Tigers Clinch Outright NCAC Title With Win At Oberlin

OBERLIN, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers put the finishing touches on their third consecutive perfect run through the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) regular season schedule with an 18-11 victory over Oberlin.

The win moved the Tigers to 12-2 overall and 8-0 in the NCAC for a second consecutive year. Wittenberg will take a 22-game NCAC regular season winning streak into the 2015 season, but only after the Tigers take the No. 1 seed and home field advantage into the NCAC Tournament for a third straight year.

The victory guaranteed one more important thing, as the Tigers clinched their first-ever NCAC Championship trophy in women's lacrosse. Before the 2014 season, the league championship was awarded to the winner of the tournament.

After Oberlin opened the scoring, Wittenberg responded with five straight goals and never looked back. By halftime, the Tigers held an 11-6 lead, and over the final 30 minutes the lead slowly grew to as large as eight.

Wittenberg held a 35-24 advantage in shots in the game. The offense was spearheaded by senior Francine Murzynski (Mentor, Ohio/Lake Catholic) with two goals and five assists and junior Logan Warye (Maineville, Ohio/Kings) with two goals and four assists. Freshman Becca Joseph (Toledo, Ohio/St. Ursula) added three goals and senior Alie Marousek (Ballston Lake, NY/Portsmouth (NH)) piled up four goals and one assist.

Other stats of note were nine draw controls for sophomore Carrie Kubasta (Medina, Ohio/Medina), seven ground balls and five caused turnovers for Warye, four caused turnovers for Marousek, three ground balls for sophomore Sara Ellis (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich./Grosse Pointe South) and six saves for sophomore goalkeeper Katie Reuter (Cleveland, Ohio/Hathaway Brown).

Wittenberg will close the 2014 regular season with a non-conference home game against Carthage at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 27. The NCAC Tournament opens with semifinal games on Thursday, May 1.