Setting the Scene:
The Wittenberg University men's lacrosse team put together one of the finest seasons in recent history in 2006. With first-yearcoach George Harris leading the charge, the Tigers turned around a program that had suffered its fair share of losses in recent memory. The team tripled their win total from the 2005 season as they posted six victories. Wittenberg had not won six games in a season since 2000, when the team gathered seven wins. The Tigers also got within one game of the .500 mark, something they have not been at since the 2000 season when they went 7-7.
Postseason Honors:
Wittenberg had two Tigers claim fi rst-team all North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) honors, tied for the most in team history.
Senior Cory Windle (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) made his second career appearance on the first team, as he was also selected in 2004. For the season, Windle was the Tigers leading goal-scorer with 23. He also ranked second on the team in points with 30, one behind team-leader, sophomore Brandon Hullett (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson).
Junior Brandon Schwind (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) also was named to the All-NCAC fi rst-team for the first time in his career. Schwind was the Tigers' leading defenseman for the season and gathered a team high 70 ground balls. Schwind also knocked in 10 goals, good for fifth place on the team. Windle and Schwind were both 2005 All-NCAC second-team selections and made the jump to the fi rst team at the conclusion of the 2006 season.
Windle and Schwind were not the only players to receive all conference honors as senior Bryan Arnold (Columbus, Ohio/Dublin Scioto) was a second-team selection and Hullett was named to the honorable mention team. Arnold started all 13 games for the Tigers and picked up 44 ground balls, good for third place on the team. Arnold was an honorable mention selection in 2005, but moved up to the second-team this season.
Hulett was the team's leader in points for the season with 31, as he recorded 16 goals and 15 assists. Hulett picked up those 16 goals in just 37 shots, giving him an outstanding shooting percentage of .432.
Super Seniors:
The 2006 Wittenberg men's lacrosse team was just that - a team. All year, the Tigers relied on solid defensive play, clutch goal scoring and an outstanding goalkeeper. This team attitude was helped by the leadership of the five Tiger seniors: Sam Miller (Wilmington, Ohio/Wilmington), Michael Morrell (Ballwin, Mo./C.B.C), Jonathan Smiley (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) and Windle.
In his first and only year with the Tigers, Miller finished with one goal in 11 games for the Red and White.
As a four-year letterwinner for the Tigers, Morrell finished with two goals and one assist. Morrell's greatest asset for the Tigers was his ability to pick up the ground ball, as he fi nished his career with 118. Much like Morrell, in four years playing for the Red and White, Smiley finished with one goal and one assist, but he had many ground ball pick-ups, as he finished with 126.
During Windle's time with the Tigers, he collected some gaudy statistics. He finished his career with 70 goals and 42 assists, good for 112 points. He was a first-team all conference selection twice and was named to the second-team once as well. He served as a team captain for two years and was named the team's offensive most valuable player at the conclusion of his senior year. He is also tied for fifth-place on the team's record for goals in a season with 30, which he collected in 2004.
Youth Movement:
While the Tigers are going to miss their departed leaders of 2006, the future is looking bright as the remaining players look toward a promising 2007 season. Eight starters are slated to return to the lineup, after all six freshmen on the team appeared in at least three games over the course of the 2006 season, including a combined 21 starts.
Leading the way for the freshman were Andrew Goldstein (Rockville, Md./Thomas S. Wootten), Sam Henderson (Potomac, Md./Thomas S. Wootten), James Hunter (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller) and Steve Koppenhafer (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore). Hunter and Goldstein both finished with six points on the season while Henderson tallied five. Koppenhafer, a defenseman, did not record a point, but did collect 10 ground balls in his six starts.
The freshman were not the only ones who saw plenty of action during the 2006 season as 12 members of the sophomore class also saw action. Beyond the great season turned in by Hullett, sophomores Dylan Baun (Mars, Pa./North Allegheny), Matt Delestienne (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park), Ross Holland (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park), Chris Martin (Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy), Jon Van Vranken (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover) and Will Wismer (East Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids) all collected significant playing time on the season. Van Vranken started 12 of the Tigers 13 games and recorded 17 points, good for fourth place on the team. Holland and Delestienne also started games for the Tigers over the course of the season.
With a combination of promising young players and a second-year coach, the Tigers look to once again improve on their record and look forward to the upcoming 2007 season.
The Coach:
George Harris (Ithaca '89) compiled a 6-7 overall record in his first season leading the Tigers after three seasons as the top assistant at Harvard University.
It was the team's highest win total in seven years, and four players earned All-North Coast Athletic Conference honors after the season, including a pair of first-team honorees, Wittenberg's most in nearly a decade. The Tigers followed that up with a 6-6 campaign in 2007, giving Harris a 12-13 overall mark at the helm of the program.
Harris has coaching experience at Ithaca, Skidmore, Colgate, Cornell and Harvard, where he served as the team's offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator, and he earned the 2004 Harvard University Department of Athletics Merit Award, which is given to one assistant coach among the university's 37 varsity teams each year in recognition of professional commitment, dedication and overall program advancement.