ALLIANCE, Ohio-- Wittenberg women's lacrosse took their 4-0 program to Mt. Union University on Saturday, and came up short in a 16-7 decision. The Tigers did their best to claw back early in the second-half, but the deficit they allowed to surmount in the first-half proved to be too much in the end. The loss moves the Tigers to 4-1 on the season as the Tigers look to open up NCAC play next week.

GAME BREAKDOWN

• In the first half, Mt. Union jetted out to an early 5-1 lead before the Tigers offense could get things going.
• Mount Union went on to score six consecutive unanswered goals to end the half, as Wittenberg trailed 11-1 at the break.
• Becca Joseph (Toledo, Ohio/St. Ursula) proved to be the spark that the Tigers needed at the beginning of the half, as the junior netted an early goal that led to three more unanswered goals for Wittenberg to start the half.
• The Tigers early rally cut the Mt. Union lead to 12-5 with less than 18:00 remaining in the game.
• Mt. Union then answered back with three more goals of their own to push the lead to 15-5.
• The Tigers eventually fell 16-7 after netting two more late goals in the game.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• As a team, Wittenberg collected 18 ground balls and forced Mt. Union into 15 turnovers on the day.
• Joseph led the way for the Tigers, netting four goals on eight total shots in the loss.

KEY STATS

• The Tigers seven goals only included one assist, as Victoria Zysik (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg) found Joseph early in the first-half.
• Katie Reuter (Cleveland, Ohio/Hathaway Brown) collected seven saves in net for the Tigers as the senior moves to 4-1 on the season.

FROM THE BENCH

• "We will have to take this game as a lesson learned…I do not want to take anything away from Mt. Union, as they are very strong and talented, but we were just not able to cut the 11-1 deficit that we put ourselves in in the first-half. We came back in the second-half and I am proud of the team for this, but now we must move on and prepare ourselves for Urbana," said Coach St. Pierre.

UP NEXT

• Wittenberg returns to action against NCAA Division II opponent Urbana University on March 21 in Springfield. Game-time is set for 7:00PM.

Written By: Kuris Duggan