The Tigers celebrated a win over Wooster to conclude the 2008 season - they hope more postgame euphoria is on tap this year.
Back-to-back .500 seasons have the Wittenberg men's lacrosse team primed for a possible breakthrough in 2009. Fourth-year head coach George Harris returns an experienced core of players, including the top four scorers, from a six-win team that matched its best performance in the North Coast Athletic Conference in nearly a decade with a fourth-place finish in 2008.
Leading the charge is junior midfielder and captain Jeff Capella (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne), who scored a team-high 25 goals and tied for the team lead in assists with 14 as he sparked a Tiger offense that scored more than 10 goals per contest a year ago. The 2007 NCAC Newcomer of the Year, Capella was a second-team All-NCAC selection for a second consecutive year.
Joining Capella at the midfield position are junior Ted Winders (Western Springs, Ill./Lyons Township) and sophomore Mitch Cohagan (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington North). Winders found the back of the net 22 times and led the team in shooting percentage, scoring on 33 percent of his attempts, a year ago. Cohagan tallied 22 goals while starting all 12 games during a sensational freshman season. He earned a spot on the honorable mention All-NCAC team for his performance.
Capella, Winders and Cohagan also played integral roles on the extra-man offense unit that was statistically ranked No. 1 nationally in NCAA Division III, scoring on 50 percent of their opportunities.
At the attack position, sophomore Brady Christensen (Medina, Ohio/Medina) looks to continue his solid career for the Red & White after scoring 12 goals during his freshman campaign. Christensen's 31 ground balls were also good for second-best on the team. In addition, sophomore Matt Snider (Cookeville, Tenn./Cookeville) will have opportunities to improve upon his production after a six-goal rookie season, and sophomore Matt Lord (Pickerington, Ohio/North) returns from an injury-plagued freshman year in which he was limited to six goals in six games. Lord had a great experience over the summer, however, playing for Team England while competing in the Under-19 World Games.
On the defensive end, senior captain Steve Koppenhafer (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore) anchors a unit that allowed less than 10 goals per game in 2008. An honorable mention All-NCAC selection a year ago, Koppenhafer spearheaded a Tiger defense that allowed less than 120 goals in a season for just the eighth time in the program's 27-year modern history. In all three seasons under Harris, the Tigers have finished in that category.
Joining Koppenhafer on defense are sophomores Dan Gaines (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) and Kevin Pfotenhauer (Chesterfield, Mo./CBC). Gaines started 10 games at close defense, while Pfotenhauer played in all 12 games, at both the close defense and long-stick midfield positions. Pfotenhauer also led the team in faceoff win percentage. Junior Danny Johnson (Cincinnati, Ohio/Indian Hill) returns at the defensive midfield position where he scored five goals and scooped up a team-high 41 ground balls for the Red & White.
In goal, the Tigers once again turn to sophomore captain Mark DeOliveira (East Hanover, NJ/East Hanover). DeOliveira comes off a spring where he started in 11 games, making 97 saves and finishing with a .522 save percentage.
Twelve first-year student-athletes add depth to a Tiger team in search of a place among the top teams in the NCAC and a trip to their first-ever NCAA Division III Tournament. The Tigers kick off their 2009 schedule with a trip to Nashville, Tenn., to take on Sewanee at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21.
Written By: Ben Bradley, SID
Assistant
Photo By: Brad Tucker