2002 Season Outlook

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Rebecca Russ (pictured at left) was a third-team All-America selection in 2001, and she spearheads one of the best defenses in the nation again this year.

There are a lot of question marks surrounding the 2002 Wittenberg field hockey team, but the answers could prove quite convincing. In each of the last two years, the Tigers have come up just short in bids for the NCAA Division III tournament, but this year a core group of outstanding seniors hope to push the program back onto the national scene.

Leading the charge is a trio of 2001 Great Lakes Region All-Americans, defenders Rebecca Russ (Louisville, Ky./Sacred Heart) and Heather House (Dayton, Ohio/Oakwood) and forward Emily Duh (Hellertown, Pa./Saucon Valley). Russ, a two-time first-team All-North Coast Athletic Conference selection, earned the added recognition of third-team All-America honors, the second Tiger player in as many years to each such accolades.

Russ and House spearhead an outstanding defense, joining with fellow senior Jill Hobelman (St. Louis, Mo./Villa Duchesne) to protect sophomore goaltender Jen Meyer (Solon, Ohio/Hathaway Brown), who came on strong in the latter half of 2001. The Tigers have had one of the best defensive units in the nation each of the last two years (Wittenberg allowed just 10 goals in 16 games against Division III opponents in 2001) under the direction of Head Coach Marianne Beshara, and experience is now as much on their side as talent.

Playing great defense is only half the battle, however, and the Tigers will turn to Duh for offensive production as the team's top three scorers in 2001 are no longer in the program. Duh finished with four goals and three assists a year ago, a year after tallying 21 total points in the 2000 season. She will be joined on the attack by, among others, junior Katie Babcock (Phoenix, Md./Dulaney), who sat out a year ago due to a foot injury, sophomores Blair Ufer (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer), Katie Houchens (Denver, Colo./Kent Denver) and Deb Muller (Weston, Conn./The Millbrook School) and freshman Emma Rufleth (Clinton, Conn./The Morgan School).

The Tigers have a difficult non-conference schedule, which includes games against NAIA powers Lindenwood and Houghton and NCAA Division III powers Lebanon Valley, DePauw and Juniata, and the conference appears to be wide open at the top with Denison, Wooster and Wittenberg. New this year is the first-ever NCAC Field Hockey Championship Tournament, which will involve the top four schools in the conference playing a single-elimination tournament the weekends of Nov. 2 and 9.