Coming off a relatively easy 5-1 victory against Earlham, the Oberlin field hockey team was dealt its first conference loss by Kenyon on September 11. The loss gives the team an overall record of 3-2 and a North Coast Athletic Conference record of 2-1. Kenyon is one of the top teams in the conference.

Early in the first half, Kenyon’s Lauren Keiling scored the first goal of the game to put the Ladies up 1-0. Oberlin struck back quickly with a goal by All-NCAC first-team junior Abigail Brox on an assist from senior tri-captain Christine Politis.

The rest of the game was a defensive battle. Oberlin senior tri-captain and goalkeeper Lauren Malinowski had an outstanding game with ten saves. Both teams had trouble finding the back of the cage when inside the scoring circle.

The game remained tied at one for the rest of regulation. Neither team could get an edge over the other, leading to sudden death overtime as the contest became a war of attrition. The first overtime passed with the teams still tied.

Oberlin’s excellent ball movement helped to stave off complete exhaustion as junior defender Holly Sloofman said, “Playing a better passing game uses less energy.” The game ended eleven minutes into the second overtime on a goal by Kenyon’s Elisabeth Dow.

“We were really excited with how we played; unfortunately, one team had to lose,” said Head Coach Deb Ranieri on the excellent play of both teams. The team hopes to achieve the success it had two years ago when it won the conference.

Ranieri was pleased with what she saw on Wednesday as she added, “I think we’re in a great position this early in the season. We know we have the heart, we know we have the skill to be a contender in the conference.”

The game at Earlham could not have been more dissimilar to the one against Kenyon. After a slow start Oberlin kicked it into high gear, scoring a season high five goals off of thirty-three shots.

Sophomore Catherine Meredith scored a game high of two goals while Brox, senior tri-captain Ashley Allen and first-year Natasha Cohan each scored once; Politis contributed with two assists. Cassie Cage scored Earlham’s lone goal as Oberlin dominated the game, allowing only seven shots on goal as the Fighting Quakers fell to 0-2 in the conference.

Although Oberlin lost to Kenyon, the team maintains a positive perspective. As Sloofman said, “Mentally we came out of that game better than we did against Earlham.” She added, “After the [Kenyon] game we realized our potential.”