RICHMOND, Ind. - All's well that ends well. The Wittenberg Tigers took to the road on Thursday and nearly lost a stunner to the Earlham Quakers before pulling out an improbable 5-4 overtime victory.
The win pushed the Tigers back over the .500 mark at 4-3 overall and 2-1 in the North Coast Athletic Conference. Earlham dropped to 0-6 and 0-4 respectively.
A night after dominating NCAC title contender Ohio Wesleyan, 4-0, at home at Edwards-Maurer Field, the Tigers struggled from the outset on Thursday, allowing a goal just 1:32 into the game. Senior Katy Barrett (Powell, Ohio/Watterson) rallied the troops, however, evening the score just two minutes later off a feed from junior Claire Johnson (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame).
Things were looking good for the Tigers as the first half went on as junior Caroline Mason (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) and senior Holly McHugh (Randolph, NJ/Randolph) knocked home goals off penalty corner plays. Freshman Tori Vogelgesang (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Ursula) and junior Alison Voigt (Louisville, Ky./Ballard) added the assists.
A key sequence of events took place just before halftime. Following McHugh's tally, the Quakers struck right back on a penalty stroke to cut the lead to 3-2. The momentum carried over into the second half as Earlham's Becca Jordan scored twice to give the Quakers a one-goal lead. Voigt finally came up with a clutch Wittenberg answer as she knocked home a goal in the 62nd minute.
The two teams went to overtime with the Quakers seeking their first win over Wittenberg since 1992 and just their fourth in 44 all-time meetings. The Tigers needed the entire extra session to come up with the goods. Patience paid off in the form of a McHugh goal off a penalty corner feed from senior Rachel Dunn (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) with no time left on the clock. The game cannot end on a penalty corner, or until the defending team has cleared the ball, giving the Tigers an opportunity to execute the game-winning play when it mattered most.
Wittenberg had the upper hand in total shots at 19-12 and penalty corners 16-9. However, the goalkeeper saves were even at 5-5, a key statistic in what turned into an unexpectedly tight affair.
The Tigers have little time to rest as they will play a third game in four days on Saturday. The defending NCAC champion Oberlin Yeowomen come calling for a 6 p.m. start at Edwards-Maurer Field.