WOOSTER, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers won a key early season North Coast Athletic Conference game Saturday, taking the measure of arch-rival and conference preseason favorite Wooster by a 3-2 score. The Tigers continued their dominance on the home astroturf of Edwards-Maurer Field - they have not lost at home in more than three years.

This was a close game throughout, but a second-half rush netted Wittenberg a pair of goals in this must-win. Wooster and Denison, which handed Wittenberg its only loss of the season 10 days ago, were atop the standings with perfect records, so the Tigers could ill-afford to drop another game behind. After the two teams battled to a 1-1 draw through halftime, Wittenberg put the game out of reach with two goals in less than four minutes midway through the second half.

Tiger freshman Alison Voigt got the scoring started with 18:55 showing in the first half, but Wooster tied it up seven minutes later on the first of two Lindsay Tingley goals. Wittenberg junior Julia Wickham scored the go-ahead goal at the 17:12 mark of the second half and sophomore Rachel Dunn added the insurance score with 13:56 remaining, making Tingley's goal with four minutes to go a moot point.

Freshman netminder Nicole Irvin turned away five Wooster shots to garner yet another win. Wooster's Anne Leigh was credited with eight saves in the losing effort. The Scots took four more shots and a whopping 11 more penalty corners than Wittenberg, but the only thing that mattered was the score when the horn sounded to end the game.

Wittenberg returns to action on Wednesday at home against Kenyon. Game time is set for 6 p.m.