Sophomore Forward Paige Berliner (6) pushes past and Earlham College Defender in their game
Wednesday at Reavis Stadium.
The Tigers came into this matchup with a little bit of an edge, as they were able to overpower the Quakers by heavy margins in both of their regular season matchups last season.
This game was no exception.
Offense was the name of the game for DePauw on Wednesday night. The Tigers outshot the Quakers 33-1. Twenty-four of the 33 shots by the Tigers were on target, and 10 of those shots resulted in goals.
Sophomore forward Paige Berliner established the early lead for the Tigers just a minute and a half into the game. The goal set the tone for the Tigers to put together a commanding first half as senior midfielder/defender Grace Goodbarn, first-year midfielder/forward Rose Revolinski and sophomore forward Reilly Bruce stepped up and scored goals of their own to increase DePauw’s lead to 4-0 at the half.
Although having a big lead at the half was reassuring, first-yera midfielder Corina Bourantas stressed that they needed to, “focus from then until the end of that whistle that we were going to work on what we have been practicing all week, which was transitioning, give and goes and looking for a run on ball.”
The second half of the game embodied an increasingly dominant, yet fundamentally driven style of play.
A goal from junior forward Addie Ball in the 40th minute extended the lead to 5-0. Surprisingly, just two minutes later, the Quakers showed their first signs of life in the game as they managed to score their only goal.
However, this did not deter the Tigers from their game plan. The remaining 28 minutes of the half was an offensive free for all as Ball, Bourantas and sophomore forward Tori Wittemann combined for six goals in the half alone, leading the Tigers to an commanding 10-1 victory.
When asked what was done differently in the second half, Ball stressed that, “We were executing give and go’s and had some really nice transitions across the field.”
Head coach Erika Dombkowski especially applauded the effort in the second half.
“We were a different team. We worked on our accuracy and possession game instead of trying to barrel through the opponent,” said Dombkowski.
The Tigers have won five of their last six games in NCAC conference play and are now 7-3 for the season. Unfortunately, there is not much time to bask in this sweet victory as they will hit the road for Springfield, Ohio this Saturday for a matchup against Wittenberg, a program they haven’t lost against since 2009.
