Tigers Top Otterbein In Overtime

Alejandro Garcia

WESTERVILLE, Ohio — The Wittenberg Tigers battled their second straight opponent to a scoreless regulation draw, but unlike Wednesday's tie against visiting Thomas More the Tigers got the best of things in overtime against host Otterbein for a 1-0 victory.

The win evened the Tigers' record at 2-2-1, heading into a busy three-game week that includes the annual Wittenberg Invitational Sept. 18 and 19. Otterbein dropped to 1-4 on the season.

The key for Wittenberg was another stellar defensive effort as the Tigers have now gone 230 minutes without allowing a score after losing 4-0 to Mount Union on Sept. 5 at Carnegie Mellon. Despite the absence of multiple projected starters, the Tigers have maintained back-to-back clean sheets behind a young defense, which includes sophomore Alejandro Garcia (Toledo, Ohio/St. Francis), junior Zach Hedges (Carroll, Ohio/Bloom Carroll) and freshman Tim Weissman (Kettering, Ohio/Fairmont) in new roles.

Their efforts, combined with junior goalkeeper Michael Lambeck (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) in the back of the formation, allowed the Tigers to overcome a 19-10 deficit in shots. Wittenberg had the lone scoring opportunity in the overtime session, however, and senior forward Tom Fisher (Ridgefield, Conn./Ridgefield) made good on it, corraling a loose ball in the penalty box to score the game's only goal.