DELAWARE, Ohio – In the regular season finale, the Wittenberg men's lacrosse team fell to Ohio Wesleyan by a score of 16-4 Saturday at Selby Stadium, moving to 10-4 overall and 4-3 in the North Coast Athletic Conference.
The 4-3 record leaves Wittenberg in a tie for third place with Kenyon, also 4-3 in the NCAC, with 3-3 Wooster yet to take on Oberlin tonight at 7 p.m. Should Wooster win, the three teams will share third place in the regular season standings, but tiebreaker criteria suggest that Kenyon and Wittenberg would receive the third and fourth seeds in the upcoming four-team NCAC Tournament.
The NCAC Tournament commences on Wednesday, April 23, with semifinal matchups at Denison, which won the regular season conference title after a lopsided victory over Hiram today, and at Ohio Wesleyan, which finished second. The third seed will travel to Ohio Wesleyan and the fourth to Denison.
The Tigers appear in line to draw Denison in the opening round. Wittenberg lost 14-8 to the Big Red at home on Saturday, April 12.
In the regular season finale, the Tigers struck first against the Battling Bishops as senior Jack Bornhofen (Peachtree City, Ga./McIntosh) converted a pass from Sean Kelleher (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) 7:25 into the game. Ohio Wesleyan responded with two goals in the remainder of the first quarter and went on to score the next eight goals to build a 10-1 lead.
With 56 seconds left in the third quarter, sophomore TJ Smith (Atlanta, Ga./The Marist School) broke the Bishops' run with an unassisted goal.
The Bishops scored three more to make it 13-3 before the Tigers got back-to-back goals from Kelleher and sophomore Andrew Fuss (New Albany, Ohio/Gahanna Lincoln), the latter assisted by junior Nick Bergenty (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan).
Ohio Wesleyan tallied the last three goals of the game.
Kelleher finished atop the Tiger scoring list with one goal and one assist. Fuss, Bornhofen and Smith all finished with one goal while Bergenty notched an assist. Junior Riley Boehm (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) and freshman David Strahm (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington) split the lead in ground balls with three apiece, and Strahm added two caused turnovers.
The Tigers await the results of the game between Wooster and Oberlin, as well as official word from the NCAC office, to find out where they will be headed on Wednesday night. Follow the league office at @NCAC on Twitter or North Coast Athletic Conference on Facebook to find out the final regular season standings and the tournament seeding when they are announced.
John Strawn '07