SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The Wittenberg field hockey team continued its winning streak, now at seven games, by turning away visiting Ohio Wesleyan in a 3-2 overtime victory Thursday night. The Tigers move to 9-2 overall and 6-1 in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC), still good for first place.
The Battling Bishops struck first, tallying a goal at 19:06 with a lifted shot from short range that found its way over top of Tiger junior goalkeeper Jenny Schaafsma (Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids). It was the first of two goals Ohio Wesleyan would score against Schaafsma, but she stopped six other shots in the game.
Freshman defender/midfielder Arlette Kuik (Leiden, The Netherlands/Vlietland) evened the score at 1-1 on a loose ball off a penalty corner seven minutes later, and the score stood knotted for the next 34 minutes.
Wittenberg took the lead in the 60th minute when senior Tori Casanta (Mason, Ohio/Cor Jesu) tapped in the Tigers' second goal to go up 2-1. Ohio Wesleyan made a late attack count, scoring the equalizer just two minutes from the end of regulation to force overtime.
The Tigers were in no mood to wait around, though. Just 48 seconds into the first golden-goal overtime, junior forward Elizabeth Dwyer (St. Louis, Mo./Ladue) took a penalty corner, passing directly to senior forward and team scoring leader Boo Vernon (Lake Bluff, Ill./Cushing Academy) at the top of the circle. Vernon stopped the ball, stepped inside the circle and fired the game winner into the cage.
Casanta finished the game with a team-high four shots, followed by Vernon with two, Kuik with one and senior defender Kelley Herde (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) with one. Senior defender Meredith Price (Highland Park, Ill./North Shore Country Day) added a defensive save to the mix to round out the box score.
The win preserved Wittenberg's perch alone at the top of the NCAC heading into a week-long layoff. They start back up again with a 4:30 p.m. match at Denison University on Saturday, Oct. 15, in Granville, Ohio.