Wittenberg Captures Overtime Win Over Earlham

Sara Pirozzi

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - After a huge conference win over Hiram last Friday, the Wittenberg Tigers came out dominating once again against the Earlham Quakers. The Tigers' hard work and determination paid off with a 1-0 overtime win over the visiting Quakers.

The Tigers improved to 10-3-2 overall and 3-1-1 in the North Coast Athletic Conference. Coupled with a Kenyon upset of Wooster this evening, Wittenberg is back in the hunt for the top spot in the regular season title chase with three games to play - at Oberlin, home against Ohio Wesleyan and at Allegheny in a span of seven days, starting Saturday.

The first half was all Tigers as they six shots on goal and six corner kicks. The Tigers forced the action throughout the first half but could not finish their opportunities, which included a pair of headers that went just over the goal and a near-miss by junior forward Sydney Bates (Loveland, Ohio/Miford) early in the half kept the Tigers goal hungry as they entered into halftime tied 0-0.

The second half was almost a repeat of the first as the Tigers had multiple chances to score but were unable to finish. Junior Amanda Farrell (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland) launched two shots over the crossbar and junior Lindsey Rusch (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) created several quality opportunities, but the Tigers were left without a goal, while Wittenberg's defense held Earlham without a single shot through the end of regulation.

Overtime started with the Quakers on the run as the Earlham offense launched its first shot of the game just one minute into overtime. Just four minutes later into a neck and neck battle, freshman Sara Pirozzi (Akron, Ohio/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy) scored the Tigers' lone goal of the game off a breakaway. For the game, Wittenberg outshot Earlham 14-1 and generated 14 corner kick opportunities to zero for the Quakers.