Historic performances by women's soccer, volleyball and football teams put the Tiger athletics program 17th among more than 430 NCA A Division III schools in the Sports Academy Directors' Cup standings after the fall 2006 sports season. With 158 points, Wittenberg was the highest ranking North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) or Ohio NCAA Division III institution in the first of three rankings during the 2006- 07 school year.

The breakthrough of the fall was turned in by the women's soccer team, which won its first NCAC title and advanced to the NCA A Division III Tournament for the first time in school history. The Tigers put together a phenomenal season, posting a 15-3-4 overall record, including a national tournament first round win over visiting Otterbein on Nov. 11.

Wittenberg bowed out of the national championships with a shootout loss at home against Denison, the same team the Tigers defeated in the NCAC Tournament finale a week earlier at Edwards-Maurer Field. Officially, the game went into the record books as a tie, although Denison advanced after winning the shootout, 3-2. After a 1-2 start to the season, the Tigers compiled a 14-1-4 record, including a program-best 5-1-2 mark in the NCAC regular season, good for second place.

The volleyball team also made a second straight run to the NCAA Division III Tournament semifinals and finished the season ranked No. 4 in the nation.

The Tigers did it the hard way in 2006, winning four consecutive matches on the road to reach the Final Four in Salem, Va. Wittenberg, which made its 11th straight NCAA Division III Tournament and 12th in school history, lost to eventual national champion Juniata for a second straight year to finish with a 35-8 overall record in 2006.

The Tiger football team exceeded expectations as well in 2006, winning its first NCAC title since 2001 and advancing to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time since 2002. Wittenberg, the program with the most wins in NCAA Division III history and winner of the two of the first three divisional tournaments in 1973 and 1975, bowed out of its 12th appearance in the national competition in the first round with a 32-14 loss at Capital.

— Ryan Maurer