SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The Wittenberg Tigers ushered in the home portion of the 2010 schedule with perhaps their best performance so far, jumping out to a 7-1 lead midway through the second quarter en route to a convincing 18-8 victory over visiting St. Vincent.
The win moved Wittenberg, which started the season with three road games and then played two neutral site games on Spring Break in Clearwater, Fla., to 4-2 on the campaign, while St. Vincent fell to 1-3. The Tigers have a week of rest and practice before another home game against Adrian at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 20.
After an even start, the Tigers pounced late in the first quarter, stringing three straight goals together for a 4-1 advantage. The highlight was provided by junior defenseman Ryan Spain (Concord, NH/Bishop Brady), who made a full-field run into the attacking zone before dumping a short pass to junior attacker Matt Lord (Pickerington, Ohio/North), who beat the St. Vincent goalkeeper with a scant 0.4 seconds showing on the clock to complete the momentum-building sequence.
By halftime, the Tigers had expanded the lead to 10-3, and they put the game away with six unanswered tallies in the third period. Lord finished with six goals, followed offensively by junior Mitch Cohagan (Pickerington, Ohio/Lord) with four goals. Junior Matt Snider (Cookeville, Tenn./Cookeville) and senior Mike Derrenberger (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) added two goals each, while junior Brady Christensen (Medina, Ohio/Medina) and Snider each contributed two assists.
Lord led both teams with five ground balls, while sophomore goalkeeper Spencer Baker (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) was stellar in goal, finishing with nine saves.