Box Score
Ohio Wesleyan 2, Wittenberg 1

Junior forward Franklin Rodriguez (Santiago, Dominican Republic/Berkshire (Mass.)) scored to give Ohio Wesleyan a 2-0 lead, and the Bishops went on to defeat Wittenberg in the North Coast Athletic Conference opener for both teams on Saturday at the Jay Martin Soccer Complex.

Ohio Wesleyan took the lead in the 38th minute.  From the midfield circle, senior forward Jaggar Brooker (Powell/Olentangy Liberty) sent the ball ahead to junior forward Tyler Duhl (Golden, Colo./Proctor (N.H.) Academy) near the top of the penalty area, but a Wittenberg defender broke up the play by heading the ball away.  Unfortunately for the Tigers, keeper Peter Adams also moved toward the top of the box to try to break up the play, and the ball rolled into the open goal.

The Tigers had a couple of looks at the equalizer later in the half, but shots by Nick Harding and Christopher Meyer were stopped by senior goalkeeper Mason Taylor (Marysville).

Early in the second half, sophomore back Tristan Ruiz de Somocurcio (Tampa, Fla./Tampa Preparatory) and sophomore forward Rowan Kriebel (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley) ran a give-and-go up the left sideline, with Ruiz de Somocurcio centering the ball to Rodriguez, who finished in front for a 2-0 Bishop lead with 36:14 remaining.

Wittenberg closed to within 2-1 when Jackson Miller sent the ball ahead to Kees Ciric, whose shot from the top of the box slipped inside the left post with 9:09 to play.

The Bishop defense held the Tigers to only one shot for the remainder of the contest, that a drive by Meyer that went high.

"It wasn't pretty, but it was a good conference win," said Bishop head coach Jay Martin.  "Our young team has to know that every conference team wants to beat us.  This was a bit of a trap game between Capital on Tuesday and Kenyon next week, and we just didn't play that well."

Ohio Wesleyan and Wittenberg each had 14 shots.  Taylor finished with 5 saves.

Box Score