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SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tiger men's soccer team have gotten off to a strong start early in the 2007 season with a solid win over their first Wittenberg Invitational opponent, Tri-State. Strong performances from Matt Borland (Kettering, Ohio/Alter) on the offensive side and the entire Tiger defense put a one in the win column.
It took only 15 minutes for Wittenberg to gain the early advantage, as Michael Condon (Powell, Ohio/Waterson) fed the ball to Borland, who laced it into the goal for the first of his two on the night. Borland continued to dominate the game through the first half, scoring the Tiger's second goal in minute 33 of a Ryan Ruef assist. Throughout the first period the Red & White defense got it done, allowing zero shots on goal, making things easy for goalkeeper Ben McAnnis-Entenman (Portland, Ore./Cleveland).
In the second half, the Tiger defense slowed down a bit, allowing five shots on goal, but McAnnis-Entenman stopped four of them, giving up just one goal in his 90 minutes. Tri-State's defense tightened up a bit in the second period, allowing four more shots but but keeping all but one from scoring. In the 67th minute, Joe Zeller set up junior Ryan Ruef (Plain City, Ohio/Jonathon Alder) off a free kick from the left side, allowing Ruef to muscle the shot into the net.
Tri-State finally got on the board for the first and only time in the game with a goal from Justin Dow, with an assist from B.J. Still at the 86 minute mark. As a kick from Still sailed toward the middle of the goalkeeper's box, Tiger goalkeeper McAnnis-Entenman charged away from the net in an attempt to recover a sailing kick over the middle of the box, but could not track it down, allowing Dow to score unchallenged.
Other shots for Wittenberg came from junior Shane Price (Minford, Ohio/Minford) who had three, junior Justin Jenkins (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) with one, and junior Jimmy Thinnes (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) with one. Three Tri-State players finished with shots on goal, including Dow (one), Rudy Cantrell (three), and Ryan Brennel (one).