The Oberlin Review
<< Front page Sports April 28, 2006

Men’s Lacrosse Loses Tough One to Fighting Scots

The men’s lacrosse team experienced a goal drought in their most recent league game on Wednesday afternoon. Missed shots and a tough defense stymied the Oberlin offense throughout the entire match as they fell to the Fighting Scots of the College of Wooster 19-2. Oberlin attempted 27 shots, most of them on target, but was not able to finish the majority of them.

Wooster outmatched the Yeomen, leading with a score of 10-0 going into the second half. Wooster’s attackers Shawn Handy and Chris Vaccaro were the leading scorers, scoring five goals apiece.  Senior midfielder David Schlussman led the Yeomen with one score and an assist. Junior midfielder Ian Dias also added a goal, while Crosby contributed an assist. Wooster outscored the Yeomen with their 59-27 shot advantage and 56-36 in groundball opportunities.

On the defensive side, it was a big day for senior goalkeeper Jared Pickard who ended the day with 16 saves, which placed him second in all-time NCAA Division III lacrosse history for number of saves.

“Well, we just were one step slower than Wooster all day,” said coach Kevin Walz. “We needed to move a bit faster in transition. With a small team and a long season the year is catching up with us, and we have a lot of small nagging injuries.”

Schlussman commented on Wooster’s tactical ability and team depth as reasons for outplaying the Yeomen.

“Wooster was an extremely talented team with a deeper bench to draw from,” he said. “No matter how hard we run teams like Wooster, they always have a seemingly endless supply of skillful players who can really wear us down after awhile. When our middies got tired, their defense took advantage by breaking out quickly on the clears and pushing a lot of fast breaks.”

Senior attacker Will Jaffee also cited poor shooting as the reason for the team’s rough offensive game.

“Our shooting wasn’t great for a while; we were hitting the goalie in the chest and stick way too often,” he said. “Defensively our minds were scattered, they ran a number of picks off the ball and shot extremely well.”

The Yeomen also had a conference match against Wittenberg last Saturday at home. Despite heading into the game with a three-game winning streak, Oberlin was unable to stop Wittenberg’s offensive power in a 16-6 loss. Dias and Jaffee both had two goals each, while Crosby had two assists as well.

Oberlin’s overall record is 4-9 and they are 0-4 in the NCAC. Conference play continues for the Yeomen as they face the Lords of Kenyon College next Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.
 
 

   

Powered by