SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - After back-to-back one-goal offensive performances - and the first two defeats of the 2008 season - the Wittenberg Tigers took out their frustrations on visiting Oberlin in an 8-1 victory at Edwards-Maurer Field.
Wittenberg, which hadn't scored eight goals in a game since 2004 against Earlham, evened its record at 2-2 on the young season, while Oberlin fell to 1-5. The Tigers are 1-1 in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC), compared to 0-3 for the Yeowomen.
The story of the game for Wittenberg was the play of sophomore forward Tori Casanta (Mason, Ohio/Cor Jesu Academy). Casanta scored five goals, including four in the first half alone, and added two assists to finish with seven total points. The goals and total points were both personal collegiate bests for Casanta, the 2007 NCAC Offensive Player of the Year, while the goal total was just two shy of the Wittenberg record of seven set by Lois Raimondo in 1979. Casanta and Blair Ufer, who scored five times in the aforementioned 8-0 win over Earlham in 2004, are tied for second place on the school record list.
Casanta had plenty of help in the offensive third as sophomore forward Boo Vernon (Lake Bluff, Ill./Cushing Academy) added a goal and an assist, freshman forward Darcey Caciano (St. Louis, Mo./Kirkwood) contributed a goal, sophomore midfielder Kelley Herde (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) chipped in with an assist and junior defender Tori Vogelgesang (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Ursula) rounded things out with a penalty stroke goal.
The Tigers outshot their visitors 24-4 and had eight penalty corner opportunities in the game, compared to none for the Yeowomen. All three goalkeepers on Wittenberg's roster saw action in the game, as did every field player in uniform on this day.