Denison escaped Springfield with a 4-3 shootout victory over Wittenberg on Thursday night.  The Big Red held a 3-1 lead with nine minutes to play, but two Tiger goals late in regulation forced overtime.

The two teams would play 30 minutes of seven-on-seven overtime field hockey.  Despite outshooting Wittenberg 15-2 in the two overtime periods, none of DU's shots would find the back of the cage.

At the conclusion of the second overtime, the match went to a shootout.  The scoring woes for both teams continued into the shootout as both teams missed their first four attempts.  Britta Marden would come through with a goal on DU's fifth attempt, putting all of the pressure on to the Tigers.  Wittenberg's Robin Gevers would match Marden's goal, ending the first round of the shootout.

In the second round, the shooting order changed and Denison sent Marden back out to start things off.  Marden would score for the second time, putting DU up 2-1.  With the burden back on the home team, they turned to Paige Vanerstrom who needed to score to keep the shootout alive.  Vanerstrom would be denied by Denison goalkeeper Ellen Westfall causing the Denison team to erupt in cheers around their first-year netminder.

The win moves Denison's record to 3-2 while Wittenberg falls to 0-6.  The first two goals of the contest were scored by Jen Durbin off assists by Marden while Elsie Humes added the third goal off a feed from Lucy Pearsall.  Wittenberg's goals were scored by Blaine Donnelly and Vanerstrom.

Westfall finished with seven saves for Denison while Wittenberg's Sarah Brownell posted 11 saves.  The Big Red edged Wittenberg in the shot category, 19-18 while also holding a 16-11 penalty corner advantage.  Denison sophomore Kirsten Audette finished with a career-high three defensive saves in the match.  Those three defensive saves came within a span of 10 minutes in the second half.

Denison will return to action on Saturday when they host Ohio Wesleyan at 11 a.m. from Piper Stadium.