houchens (Denver, Colo./Kent Denver) to fire home a one-touch shot late in the first half to even the score. Then Rufleth turned from provider to scorer in the second half as she fired a hard shot from the top of the circle after a pass from midfielder Blair Ufer (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer).

The Tigers get a rare break this week and their next game is scheduled for Saturday at Denison. The Big Red are perennially one of the top teams in the league who figure to be smarting after losing 4-0 earlier this season to Wittenberg.