Tigers Fall To Ohio Wesleyan 11-3 In Home Finale

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – Facing a tough opponent in visiting Ohio Wesleyan, the Wittenberg men's lacrosse team had a tough time finding ways past the Bishops' goalkeeper en route to an 11-3 loss on Saturday.

The Tigers levied 29 shots at the net, including eight from senior Alex Previte (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) and four from freshman Thomas Fuss (New Albany, Ohio/Gahanna Lincoln) and senior Tyler Hall (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Twp.).

Ohio Wesleyan goalkeeper Ryan McMahon was impressive as he kept a clean sheet through three quarters before allowing the first Wittenberg goal nearly 50 minutes into the contest.

The breakthrough came courtesy sophomore Lewis Thompson (Sandy Hook, Conn./Newtown), who parleyed a Previte feed into a goal with 10:23 remaining to get the Tigers on the board.

Freshman Andrew Fuss (New Albany, Ohio/Gahanna Lincoln) followed up three minutes later with the Tigers' second goal, an unassisted score that made it a 9-2 game. Hall found the net with four minutes to go with help from Thompson to round out the scoring for Wittenberg.

The faceoff column was split evenly with nine wins for each side, and the Tigers' two faceoff men followed suit, each winning half of their battles. Sophomore Riley Boehm (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) was 4-of-8 and sophomore Ryan Spitzer (Lincolnshire, Ill./Stevenson) was 5-of-10 in the circle.

Boehm turned that solid performance into a team-high six groundballs, and was also credited with two caused turnovers, a mark matched by sophomore Nick Bergenty (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) and junior Hunter Bastian (Knoxville, Tenn./Horace Greeley).

The match with Ohio Wesleyan would have concluded the Tigers' season if not for a postponed contest with DePauw. Originally scheduled to take place on April 17 but scratched due to field conditions, Wittenberg will now travel to DePauw on Tuesday, April 23, for a 4 p.m. game to finish off the 2013 slate.

John Strawn '07