Tigers Head to NCAA Tournament for the First Time in Four Years
The Wittenberg Women's Soccer team is headed back to the NCAA for the first time since 2017. This will be their eighth tournament bid after winning the North Atlantic Coast Conference for the sixth time in program history. The Tigers sat in fourth going into the NCAC semis, defeated the Denison Big Red 1-0 and went on to win the championship against the College of Wooster Fighting Scots, 3-2.
The Tigers head into NCAA play with a 10-8-1 record going 5-3 in the conference. Head coach Katie Robinson and her squad heads into this match on a hot streak, winning their last four matchups, two of which were revenge wins against Denison and Wooster. Averaging 10.3 shots per game, the Red and White have outscored their opponents a combined 26 to 22, five coming from freshman Hannah Heald who is also third in the conference for assists with five. Heald has accumulated 17 points this season, tied for fourth in the conference. Junior Amy Bidwill stepped up this season with four goals and two assists on the year with a shot acccuracy percentage of .571. Bidwill gave the Tigers their semi final victory, scoring the only goal to defeat the Big Red.
With a strong defense lead by senior Maria Miller and junior Cassidy Webber the Tigers were able to keep in front of the play and keep their offenders on the outside lines only giving senior goalie Emma Schewe 74 touches on the ball with a save percentage of .804, her playoff percentage of .867 this season. Wittenberg focuses on wearing down their opponents offense by playing heavy defense and midfield, before pushing forward in the second half, as seven clear wins have come from the second half of play.
The Red and White will be traveling down to Centre College in Danville, Kentucky where they will be taking on the Emory University Eagles at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, November 12. This will be the second time the Tigers have faced the Eagles, the only other match was in 2008 ending in a 0-0 draw. This will be the first time Wittenberg heads to Centre for the NCAA tournament, as they traveled down to St. Louis, Missouri in 2017 and stayed at home in 2016. At a neutral site, the Tigers are 2-2 in tournament play.