1999--A very exciting year for Tiger Lacrosse and seventh year head coach Bruce Reid is ready to continute that excitement and success into the future. Last season, the Tigers had their second consecutive winning season and their best North Coast Athletic Conference finish is school history with a third place 3-2 finish.
As the Tigers enter a new season they welcome back a strong froup of upperclassmen as well as a large recruiting class to help in the winning tradition. Topping the list of returners is senior captain Billy Habermeyer (Raleigh, N.C./Ravenscroft) who finished with 47 points for the Tigers and an honorable mention All-NCAC honor. Also returning is junior attack Mario Cassani (St. Louis, Mo./Desmet Jesuit) who recorded 39 points last season and was also an All-NCAC honorable mention pick. Junior Shawn Egan (Roswell, Ga./Holy Innocents) and senior Mike Stormshak (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller) are expected to continue to show improvement on the field and move into the top of the ranks in scoring after recording 17 and 15 points respectively last season.
On defense, Wittenberg will look toward junior capain Scott Gilbert (St. Louis, Mo./Christian Brothers) a second team All-NCAC pick last year, senior captain John Bodin (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller) and Senior Dan Hillerich (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller).
There is compelling evidence that Wittenberg is showing steady improvement year-to-year and the 1999 season demonstrates the increasing success of the program and the winning tradition that is building.
"It is an exciting time for lacrosse at Wittenberg," Reid said. "Those players who come into the program now will be a part of something special since, by the time they graduate, they can be part of a winning tradition