Late Heroics Earn Tigers First Victory Of Season

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – The Wittenberg men's soccer team scored its first victory of the season with a close 2-1 win over Wilmington at home on Tuesday night, improving to 1-1 on the season.

In front of an energetic crowd at Edwards-Maurer Field, the Tigers rallied from a 1-0 deficit to score back-to-back goals in the last 18 minutes of the match.

Wilmington was first on the scoreboard when Taylor Estes scored from 35 yards out in the 22^nd minute. That was the only blemish on an otherwise superb outing for senior James Van Artsdalen (Riverwoods, Ill./Deerfield), who made five saves.

Van Artsdalen and the Tiger defense, led by the efforts of senior Adam Pitchel (Dayton, Ohio/Centerville) and senior senior Joe Poff (Vandalia, Ohio/Butler), combined to keep the Quakers quiet the rest of the way, highlighted by Van Artsdalen's outstanding lunging stop in the 86^th minute to preserve the lead.

Down 1-0, the Tigers turned to sophomore Patrick Szymczak (Westerville, Ohio/South), who scored the tying goal in the 73^rd minute. Just over 11 minutes later, senior Mitch Rudibaugh (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) collected a ball from senior Brian Boutin (Mount Vernon, Ohio/Mount Vernon) and converted it into the game-winner in the 84^th minute.

The Tigers overcame a 16-5 shot imbalance to take home the victory. Besides Szymczak and Rudibaugh, senior Reed Glosser (Toledo, Ohio/Ottawa Hills), freshman Teddy Price (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral) and freshman Daniel Roberts (Findlay, Ohio/Van Buren) got shots off in the game.

Wittenberg hits the road for the first time this season for a 5 p.m. match at Heidelberg on Friday, Sept. 5.

John Strawn '07