SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Lightning had no effect on the Wittenberg field hockey team Wednesday evening, despite 45 total minutes of delay, as the Tigers rolled to a 4-1 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) victory over Denison, moving to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the league.
Scheduled for a 5 p.m. start, the Big Red and Tigers waited until 5:15 p.m. for lightning to clear the area. Just over six minutes into the match, lightning caused the scoreless game to stop for half an hour.
After resuming the contest, the Tigers lept out to a 2-0 lead going to halftime, and just eight minutes after the start of the second half, extended the lead to 3-0. Denison answered with their only goal several minutes later, but the Tigers pushed the lead back to three with a final goal with 12 minutes remaining.
Overall, the Tigers outshot Denison 12-8 in the game and thoroughly controlled the ball, allowing only eight Big Red penalty corners while taking 19 of their own. Junior goalkeeper Jenny Schaafsma (Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids) stopped one of two shots on goal in 70 minutes in front of the cage.
Junior forward Elizabeth Dwyer (St. Louis, Mo./Ladue) started the scoring 16 minutes in when she approached the cage by herself on the left side, beat the goalie on the ground and pushed an easy shot into the goal. Fourteen minutes later, senior defender Meredith Price (Highland Park, Ill./North Shore Country Day) grabbed a loose ball following a defended shot and put it in from short range to make it a 2-0 Wittenberg advantage.
Early in the second half, senior forward/midfielder Tori Casanta (Mason, Ohio/Cor Jesu Academy) scored in a similar fashion on a loose ball for the 3-0 margin. Denison scored their only goal three minutes later, and the 3-1 score stood for nearly 12 minutes before senior forward Boo Vernon (Lake Bluff, Ill./Cushing Academy) added the Tigers' fourth in the 59th minute on a Price assist following a penalty corner.
Senior defender Kelley Herde (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) led the team with three shots, followed by Dwyer, Casanta and freshman forward Nina de Roos (The Netherlands/Maartens College) with two each and a trio with one apiece.
Wittenberg hits the field next at home on Saturday, Sept. 25, with a 2 p.m. NCAC match versus Oberlin at Edwards-Maurer Field.