DELAWARE, Ohio - For the second time this season, the Wittenberg Tigers went toe-to-toe with one of the North Coast Athletic Conference's (NCAC) traditional men's lacrosse powers. Much like a loss to Denison earlier this season, the Tigers couldn't quite climb the mountain in a hard-fought 11-7 loss at Ohio Wesleyan.
The Tigers dropped back to the .500 mark with the defeat at 5-5 overall, including a record of 1-3 in the NCAC. Ohio Wesleyan continued its fine 2008 season, improving to 7-4 overall and 3-0 in the conference.
The game was dead even after the first period, thanks in part to Tiger sophomoreJeff Capella (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne), who scored a pair of goals. However, the Battling Bishops opened the second quarter with the first of two decisive three-goal runs to take a lead they would never relinquish.
The clinching three-goal outburst ended the game as the Tigers were shut out in the fourth quarter for the second time in a week. After Wittenberg sophomore Ted Winders (Western Springs, Ill./Lyons Township) pulled the Tigers within one at 8-7 near the end of the third quarter, Ohio Wesleyan pulled away with strong defense and three unanswered tallies to account for the final margin.
Winders led the Tigers with three goals in the game, while freshman Mitch Cohagan (Pickerington, Ohio/North) added a goal and a game-high three assists. Capella also had an assist to go along with his two early goals.
The key team statistics reflected the narrow Ohio Wesleyan margin as the Battling Bishops took four more shots, made two more saves and picked up four more ground balls in the game. In addition, OWU narrowly took the face-off battle by a 12-10 margin.