The southwest corner of Edward-Mauer field was kind to Tigers on Thursday night, as two of senior Chelsey Marcum’s corner kicks were enough to push Wittenberg past the Transylvania Pioneers — and their record — at 3-3 for the young season.
The Pioneers opened the scoring early, when a strike from freshman midfielder Lindsey Sizemore met the twine after bouncing off the goal keeper’s hands. Sizemore was only able to gain possession before launching her rocket after a controversial no-call — drawing the ire of Coach Matt Fannon from the sideline — in which a Tiger midfielder was bodied off the ball. However, the physical nature of play in the midfield ultimately proved to be in the home club’s favor, as the Tigers dominated time of possession in the contest, amassing 25 shots, whereas Transylvania only mustered 10.
The Tigers were undeterred by their early deficit, as Marcum’s first assist of the night came just three minutes after the Pioneers first strike. It was junior forward Kate Burns who was able to fight through the masses and poke one past the keeper for the early equalizer.
After twenty minutes of near-misses and blown opportunities, the Tigers claimed the lead on Marcum’s third corner kick of the night, when sophomore Michelle Burnswick’s head-ball whizzed over the head of the frozen keeper, who had no chance to stop such a hard shot at close range.
The second half saw more Tiger dominance, as they continued to receive strong midfield play from senior Tobie Weston, freshman Lauren Hofer, and freshman Rachel Billman. This possession advantage led to 11 more shots for the Tigers. Although the Tigers were not able to find the twine, they cruised to the 2-1 victory as the Pioneers struggled to create scoring opportunities.
When the Pioneers did find their offensive attack, it was met by freshman goalkeeper Alexa Murrieta, who shook off the early allowed-goal to shutout the Pioneers for the final 83 minutes. Despite offensive woes, Sizemore proved to be a bright spot for the Pioneers, collecting five of the 10 Transylvania shots of the night.
In regards to the Tigers, Burns’ goal was her team-leading fourth of the year, and Brunswick’s was her first of the season. Marcum’s two assists were also the midfielders’ firsts of the season.
The Tigers next game pits them against the 3-3 Ohio Northern Polar Bears, who were unable to net a goal against Transylvania earlier this week in a double overtime 1-nil loss. After that contest, the Tigers will open up conference play on the road against Oberlin, who has 2-3 non-conference record thus far.
