Wittenberg Falls On Senior Night To Denison

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers may have just one senior on the roster in 2005, but they still wanted to send forward Julia Wickham out on the right foot, in the process hopefully assuring themselves at least one North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament game at home next week. It didn't happen, however, as the visiting Denison Big Red rallied for a 2-1 overtime victory at Edwards-Maurer Field.

The Tigers fell to 9-7 overall and 7-4 in the NCAC, and combined with Wooster's win over Ohio Wesleyan dropped to third place in the conference standings heading into Saturday's regular season finale at NCAC-leading Oberlin. Wednesday's loss means that Wittenberg now cannot catch Oberlin even with a win on the Yeowomen's home turf Saturday, ending the Tigers' three-year reign atop the conference regular season standings. The Tigers can, however, still finish in a second-place tie with Wooster with a win and a Scots' loss.

After a scoreless first half, the Tigers, who had won seven of their last eight games, appeared to take control against Denison, which had beaten Wittenberg 3-0 last month in Granville. The two teams were even at four shots apiece at the intermission, and the Tigers jumped on top just four minutes into the extra session on a goal by sophomore Caroline Mason, off a feed from freshman Mackenzie Huber.

Denison, however, recovered quite nicely, outshooting Wittenberg 11-2 for the second half overall and finally knotting the score at 1-1 with a 6:51 remaining in the game. Less than four minutes into overtime the Big Red scored the game-winner, capping a disappointing Senior Night for the Tigers.

In goal, the Tigers, who fell to 1-4 in overtime games in 2005, picked up eight saves from sophomore goalkeeper Nicole Irvin.