Whittier Rallies Late To Overcome Tigers

Joelle Ghanem

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Throughout most of the Wittenberg women's lacrosse game versus Whittier at home on Monday afternoon, the Tigers held the lead. But the Poets kept attacking and scored the last four goals of the game to take a 15-14 decision over the Tigers, ending Wittenberg's four-game winning streak and moving them to 7-2 overall. 

The Tigers took a 9-7 lead into halftime and for most of the second half traded goals with Whittier. Wittenberg scored back-to-back goals with 10 and eight minutes left in the second half to take a 14-11 lead, but Whittier scored four straight goals in the last 4:36, including the game-winning goal with just 30 seconds remaining.

Leading the charge offensively for the Tigers was senior midfielder Joelle Ghanem (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman), who netted four goals and two assists to go with a groundball and one draw control. Junior attacker Maggie Amorello (Sutton, Mass./Worcester Academy) also tallied four goals, pairing that with two draw controls, one groundball and one caused turnover.

Freshman midfielder Kellen Morrissey (Aurora, Colo./Smoky Hill) scored two of the Tigers' goals, both in the first half, while earning one assist and picking up three groundballs, and sophomore attacker Lindsey Hanners (New Albany, Ohio/Columbus School For Girls) scored two goals on three shots.

Sophomore midfielder Katie Frey (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) and sophomore attacker Krissy Battles (Kingswood, Texas/Kingswood) each scored once to round out the Tigers' offensive column. Battles and freshman midfielder Erin Guiliano (Loveland, Ohio/Kings) led the team with five groundballs apiece.

The Tigers now prepare for a road trip to North Coast Athletic Conference foe Denison on Thursday for a 7 p.m. game in Granville, Ohio.

Written by: John Strawn '07