GAMBIER, Ohio – Third-seeded Wittenberg University (14-5) used a goal early in the second half to defeat the second-seeded Kenyon College field hockey team 2-1 in a North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal match on Wednesday at McBride Field.
 
The Tigers' victory, their first in four tries against the Ladies in the semifinal round, propelled them into Saturday's championship match where they will face off with top seed Denison University.
 
For Kenyon, who was trying to make its fifth straight tournament final, it was the first loss in the semifinal round since November 3, 2010 against The College of Wooster.
 
Katelyn Hutchinson scored her team-leading 14th goal of the year to give Kenyon a 1-0 lead in the first half. At the 13:32 mark, the senior fought for a deflected ball by a Tigers defender and shot from middle of the circle into the cage.
 
The Ladies got one more on-goal look at the 19th minute from Shannon Hart, but Allie Purvis stopped her attempt.
 
Down by one, Wittenberg found the equalizer at 25:37. After Channa Visseren's shot was saved by Sarah Speroff, a penalty corner was called putting Veerle van der Plas along the end line. Her corner came to Visseren and her shot from the top of the circle found wood tying the match.
 
Wittenberg had another chance to tally another goal on a penalty stroke from Isabella Wagner at 29:44. However, Speroff blocked the shot away along the right post to keep count at 1-1.
 
The 1-1 score was then broken about five minutes into the second stanza.
 
Blaine Donnelly shot from the top of the circle and the ball was deflected by Riley Trexler into the cage. It was Trexler's sixth goal of the year. 
 
Hoping to tie the match, the Ladies had two on-goal looks from Hutchinson at the 51st and 53rd minutes, but Purvis stopped both. Olivia O'Connell added Kenyon's final shot attempt which came with 11 minutes left on the clock. Her attempt, though, went wide.
 
By game's end, the Tigers had outshot the Ladies for the first time this season by a 19-10 count. Additionally, Wittenberg's two goals matched the total they had during two games in the regular season. Speroff collected a season-high 10 saves in defeat.