As midterms came to a close, the Yeolaxers packed up their busses and headed toward the warm weather of South Carolina, with a pit stop in North Carolina for a game against Guilford College. The travel would continue south as far as Hilton Head, SC before heading up north to Poughkeepsie, NY for a game against Vassar College.

Playing outdoors in weather that exceeded 43 degrees for the first time all year, the Yeomen had to adjust to the warmth of the North Carolina weather.

After a day of pre-game practice following many hours of travel, the Yeomen went into their game on March 25 ready to take on the Guilford College Quakers. The first frame ended with Quaker domination when they scored three goals in the final 1:49 to take a 4-1 lead. First-year Alex “Edge” Jacobs scored in response to the first Quakers goal. Unfortunately, as soon as Jacobs put in his goal, Guilford responded and never again relinquished the lead.

The second quarter opened with senior Bryan Harfenist scoring a little after three minutes to cut the deficit to two. Harfenist would again find the mesh as he scored late to bring the deficit down to one. The half closed with a late Guilford score to take a two-goal lead on the Yeomen 5-3.

Coming out strong to begin the third quarter, the Quakers looked to put the game out of reach by scoring twice in a little over five minutes to go up four. First-years Erik Strand and Nick Sherman scored back-to-back goals to bring the Yeolaxers within reaching distance, but Guilford pulled away for good as it closed out the scoring of the contest with 44 seconds left to put the team up 8-5 and end the match.

Upset with the loss, the Yeomen packed the buses and continued south to Hilton Head to work out the kinks and prepare for the upcoming contest with Vassar.

The training obviously proved advantageous for Head Coach Kevin Walz’s men as their drive north provided the Yeomen with their first victory of the season, defeating the Brewers of Vassar 11-9. Do not let the score fool you; the game itself was as exciting as the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem.

With support from alumni and family in the greater New York area, the Yeomen still could not fire on all cylinders early and immediately went down 0-4 early in the first frame. If not for Jacobs’s knack for finding the net, the Yeomen would have found themselves like Brooke Smith in Silence of the Lambs, down a deep well with no way out besides putting the lotion in the basket.

Down 1-4 to start the second quarter, someone on the Yeomen had to step up and bring them back to life, and that person was Jacobs. He started the second off the way he had ended the first by injecting bitter taste into the Brewers’ mouths. Harfenist took over from that point on, scoring a hat-trick in succession to give the Yeomen their first lead of the season, one that quickly diminished one minute later when Vassar tied the score to bring the game level at 5-5 come halftime.

During the second half, the lead would either change hands or the game would be deadlocked five times to finish the game.

Vassar came out alive to start the third quarter, working out its problems and reminding itself what a cool, smooth goal can do as the team took the lead 6-5.

The Yeomen came to remind themselves that it is the farmer who is the real brewmeister. Two more goals by Harfenist, one by Strand, and the first of the year for sophomore Jesse Kane gave the Yeomen a strong lead and put them on track for a victory going into the final quarter being up 9-7.

Leading into the fourth quarter, the Yeomen seemed to have the contest under control. Unfortunately, the Brewers decided to rejuvenate their offensive recipe and found the net twice more to tie the score up and create a nailbiting finish.

Strand found the net with 1:13 remaining. If he had not, the Yeomen would have found themselves with the taste of Genny Light rather than the cool refreshing awesomeness of a Spaten. Jacobs added insurance late, literally, with no time left on the clock, to give the Yeomen their first win of the season, 11-9.

The Yeomen look to keep rolling when they face Mt. Saint Joseph on April 11.