Greencastle, IN- Wittenberg returned to action on the road tonight for their eighth conference match-up of the season under the lights. The Tigers took on the Tigers of DePauw, with a final score of 12-4 and a win for the Red & White to improve their conference record to 5-3.
Wittenberg led the action in ground balls, clear attempts, and caused turnovers. Four quarters of fast paced play led the Tigers to a victory with their strongest offensive quarter coming in the second with five goals. Scoring in the first quarter for Wittenberg was Nathan Brown with two back-to-back goals, one assisted by Julio Novarini. Noah Mackin picked up the Tigers third goal with an assist from Busby while Holton Boehmer put in the fourth goal with another assist from Busby. The Red & White headed into the second with a 4-0 score and left DePauw scoreless into the final minutes of the second quarter. While shutting down DePauw, Wittenberg was able to put five more goals up in the second from Mackin, Boehmer assisted by Busby, Novarini assisted by Busby, Zach Busby with a man-up goal from Mitchell Steinker, and Ben Holland with yet another assist from Busby. The Red & White went into the half with a comfortable 9-1 lead but would be met with a deadlocked third period with neither team scoring. Coming back in the fourth quarter, the Tigers were able to put three more on the board for their final 12-4 score. Wittenberg goals came from Kody Gould, Zach Busby from Connor Matthews while man-up, and Julio Novarini.
The Tigers currently sit at number five in the NCAC with a conference record of 5-3.
Wittenberg Leaders- The Tigers were led by a quartet of Zach Busby, Julio Novarini, Holton Boehmer, Noah Mackin, and Nathan Brown with two goals each. Busby had an outstanding day with five assists for seven points on the day. Braeden Meier led in ground balls picking up five on the day with three caused turnovers. At the face-off was Luke Stanfield going 8-19. In goal for the Tigers was Brandon Shevins who faced 14 shots with 10 saves on the day.
NCAC Leaders- Wittenberg has four guys in the top ten for statistics in the NCAC. Ben Holland is at number five in the conference for goals with 30 and number nine for assists with 18. The only NCAC leaders ahead of the freshman for goals are four seniors. Holland continues to lead the NCAC in points at number six with 48 points. In face-off success, Luke Stanfield lands at number eight going 94-183. On the defensive end, Max Benincasa is number six in the NCAC for caused turnovers with 24 on the season. (All statistics based prior to today's match-up. For full NCAC leaders head to https://www.northcoast.org/sports/mlax/2021-22/leaders)
Up Next- Wittenberg will return to action on the 30th for their final regular season game against Denison at home.