SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Led by a hat trick from senior forward Tori Casanta (Mason, Ohio/Cor Jesu Academy), the Wittenberg field hockey team posted their third double-digit scoring total of the season in a 10-0 shutout of Oberlin at Edwards-Maurer Field Saturday afternoon. The Tigers move to 6-2 overall and 3-1 in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC).
It was the second 10-0 shutout the Tigers have pitched this year, following a blanking of Sweet Briar on Sunday, Sept. 5, which was the first 10-goal game since 1998, after an 11-1 rout of Earlham on Wednesday, Sept. 15, which set the team's all-time single-game scoring record. Prior to 2010, the Tigers hit double-digits just four times, never more than once in a season, since records begin in 1979.
On Saturday, the game was decided just 4:50 in, when senior defender Kelley Herde (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) found the ball at her feet at the top of the circle following an attempted clear by the Oberlin goalkeeper and hammered a line drive into the cage. The Tigers added five more goals in the first half, including three in the span of a minute and a half, and four in the second, while Oberlin was unable to touch the scoreboard.
The second goal of the game came when Casanta gathered a loose ball in front of the goal and sent it to the back of the cage, the first of three on the day for the sixth-ranked active scorer in NCAA Division III field hockey.
Junior forward Elizabeth Dwyer (St. Louis, Mo./Ladue) scored the next two goals back-to-back, in the span of 1:11. Senior forward and third-ranked active scorer Boo Vernon (Lake Bluff, Ill./Cushing Academy) struck next to make it 5-0, followed by Casanta's second to complete the scoring in the first half.
In the second half, Vernon and Casanta each scored once more before freshman defender Eva de Hoog (Amsterveen, The Netherlands/Keizer Karel) and freshman forward Muriel Weinstein (Amsterdam, The Netherlands/Vossius) each scored to finish the game.
Weinstein also picked up an assist in the game, and freshman forward Nina de Roos (The Netherlands/Maartens College) assisted on two goals.
The Tigers, now on a four-game winning streak, head to Wooster on Saturday, Oct. 2, looking to avenge a 3-1 loss to the Fighting Scots from earlier in the season on Sept. 11.
John Strawn '07