Tigers Lose Three And Right Themselves With a Win

Hans Rydquist

The Wittenberg men's lacrosse team is once again competing well with top teams. Now the Tigers are hoping to get over the hump with the bulk of the schedule coming up over the next five weeks.

In the last two weeks, the Tigers have played four games, starting with a 12-7 loss at home to St. Vincent on March 6. In that game, freshman Adam Morrison (Columbus, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) finished with three goals and one assist, freshman Sammy Hong (Dublin, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) added two goals and one assist and sophomore Cory Windle (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) chipped in with one goal and two assists. The Tigers played very evenly with the visitors, but they couldn't recover from an early 4-0 deficit.

The team's annual spring break trip involved games at Randolph-Macon on March 10 and St. Mary's on March 13. The Tigers lost a pair of heartbreakers, 11-10 to Randolph-Macon and 10-8 to St. Mary's, after leading in the second half of both games.

Against Randolph-Macon, the Tigers led 7-6 in the third quarter and rallied with a pair of goals in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 10. But the host team scored the game-winner with 2:50 remaining.

Hong finished with four goals and one assist, senior Hans Rydquist (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) added three goals and one assist and Windle contributed one goal and three assists. Senior Kyle Prussing (Concord, Mass./Concord-Carlisle) made 13 saves in goal for the Tigers.

In the loss to St. Mary's, Wittenberg took an early 3-0 lead and still held an 8-7 advantage after Rydquist scored career-best fifth goal of the game with 7:14 remaining in the fourth quarter. But the host team scored the last three goals of the game, all in a span of two minutes, to steal the win. Prussing finished with 14 saves.

The Tigers got things back on track on March 20 with a home 15-4 NCAC victory over Oberlin. The win moved Wittenberg's overall record to 1-4 and evened the team's NCAC record at 1-1.

Rydquist was again the offensive story for the Tigers as he scored four goals. Windle also finished with four goals, and he added an assist. Also getting into the scoring act multiple times were Hong with two goals and two assists, freshman Travis Moore (Columbus, Ohio/Wellington) with two goals and Morrison with three assists.

In recognition of his outstanding performance in the two games last week, Rydquist earned NCAC Player of the Week for the first time in his career.

The Tigers now take to the road - Tobacco Road that is - for games at Greensboro and Guilford in North Carolina this weekend. Then it's back home for three straight NCAC games against Denison, Kenyon and Wooster that will make or break the Tigers' season.