Tigers Fall In Thrilling Shootout At Ohio Wesleyan In NCAC Tournament Finals

DELAWARE, Ohio — The Wittenberg Tigers did what Head Coach Steve Dawson always asks - they left it all on the field. Unfortunately, the Tigers came up just short of the ultimate goal, settling for a 2-2 tie with defending North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) champion Ohio Wesleyan before losing a penalty kick shootout, 4-3.

November 8, 2008

Matt Borland

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers did what Head Coach Steve Dawson always asks - they left it all on the field. Unfortunately, the Tigers came up just short of the ultimate goal, settling for a 2-2 tie with defending North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) champion Ohio Wesleyan before losing a penalty kick shootout, 4-3.

The loss within a tie left Wittenberg, the No. 3 seed in the NCAC Tournament, with a 16-3-1 overall record. More importantly, the Tigers had to watch Ohio Wesleyan, the No. 1 seed after a perfect NCAC regular season run, celebrate the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Wittenberg, ranked second in the Great Lakes Region behind Ohio Wesleyan going into this week's competition, will have to hope for an at-large berth into the national tournament. Selections for the 2008 NCAA Division III Tournament will be announced Monday, Nov. 10 - the Tigers are hoping for their first berth since 1996.

The Tigers got the jump on the host team with a first-half goal by senior forwardMatt Borland (Kettering, Ohio/Alter). After the Battling Bishops tied the game midway through the second half, the Tigers struck back quickly as junior forwardRyan Ruef (Plain City, Ohio/Jonathan Alder) scored on a breakaway in the 67th minute.

With just eight minutes to play, however, OWU got the equalizer, and from there the two teams battled to a 2-2 draw through two overtimes. Both teams had several other golden opportunities in this well-played, up-and-down contest - the Tigers had a goal early in the second half called back on a late foul call, while OWU had two second-half opportunities from point-blank range miss the goal, one wide and one over the top of the goal.

In the shootout, freshman goalkeeper Michael Lambeck (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman)made a save on the first shot, but OWU was up to the task on the next four attempts. The Tigers then missed their fourth and fifth attempts to end just the second shootout in NCAC Tournament championship game history.

Lambeck was credited with eight saves in the game, compared to five by the Bishops' Richard Ott. Ohio Wesleyan was awarded a 31-18 shots advantage in the final statistics, in addition to a 7-2 edge in corner kick opportunities.