SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – The Wittenberg men's soccer team scored its first victory of the season with a close 2-1 win over Wilmington at home on Tuesday night, improving to 1-1 on the season.
In front of an energetic crowd at Edwards-Maurer Field, the Tigers rallied from a 1-0 deficit to score back-to-back goals in the last 18 minutes of the match.
Wilmington was first on the scoreboard when Taylor Estes scored from 35 yards out in the 22nd minute. That was the only blemish on an otherwise superb outing for senior James Van Artsdalen (Riverwoods, Ill./Deerfield), who made five saves.
Van Artsdalen and the Tiger defense, led by the efforts of senior Adam Pitchel (Dayton, Ohio/Centerville) and senior senior Joe Poff (Vandalia, Ohio/Butler), combined to keep the Quakers quiet the rest of the way, highlighted by Van Artsdalen's outstanding lunging stop in the 86th minute to preserve the lead.
Down 1-0, the Tigers turned to sophomore Patrick Szymczak (Westerville, Ohio/South), who scored the tying goal in the 73rd minute. Just over 11 minutes later, senior Mitch Rudibaugh (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) collected a ball from senior Brian Boutin (Mount Vernon, Ohio/Mount Vernon) and converted it into the game-winner in the 84th minute.
The Tigers overcame a 16-5 shot imbalance to take home the victory. Besides Szymczak and Rudibaugh, senior Reed Glosser (Toledo, Ohio/Ottawa Hills), freshman Teddy Price (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral) and freshman Daniel Roberts (Findlay, Ohio/Van Buren) got shots off in the game.
Wittenberg hits the road for the first time this season for a 5 p.m. match at Heidelberg on Friday, Sept. 5.
John Strawn '07