Oberlin, Ohio – The Oberlin College men's lacrosse team defeated Wittenberg University for the first time since 1996, topping the Tigers 12-9 on a wintry Saturday afternoon at the Austin E. Knowlton Athletics Complex.
The victory 26 years ago was contested as a non-conference game; however, the 1995 version of the Yeomen did defeat the Tigers 8-7 in a conference play. Little did anyone know at the time, it would be the last NCAC win for the Oberlin men until 2013.
Tom Decker spearheaded the Oberlin effort today with six points on four goals and two assists.
Ryan Blasberg picked up four tallies on his points ledger with a pair of scores and a two helpers, while
Michael Muldoon increased his team-leading goal total to 17 with three finishes.
The Yeomen scored the first three goals of the game as
Kiernan Stone notched his second tally of the year less than two minutes into the contest before Decker and Muldoon extended the Oberlin cushion. The Tigers' Connor Matthews got the visitors on the board with just one second left as the Yeomen settled for a 3-1 advantage after one 15-minute frame.
Koby Gould would post back-to-back tallies for the Tigers early in the second quarter to level the count at 3-3 with the first of the pair coming on a man-up opportunity. After Wittenberg claimed a brief 4-3 advantage, Blasberg deposited back-to-back shots into the twine to put the Yeomen back out in front and jumpstart a string of five straight Oberlin goals.
Sam Ryu would follow with his sixth score of the year before Decker closed out of the half with a pair of goals to give the Yeomen an 8-4 advantage at the intermission.
Both teams found the back of the cage twice in the third quarter with each side altering goals. Matthews got the Tigers to within three with 6:49 left in the period before Muldoon responded with his second score of the day three minutes later. It was Muldoon who would then answer Holton Boehmer's score with 78 ticks left in the frame to give Oberlin a 10-6 cushion heading into the fourth quarter.
Ben Holland put some pressure back on the Yeomen with an early fourth-quarter goal but Ryu got it right back to push the lead back out to four. A pair of Wittenberg goals had them within two with over seven minutes still to play but Oberlin would shut them out the rest of the way while Decker capped the game's scoring with 5:50 left to play.
Eugene Kang was outstanding between the pipes, making 11 saves with four big denials coming in the fourth quarter.
Connor Quinn won 15-of-25 face-offs to accompany his nine ground balls, while Stone led the defense with two caused turnovers and seven ground ball pickups. For the fifth time in seven games, the Yeomen have held their opponents in single digits scoring.
Oberlin fired off 56 shots compared to Wittenberg's 22 and finished with a 29-20 advantage in shots on goal. OC also won the ground ball battle 43-34.
With the win Oberlin moved to 6-1 on the year and opens NCAC play at 1-0. The Tigers fell to 0-7 overall and 0-1 in league play.
The Yeomen are back in action next Saturday at Hiram College. The opening face-off is set for 1 p.m.
