On Friday night, Wittenberg’s field hockey team lost their home opener against the Washington & Jefferson Presidents. The finale score of the game rounded out at 0-3.
The game started off with a goal from Washington & Jefferson. They scored the first goal within the first two minutes. The Presidents were able to score again off a penalty corner in the 50th minute. Their final goal came within the last nine minutes of the game.
The Presidents’ defense was very tough against Wittenberg’s offense. They advanced the ball deep into Wittenberg’s defense zone multiple times throughout the game. In addition, they were able to capitalize off of penalty corners.
Wittenberg was only able to get a total of four shots off, two of which were on goal, while their opponents had a total of 13; 10 of the Presidents’ 13 shots were on goal. Megan Niswonger, ‘21, and Blaine Donnelly, ‘19, lead Wittenberg’s offense attack. The majority of Witt’s shots were taken in the first half.
The Presidents’ goalie recorded two saves during the game; while Allie Purvis, ‘19, recorded four.
Tigers head coach Kelly Hubbell said, “We showed growth since our preseason scrimmage, and tonight’s game reinforced the level of intensity, discipline and focus we need to bring to practice each day, to be more competitive moving forward” after evaluating her team’s performance on Friday.
Despite losing some talented players who graduated in May, Coach Hubbell is confident in her team and believes that they will have another successful season. She is putting more focus on team passing during the game, which can open up the midfield and can lead to to more scoring opportunities when partnered with a strong defense.
The Tigers will have to rely on their upperclassmen for some period of time before the underclassmen get comfortable playing at a high and very competitive level. The team is still developing their team chemistry on and off the field to improve their game mentally and physically, according to Coach Hubbell.
Wittenberg has a very disciplined team as they only committed 17 fouls, while Washington & Jefferson committed nearly 40 fouls.
Field Hockey’s next home game will be on Wednesday, September 5 at 4:30 against Earlham College before going on the road for four straight games.
