SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - Wittenberg's men's lacrosse team returned home after a successful Spring Break trip to Florida with a head of steam, but a late-game scoring burst gave visiting St. Vincent an 11-10 win to spoil the Tigers' 2008 home opener.
The two teams battled to an 8-8 standoff through the middle of the fourth quarter before St. Vincent put together a decisive four-minute stretch. Defensively, the Bearcats picked up two outstanding saves and parlayed them into goals, including what turned out to be the game-winner by Ryan Kearney with 2:33 remaining.
Wittenberg battled back, however, as freshman Mitch Cohagan (Pickerington, Ohio/North) and senior Mike Provost (Columbus, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) scored inside of the final 1:20. After a defensive stop, the Tigers had two final chances, but an open look for sophomore Ted Winders (Western Springs, Ill./Lyons Township)sailed high with five seconds left and then the Bearcat defense successfully held off a last-second Wittenberg shot attempt.
Statistically, the Bearcats got the best of things in total shots (43-35), ground balls (35-28) and face-offs (11-10), but the Tigers stayed in the game by shooting for a far higher percentage and coming up with 14 saves from freshman goalkeeperMark DeOliveira (East Hanover, NJ/East Hanover).
The Tigers, who dropped to 2-1 on the season, were paced offensively by Winders with three goals and one assist, Cohagan with two goals and one assist, sophomore Jeff Capella (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) with two goals and one assist and freshman Matt Snider (Cookeville, Tenn./Cookeville) with two goals. Provost turned in a strong game with a team-high six ground balls to go along with his late goal.