SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – The Wittenberg women's soccer team moved back into sole possession of third place in the North Coast Athletic Conference race with a key 1-0 win over rival Wooster.
The Tigers, now 8-6-3 overall and 4-1-1 in the NCAC, welcomed the Scots, now 8-6-3 overall and 3-3-2 overall, knowing the showdown would be for third place. Denison, who entered the day also with 11 points and a share of third place, played out of conference against Case Western today.
With the win, the Tigers now have 13 points and are just two points behind front-running Allegheny and DePauw, who share 5-1-0 records in conference action.
Wittenberg took the victory away from Wooster by virtue of an 81st-minute goal by freshman Mackenzie Fisler (Batavia, Ohio/Batavia), her second of the season, where a touch of an incoming ball redirected it just enough to scoot past the goalkeeper and in for the game's only score. The ball was sent in by senior Kayla Murphy (Dayton, Ohio/Stebbins), who registered her second assist of the year.
Until that time, however, the game was evenly contested and both teams created opportunities. Those chances led to 11 shots for the Tigers, paced by four from junior Tobie Weston (Worthington, Ohio/Worthington Christian) and three by Murphy, along with two by senior Leslie Oliver (Enon, Ohio/Greenon) and one each for sophomore Zoe Curry (Milford, Ohio/Ursuline) and Fisler.
Wooster managed six shots, forcing freshman goalkeeper Kelsey Lorko (Fairview Park, Ohio/Fairview) into just one save in the match. The Tigers also held an advantage of five corner kicks to one.
Wittenberg finds itself with a big opportunity in the final two-game stretch, facing both NCAC co-leaders to round out the regular season. It starts with a 7 p.m. showdown on the road with NCAC co-leader DePauw on Tuesday, Oct. 29, and concludes with Senior Recognition Day against the Allegheny Gators at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 2.
John Strawn '07