Sammy Hong

The Wittenberg men's lacrosse team came close again in the last week, but once again the Tigers couldn't find the winning formula in losing road games on Saturday and Sunday at Greensboro and Guilford Colleges in North Carolina and back home on Wednesday against Denison.

Against Greensboro, the host team scored four straight goals in the second period to break a 5-5 tie. The Tigers never closed the gap to any less than three goals after that.

Freshman Sammy Hong (Worthington, Ohio/Kilbourne) led Wittenberg's offense with three goals, and freshman Jay Shimko (East Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids) added two more. Six different players scored goals and four different players finished with one assist apiece.

Against Guilford, the Tigers rallied from a 13-7 deficit to score five straight goals in the fourth quarter and pull within one. But the host team tacked on an insurance goal with 59 seconds remaining to seal it.

Hong had three goals again and senior Hans Rydquist (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) finished with four tallies. Senior Trevor Carlson (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) added two goals in his best performance of the season. Three players - freshman Cory Griffiths (Columbus, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson), freshman Adam Morrison (Columbus, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) and sophomore Cory Windle (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) - each chipped in with two assists.

Against Denison, a perennial North Coast Athletic Conference power, the Tigers were in prime position to pull off the upset. Wittenberg scored twice in the third quarter to pull even at 3-3, but the visiting Big Red stunned the Tigers with two goals in the final 25 seconds of the stanza to break the game open. Denison added three more goals to open the fourth quarter and then staved off a late Tiger rally to claim the win and drop Wittenberg to 1-2 in the NCAC.

Windle had three goals and senior goaltender Kyle Prussing (Concord, Mass./Concord-Carlisle) had a stellar game in net with 10 saves.

The Tigers have a week off to lick their wounds and prepare for conference rival Kenyon on April 7.