SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers have had an uneven start to the 2006 season, leading up to perhaps their finest effort of the season. The result was certainly the best of the campaign, a 4-0 home victory over Ohio Wesleyan, but the fortitude Wittenberg showed in the win may have been just as important.
In improving to 3-3 overall and 1-1 in the North Coast Athletic Conference, the Tigers displayed great spirit in controlling the majority of action against OWU. Loose balls were regularly won, and the transition from defense to offense was more crisp than in a lackluster 3-1 loss to visiting Rhodes on Saturday.
Action through the opening 35 minutes was fairly even, but the Tigers got on the board at the 20:16 mark as junior Caroline Mason (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) banged home a rebound. Wittenberg held a 10-6 advantage in total shots during the half, but the fireworks were yet to come.
The Tigers broke the game open at the 24:09 mark of the second half on a goal by senior Katy Barrett (Powell, Ohio/Watterson), and she put it out of reach with another tally at the 14:13 mark. With many of the Tigers' reserves on the field late in the game, Wittenberg rounded out the scoring as sophomore Katie Radeackar (Cedar Hill, Mo./St. Louis Country Day School) found the back of the cage inside the three-minute mark. Assists were credited to senior Holly McHugh (Randolph, NJ/Randolph), junior Alison Voigt (Louisville, Ky./Ballard) and junior Sadie Mummert (Hanover, Pa./Littlestown).
The shutout was the second in the young collegiate career of freshman goalkeeperSarah Umberger (Concord, NH/Derryfield School), who turned away seven OWU shots. She had help as sophomore defender Beth Vonderbrink (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) was in the right place at the right time midway through the second half to record a defensive save and preserve the shutout.