Elliot Avis

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The Wittenberg Tigers put together a dominating first half, leading to a 12-7 victory over Mount St. Joseph in their 2011 home opener.

The win moved Wittenberg to 3-0 on the young season, heading into a busy Spring Break that includes a home game against Concordia (Wisc.) on Saturday, March 5, and a week of training in Florida that culminates with a game against Birmingham Southern on Saturday, March 12. Mount St. Joseph dropped to 0-2.

The Tigers scored the first six goals of the game en route to a 10-2 halftime lead. The ball was in the Lions' end for most of the first 30 minutes as Wittenberg piled up a 29-14 advantage in shots, thanks in large part to 11 face-off wins in 14 attempts by junior Elliot Avis (Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids).

For the game, Avis won 14 of his 18 face-offs and Wittenberg won 16-of-23 overall. Mount St. Joseph managed to rally in the second half, with both teams scoring twice in the third quarter and the Lions scoring all three of the goals in the fourth quarter.

The Tigers' offense was led by senior Matt Lord (Pickerington, Ohio/North) with four goals on nine shots, while sophomore Alex Previte (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) added three goals to go along with six ground balls, the second-best total in the game. Top honors in the ground balls category went to senior Danny Johnson (Cincinnati, Ohio/Indian Hill), who corralled nine, many coming off face-off wins by Avis.

Senior goalkeeper Mark DeOliveira (East Hanover, NJ/East Hanover) was solid in goal, contributing four ground balls and three caused turnovers, in addition to his eight saves.