OBERLIN, OH- With each goal scored by a different athlete, the Oberlin College men's lacrosse team battled their way past Wittenberg at home on Saturday afternoon. The Yeomen's balanced scoring gave way to the 8-7 victory over the Tigers, improving the Crimson and Gold's NCAC record to 2-1, and overall mark to 8-3.
 
Jack Duffy and Ryan Blasberg guided the Yeomen's offense, each finishing with a pair of points behind a goal and an assist. Sam Ryu, Sean Obana, Dylan Hendrick, Lewis Moore, Ryan Loughlin, and Christian Tacogue all scored in the conference affair, while Asher Friedman added an assist.
 
On the defense, Jake Pillsbury had a phenomenal day in cage, making 18 stops on the way to his fifth victory this season. Trevor Flynn also played an integral role in the team win, with nine ground balls and a 10-17 record at the face-off. Colin Taylor backed the Crimson and Gold defense with four caused turnovers and a pair of ground balls, while Gavin Girard and Jake Field each brought in a trio of GBs.
 
After 35 seconds, Friedman found Ryu to put Oberlin on the board, just before Duffy found Obana for the team's second goal. The next 11:53 of the quarter were littered with errant passes and lock-down defense for the Yeomen, who ultimately held the Tigers off the board in the first quarter.
 
Midway through the second period, Wittenberg found their offensive rhythm, stringing together three-straight goals to take their first lead of the day. The Blasberg-Duffy connection mounted the response for the Yeomen, who tied the game at 3-3 ahead of the halftime break.
 
After being outscored 3-1 in the final eight minutes of the half, Oberlin offense got started right away with a Loughlin goal at the 14:05 mark. A penalty after the play resulted in a Wittenberg possession instead of a face-off, which gave the Tigers the opportunity to capitalize and tie the game at four. The two conference teams swapped goals before the Yeomen regained the lead in the final five minutes of action. Hendrick notched his first goal of the season after causing a turnover on the defensive end of the field and running straight to cage for the score.
 
Up 6-5, Oberlin looked to seal the deal in the final quarter of play, but the Tigers tallied the first goal to tie the game for the third time. It was Oberlin's rookies who gave the Yeomen their next lead, Moore first, before Tacogue scored the would-be game-winning goal at the 11:33 mark. With three minutes remaining, Wittenberg added one more goal but it was too little too late as the Yeomen held strong for th conference victory.
 
The Yeomen hit the road for the next match, when they take on conference rival Kenyon, on Tuesday, April 9, at 4 p.m. The Owls are receiving votes in the latest USILA national poll, and are ranked fourth in the region.
 
Fans can watch all the home matches live online. Home contests can be accessed on a TV through the official Oberlin College Sports Network app on Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV.