SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The Wittenberg men's lacrosse team battled back from an 8-4 deficit early in the third quarter against Adrian to tie the game at 11 on Saturday, but ultimately dropped the contest in double overtime by a 12-11 final score.
Wittenberg picked up just its second loss on the season in moving to 5-2, while the Bulldogs improved to 6-1 and got a measure of revenge for their season-ending 8-7 overtime loss to the Tigers in last year's NCAA Division III Tournament.
Wittenberg never led in the game after an early 3-0 jump by Adrian. The Tigers answered with a three-goal rally to tie things at three-all early in the second, but Adrian outscored the Tigers 5-1 over the next 17 minutes to take an 8-4 lead.
The Tigers returned the favor and scored seven goals against Adrian's three over the remaining 24:43 of regulation gameplay. Senior Jim Ferris (Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids) kicked off the rally with an unassisted goal and tallied two assists in the ensuing action.
Senior Jimmy Luckino (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) added an unassisted goal before Adrian scored to make it a 9-6 contest, but the Tigers would again score back-to-back goals, both from freshman Andrew Morrisson (Columbus, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson), bringing the deficit down to one at 9-8.
Adrian answered again with two more goals, bringing the score to 11-8 with 9:22 left in regulation. That is when the Tigers reeled off three unanswered goals over the last four minutes to tie the game and send it to overtime.
Sophomore Jack Bornhofen (Peachtree City, Ga./McIntosh) started the final charge off an assist from Ferris, followed by a score from junior Tyler Hall (Evanston, Ill./Evanston) and a laser shot from junior Alex Previte (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) to tie the game with 1:11 remaining.
Adrian and Wittenberg battled through a scoreless first overtime and most of a second overtime before the Bulldogs landed the deciding goal with 44 seconds left.
Ferris (one goal, two assists) and Morrisson (two goals, one assist) led the Tigers in points with three each, followed by two from Hall, Previte and Luckino, each on two goals.
Bornhofen and senior Charles Harreys (Essex, Conn./Valley Regional) each finished the game with one goal and Harreys led the team with four ground balls. Senior goalkeeper Spencer Baker (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington)made 13 saves in 67:16 in goal, including three in overtime.
Wittenberg kicks off North Coast Athletic Conference action on Saturday, March 31, at Kenyon for a 1 p.m. game.
John Strawn '07