SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Through 84 minutes of hard-fought field hockey, neither Wittenberg nor visiting Washington & Jefferson could find a way around each other. With the score tied 1-1, the Tigers brokeaway at midfield and punched home the winning goal in overtime with just 51.9 seconds left in the period.
The Tigers took a 1-0 lead late in the first period off the stick of senior forward Boo Vernon (Lake Bluff, Ill./Cushing Academy). She recovered a shot attempt by junior forward Darcey Caciano (St. Louis, Mo./Kirkwood) after it deflected off a defender and pushed it into the cage to start the Tigers off in the 27th minute.
The Tigers took the lead into halftime, but the Presidents rallied to even things up 12 minutes into the second period off of a penalty corner. The stalemate carried all the way through the end of regulation and nearly the entire first overtime. Following lancing runs into both team's zones, the Tigers finally brokeaway from midfield with Vernon bringing the ball ahead and junior forward Elizabeth Dwyer (St. Louis, Mo./Ladue) trailing.
Vernon finessed past the lone defender and while approaching the goal, passed back to Dwyer with an open look for the win.
Dwyer scored the goal on her second shot of the night, while Vernon paced the offense with four shots, followed by senior defender Kelley Herde (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) and freshman defender/midfielder Arlette Kuik (Leiden, The Netherlands/Vlietland) with three each.
In total, the Presidents outshot the Tigers 30-15, but could not put it past Wittenberg junior goalkeeper Jenny Schaafsma (Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids). She tallied 17 saves in the game, including 10 during the President's offensively charged second period and three in the sudden-victory overtime period.
The thrilling 2-1 victory gave the Tigers a 2-1 overall record on the season with North Coast Athletic Conference action looming this Saturday, Sept. 11. Wittenberg opens the NCAC slate at home against the College of Wooster at 1 p.m. at Edwards-Maurer Field.
John Strawn '07