SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Grace McLaughlin (Fr., Hatfield, Pa./North Penn) posted a hat-trick with three goals and the duo of Emma Menjivar (Jr. Moreno Valley, Calif./Canyon Springs) and Kailey Cordova (So, Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg) both contributed pairs of tallies as Division III No. 5-ranked Wittenberg University overcame Carthage College, 9-4, at home in the Wittenberg Natatorium.
The Tigers never trailed versus the Firebirds as McLaughlin stroked in a shot with 6:55 remaining in the first quarter. Victoria Hodges (Fr., Oxford, Mich./Lake Orion) balanced the scoreboard at one-all with 5:40 on the clock, but back-to-back-to-back strikes by Kiersten Heverly (Jr., Pottstown, Pa./The Hill School), Cordova and McLaughlin at the 3:50, 2:25 and 25 seconds marks, respectively, pushed Wittenberg out to a 4-1 lead.
Izzy Bertaud (Jr., Denver, Colo./Cherry Creek) moved Carthage back to within a pair prior to the conclusion of the opening quarter as she found the back of the cage with one second left to make it a 4-2 game through eight minutes of competition.
Wittenberg padded its lead with a 3-0 scoring run in the second quarter as Menjivar ticked off consecutive markers at 3:50 and 3:02 to push the margin to 6-2. Cordova capped off the spurt at 2:06 as she drilled in her second of the first half to provide the Tigers a 7-2 lead heading into halftime.
The offensive pace slowed significantly in the second half as Elizabeth Schexnaider (Fr., Friendswood, Texas/Friendswood) put away a shot at 3:55 to make it 8-2 prior to Bertaud answering at 1:11 to make it 8-3 heading into the fourth quarter.
McLaughlin capped off Wittenberg’s scoring 42 seconds into the final quarter by completing her hat-trick at 7:18 prior to Arianna Dakuras (Sr., Chicago, Ill./Oak Park-Fenwick) establishing the final score by burying a chance at 5:58.
For Carthage, Bertaud scored twice with Dakuras and Hodges both depositing solo markers. In cage, McKenna Sutterlin (Fr., Lansing, Mich./Holt) turned aside 15 shots in taking the loss.
McLaughlin (three), Menjivar (two), Cordova (two), Heverly (one) and Schexnaider (one) accounted for Wittenberg’s offense with netminder Jordan Brough (Fr., North Palm Beach, Fla./Suncoast) making nine saves to pick up the victory.
