Women’s soccer at Oberlin seems to offer something to everyone. Whether people attend for the girls or the spirit of the game itself, one thing is always 100 percent correct: Yeowomen’s soccer totally rocks. The Yeowomen’s September 9 game exemplified exactly how much they rock. Oberlin had yet to be defeated at home, and the team was not about to let the Buffalo State Bengals be the first to best them in front of their own crowd.

The match was hard fought on both sides with both teams fiercely battling for every loose ball. Oberlin seemed to start slow but picked up the pace after a goal off of a breakaway by junior Joelle Sesar about nine minutes into play. The Yeowomen defended this one-goal lead for the remainder of the contest, giving them the 1-0 victory. With 12 saves, sophomore goalkeeper Sarah Grabinski kept Oberlin in the game.

When it became clear that the Yeowomen defense, led by senior Leslie Mills, was not going to give the Bengals an inch, Buffalo State began resorting to vicious fouls in an attempt to wear down the Yeowomen’s resistance. Buffalo State out-fouled Oberlin by a factor of five, with 15 fouls to Oberlin’s three.

Oberlin’s backline really came under pressure in the final 15 minutes of the match. The Bengals repeatedly crashed the goal, but according to first-year Liza Marshall, “We kept our composure.” Luckily, the Yeowomen survived the onslaught as Buffalo out-shot Oberlin 18 to 14 and took home another win to improve their record to 2-1-1.

The Yeowomen’s latest game against Baldwin-Wallace was a slightly different story. Oberlin seemed to dominate the first half with several promising attempts on goal, but none squeaked by the B-W goalkeeper.

The momentum seemed to shift in the second half of the game, however, with the majority of the possession being in the Yeowomen’s half of the field. Even with some beautiful saves by sophomore Christie Zelnik, including an incredible backwards diving save in the 31st minute of the second half, B-W managed to score off of a breakaway. When asked about the second half, first-year Gabriela Baker replied, “We seemed disorganized and our speed of play went down.” Even with three shots by Sesar, the Yeowomen could not manage to break the B-W defensive line. This loss brings the Yeowomen to 2-2-1.

In other news, the Yeowomen’s match at John Carroll University this Saturday, Sept. 15 at 4:30 p.m. will be televised on Sunday at noon in a delayed broadcast by SportsTime Ohio and DirecTV.