Tigers Cap Spring Break Trip With Win At Randolph

Beth Hubbard and the Tigers have piled up 41 goals in their first two games of the 2014 season. File Photo | Erin Pence
Beth Hubbard and the Tigers have piled up 41 goals in their first two games of the 2014 season. File Photo | Erin Pence

LYNCHBURG, Va. - The Wittenberg women's lacrosse team won their second road in less than 24 hours, breaking open a close game with a 10-goal burst to start the second half en route to an 18-7 victory at Randolph.

The win came on the heels of the Tigers' 23-17 victory at Guilford a day earlier. Randolph fell to 3-2 on the young season.

The host Wildcats struck first after nearly 12 minutes of scoreless action to open the game. But Wittenberg answered with three goals.

After Randolph tied the game with 12:24 remaining, the Tigers went on top for good, scoring four times in a five-minute span before the Wildcats pulled one back with 48 seconds left before halftime. That set the stage for a dominant second half for Wittenberg, which scored 10 straight goals before Randolph closed with three of the final four tallies in the game.

The Tigers held a commanding 42-15 advantage in shots, while the ground ball tally was dead even at 20 apiece. Randolph committed nine more turnovers in the game, and the Wildcats were under 50 percent on their clearance success rate, two key statistics that turned things in Wittenberg's favor.

Sophomore Olivia Lash (Cleveland Heights, Ohio/Cleveland Heights) continued her strong play for the Tigers, leading the offense with four goals and two assists. She was joined in the scoring column by junior Beth Hubbard (West Hartford, Conn./Notre Dame de Sion (Mo.)), junior Logan Warye (Maineville, Ohio/Kings) and senior Francine Murzynski (Mentor, Ohio/Lake Catholic), all with matching stat lines of three goals and one assist.

In addition, freshman Anna Tarbutton (Gahanna, Ohio/Lincoln) and senior Alie Marousek (Ballston Lake, NY/Portsmouth (NH)) each finished with two goals and one assist, freshman Becca Joseph (Toledo, Ohio/St. Ursula) contributed one goal and two assists, and junior Megan Loofbourrow (Prospect, Ky./Ballard) rounded things out with one assist.

In goal, the sophomore tandem of Katie Reuter (Cleveland, Ohio/Hathaway Brown) and Maddy Kelly (Columbus, Ohio/Bexley) shared time, combining for three saves while playing one half each between the pipes. Also of note, Murzynski led all players with seven draw controls and four caused turnovers to go along with three ground balls, while Marousek also stuffed the boxscore with three ground balls, four draw controls and four caused turnovers. Loofbourrow, Hubbard and Warye each picked up three caused turnovers as well.