The Oberlin Review
<< Front page Sports May 5, 2006

Men’s Lacrosse Falls to Kenyon in Last Game
 
Protecting the Fort: The Yeomen surround goalkeeper Jared Pickard while on defense against Kenyon College.
 

Wednesday afternoon was an emotional day for the seniors on the men’s lacrosse team as they fell to Kenyon College 21-4. First-year midfielder Zach Wallace led the Lords with four goals, and junior midfielder Sean Wheeler added three assists.

The first half was all Kenyon as they controlled most of the ball possession, resulting in a 12-1 lead by halftime — first-year midfielder Jesse Kane got the Yeomen on the board with 34 seconds remaining in the half.

Kenyon outscored Oberlin by 6 in the second half. Their speed, quick passing and defense gave them advantages to score. Oberlin showed some life as senior midfielder Will Jaffee scored with 2:06 remaining in the third quarter. The Lords responded with two goals shortly after.

With 11 minutes remaining in the fourth, junior attackman Ian Dias fought his way through Kenyon defenders, giving Oberlin its third goal of the day.

With 9:57 remaining in the match, the Yeomen got fired up after senior midfielder David Schlussman drilled Kenyon’s defender Ryan Pearce so hard that he trampled out of bounds. Sophomore Chris Sanders got on the board for the Yeomen with six minutes remaining in the match.

Even after a tough loss the Yeomen smiled and teammates hugged and thanked their seniors for a great year. Head Coach Kevin Walz and Assistant Coach John Schneider had a little fun of their own, tossing the water coolers on Jaffee and junior Bryan Harfenist after the game.

“I got to do it once and I’m just thankful for that,” said senior Andrew Crosby. “I had a great experience with these guys.”

Jaffee noted that the team did not perform the way they did in previous games. “For some reason we didn’t really come out the way we expected to, like we came out against Denison,” said Jaffee. “There’s something about this team, we just either click or we don’t. I had a blast and I feel like we grew so much, and there’s definitely some pride in that.”

Schlussman described how Oberlin lacrosse has been a high point of his college experience. “Playing lacrosse is one of the best things I’ve done here at Oberlin,” said Schlussman. “Coming into this with this group of guys, there’s really been nothing else like it and it’s really going to be one of the things I miss most about Oberlin, without a doubt.”

Senior goalkeeper Jared Pickard was equally enthusiastic about the role of lacrosse throughout his time at Oberlin. “This was definitely one of the most important things I had done in my life the last four years. It was an awesome experience and I can’t really describe how much I’m going to miss it.”

Coach Walz acknowledged the loss the team faces with the departure of the seniors, who were members of the first class he worked with upon his arrival at Oberlin. “We’re going to miss those guys a ton. I came here with those four guys. I met Will and Jared my first day at this campus,” said Walz. “It’s a tough class to see leave. I think we have a really good recruiting class coming in, and it’s hard to replace guys like this. There’s some little things that we have to work on, but we fought hard. It was a good day for the seniors and the younger guys as well.”

Leaving the Yeomen are the four seniors and junior Jono Sanders, who will attend Washington University in St. Louis as a part of the college’s 3-2 engineering program. The Yeomen finished the season with a 4-10 record overall, 0-5 in the NCAC. The team has one final game against the alumni on May 13 at 2 p.m. at North fields.
 
 

   

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