The Oberlin Review
<< Front page Sports October 27, 2006

Yeowomen Keep Fighting Hard

The Oberlin women’s soccer team has had a hectic two weeks, playing five games in a ten-day span. It was a rollercoaster experience for the Yeowomen, as they went 2-3 overall and 1-3 in conference.

Oberlin started off with a bang, defeating non-conference opponent College of Notre Dame on Oct. 14 at home. First-year Kate Berry-Millett helped lead Oberlin to a 4-2 victory with two spectacular goals. She struck first with a free-kick at the top of the box in the 13th minute. Notre Dame responded to this initial lead with two goals of their own, however, which left the score at 2-1 going into halftime.

The Yeowomen stepped it up in the second half, with Berry-Millett chipping the ball over the goalkeeper a mere minute into the half. Twenty minutes later senior forward Sam Schongalla assisted sophomore Caitlin Millford for Oberlin’s third goal of the game. Senior defender and co-captain Mei-Lin Ha headed the final goal into Notre Dame’s net off of another assist by Schongalla. The Yeowomen showed determination to fight back from a goal down to win.

Three days later, the Yeowomen traveled to Meadville, Pennsylvania for a conference game against Allegheny College. Oberlin surprised everyone with a strong 2-0 win against a top team. The team’s first conference win of the season did not come easily though, as Allegheny dominated the majority of the game. They outshot Oberlin 15-1 in the first half, and 35-5 overall in the game. First-year Sarah Grabinski recorded 13 saves for the shutout victory, with nine coming in the first half.

Junior midfielder Jessica Greenberg knew Oberlin was going to have to stay strong defensively if they were to have a chance. “Going into the game, we thought we were going to defend the entire game and we did. We worked hard, but we capitalized on two really good opportunities.”

The Yeowomen went into the second half scoreless, but it would only take a minute before the game changed dramatically. Sophomore Joelle Sesar crossed the ball to fellow classmate Betsy Leach who deflected it past Allegheny’s keeper. Caught off-guard, Allegheny continued to press, but Oberlin withstood the pressure. With ten minutes left in the game Sesar came back to score the final goal off of a breakaway. The Yeomen’s record climbed to 6-8-1.

Sesar noted strong play from Grabinksi and lethal finishing as the reason for Oberlin’s win. “Sarah had an amazing game. We exploited their defense and put away our only opportunities. We wanted to get out of our own end and push forward.”

A mere two days later the Yeowomen traveled to powerhouse Denison University to replay a game that was canceled due to lightning several weeks ago. The team fell to the Big Red in a 0-3 loss. Grabinski was put to the test in this match as Denison outshot Oberlin 3-34 and had the advantage in corner kicks 0-19. Grabinski withstood this pressure and notched an impressive 16 saves. This broke her own record, set in the previous game against Allegheny, for the most saves in a conference game this season.

On Oct. 21, in their last home game of the season, the Yeowomen fell 1-3 to Wittenberg University. Grabinski proved her worth again, making 22 saves. Oberlin was outshot 26-8. Ha passed the ball off to Schongalla 55 minutes into the game for the Yeowomen’s only goal. Wittenberg scored its three goals in the first 47 minutes and then fell back on a defensive game to protect the lead.

Oberlin shrugged off back-to-back losses with a great game against Kenyon on Oct. 24. Oberlin fought till the end in a nail-biter, which finished with Kenyon winning 2-1 in overtime. The first 40 minutes of the game remained scoreless, but Kenyon managed to edge a shot past Grabinski right before the end of the first half. The Yeowomen’s defensive line stepped it up in the second half, holding the Kenyon Ladies at bay and allowing the offense to focus on scoring. This proved successful in the 85th minute when Schongalla scored the only goal for the Yeowomen. This brought the game into overtime where Kenyon scored the game-winning goal a mere five minutes in with an own goal by Oberlin.

It was a tough loss for the Yeowomen, who have suffered similar results against teams all year. According to Greenberg, Oberlin has played very well but a weakness on corner kicks and making little mistakes have cost the team close games. “We have played well and hard every game. We have been the better team in the majority of our games, but it has been the little mistakes that have hurt us.” Despite these issues, she remains adamant the team has done considerably better than last year, saying, “We have already improved so much this year.”

The Yeowomen are currently 6-11-1 overall, and 1-6 in conference. The Yeowomen face Ohio Wesleyan in the final game of the season on Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. The Yeowomen are upbeat and excited about the game. Greenberg states that everyone will be giving a hundred percent, while Sesar points to certain areas the team needs to focus on in order to come away with a victory.

“I’m really expecting to win. As long as we stay composed we can get the shutout and then we just have to finish our chances.”


 
 
   

Powered by