Lucia Cornett

The Wittenberg women's soccer team seems to be making the progress necessary to be a force to be reckoned with in the upcoming NCAC title chase. The Tigers have posted three wins in their last four games to move back to the .500 mark.

Since an 0-3-1 stretch culminated in a 2-2 tie with visiting Mount Union on Sept. 13, the Tigers have played well almost every time out. The results were hard-fought 1-0 wins over Ohio Dominican and Wilmington on Sept. 16 and 18 respectively, a 4-3 loss at Susquehanna on Sept. 21 and a 2-0 win at Muskingum on Sept. 24.

Against Susquehanna, a game played a day after the team attended a Women's World Cup doubleheader in Philadelphia, the Tigers struggled through several defensive lapses in the first half to fall behind 4-1. A furious second-half rally, highlighted by a goal by senior Geri Woessner (Dayton, Ohio/Oakwood) and the second goal of the game by freshman Lucia Cornett (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills), ended just short as the Tigers dropped a 4-3 decision.

Wittenberg rebounded against Muskingum as Woessner and freshman Mandie Dimenna (Blacklick, Ohio/Gahanna Lincoln) scored the goals and senior goalkeeper Jenny Miller (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mother of Mercy) posted her fourth shutout of the season.

The season's schedule offers nonconference games against Cedarville and Urbana over the next week, a pair of local NAIA scholarship programs, on Friday and Wednesday, Oct. 8, sandwiched around the NCAC opener at Earlham on Wednesday, Oct. 1. The conference chase will be an extremely challenging one for the young Tigers as four NCAC teams are currently ranked among the top 10 in the region and three in the top 15 in the nation.