Round Up: The Young Tigers Make It To the NCAC Tournament

Meghan O'Rourke

The Wittenberg women's soccer team nearly did what would have been thought to be impossible at the start of the 2004 season. The precocious young Tigers advanced to the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament championship game before finally seeing their season end on Saturday.

A dream season ended at fifth-ranked Ohio Wesleyan as the Tigers, making their first appearance in the NCAC Tournament championship game, lost 1-0 to the top-seeded Battling Bishops. The Tigers dropped to 11-4-5 overall after posting a 5-3 NCAC regular season record, good for third place.

Ohio Wesleyan, which won national titles in 2001 and 2002, was the aggressor in the 2004 championship match, outshooting Wittenberg 16-3 and attempting seven corner kicks to one for the Tigers. Freshman goalkeeper Meghan O'Rourke (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) had four saves, but the Battling Bishops snuck one past her in the 56th minute.

Ohio Wesleyan, which beat Wittenberg 1-0 in double overtime in the regular season meeting between the two teams in Springfield, earned the NCAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament.

In the semifinal last Wednesday, the Tigers pulled off one of the biggest wins in school history by knocking off second-seeded and 14th ranked Denison on the road, 4-3 on penalty kicks. The game officially went down as a 0-0 tie, but the Tigers advanced with the penalty kick advantage.

O'Rourke was credited with five saves for the Tigers, who were outshot 14-10. The game came down to penalty kicks, and the youthful Tigers forced the Big Red to blink first. Sophomore forward Liz Volz (Cincinnati, Ohio/Seton), senior midfielderRachel Ridgeway (Montclair, N.J./The Taft School (Conn.)) and freshman midfielder Lisa Rusch (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) matched the Big Red on the first three penalty kick attempts. O'Rourke came up with her biggest save of the season on the fourth Big Red attempt on a perfect read. Then freshman forward Amanda Farrell (Huber Heights, Ohio/Wayne) buried the fourth Tiger attempt. O'Rourke ended things with another perfect read and subsequent save.

The Tigers reached the postseason by winning the game they had to win, and when both Allegheny and Kenyon were defeated in similar win-or-go-home games, the storybook ending to the regular season was complete. Wittenberg reached the NCAC Tournament for the first time since 2001 by virtue of a 2-0 road victory over Oberlin.

The Tigers jumped on top just 15 minutes into the game as Ridgeway scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal off an assist from Rusch. Ten minutes later, sophomore Kelly Kreiger (Fairborn, Ohio/Chaminade-Julienne) scored her first collegiate goal off an assist from sophomore defensive back Jamie McIntyre (Columbus, Ohio/Grandview).

The two shutouts in the last three games ran Wittenberg's season total to 11, tying a nine-year-old school record. O'Rourke received credit for nine of them, while seniorEileen Quinn (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South), who appeared in five games total, was responsible for the other two.