Stefan Latham

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The Wittenberg men's soccer team took an early 2-0 lead and never looked back, defeating Mount Union 2-1 to open the home slate and the Wittenberg Invitational with a victory while moving to 2-1 overall.

The Tigers and Purple Raiders got all the scoring done in the first period, with Wittenberg striking twice in the first 17 minutes of the match and Mount Union scoring in the 38th minute. The second half saw a total of eight shots, but Wittenberg senior Michael Lambeck (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) and Mount's Jon Critell made four and two saves, respectively, to keep the margin intact.

The Tigers scored their two goals on four shots in the first period, and added three shots in the second for a total of seven, while Mount Union attempted 11 shots.

In the 13th minute, the Tigers opened the scoring when senior Declan McBride (Surrey, England/Tasis) played the ball into the 18-yard box for senior Dan Broidy (Bexley, Ohio/Bexley), who beat the goalkeeper to the far post to make it a 1-0 game.

Senior Stefan Latham (Springfield, Ohio/Catholic Central) notched the winning goal just 3:28 later when he laced a set kick that deflected off the cross bar and into the net.

Mount Union's Chris Motley cut the lead in half with a header eight minutes before the break on a feed from Phil Spagnolo to make it 2-1.

The Tigers return to action tomorrow, Sunday, Sept. 11, in the closing game of the Wittenberg Invitational against Otterbein at 6 p.m. Mount Union takes on Kenyon at Edwards-Maurer Field at 3:30 p.m.

John Strawn '07