Men's lacrosse pummeled by Kenyon 22-4

The men's lacrosse team suffered a good natured loss at Kenyon this past Saturday ending the game 4-22. Going into the game, team members knew that Kenyon was ranked number one in the nation in goals scored per game.

The game opened well, and team members played really hard. The score was 1-2 Kenyon in the first quarter when senior David Kumpe became entangled with an opponent. As Kumpe he moved to catch the ball, he tore his hamstring, "It went pop," he said. Kumpe spent the rest of the game on the sidelines, tending to his leg.

First-year Jonathan Steckel, who scored two of the four Oberlin goals, said, "in the first quarter of the game we played really well, and then Kumpe went out, and it went downhill from there. If he didn't get hurt, we would have been good, the game would have been closer."

This attitude was evident in the second quarter, when Oberlin allowed nine goals, and scored only one bringing the score to 2-13. First-year goalie Christopher Andrew said, "we played better than we did in the last match against Kenyon, but we still got slaughtered. Things are coming together, but a lot of things were not working. The offense had trouble putting it in the net. I felt we played well, it was sunny and fun, and we played better than before."

By the third quarter, Kenyon's score escalated to 19-3. Coach James Donavan said that "Kenyon had a good team, it is not like we were playing someone who wasn't very good. Everyone played hard this game, which was characteristic of the season, and we didn't give up regardless of the score."

Other than the Alumni game on May 10th, this Friday's game against Northwood, is the final home game of the season. Kumpe, who has been on the team all four years, has been in rehabilitation this week in hopes of strengthening his leg for his last college game. He said this season "overall has been disappointing, seeing as my freshman year our record was 10-4, which was our best record since 1963." He went on to add "every team we played this year, was the best I had seen them in my four years, and our small numbers didn't help."

Steckel, who scored the first goal of the Kenyon game, thinks "we have a good chance of winning," but he noted that "it hurt us that a lot of people have been getting sick." Players this season have also been suffering from many other ailments ranging from back trouble to knee surgery.

Donavan felt that it will be "intense Friday, we want to play really well for the seniors who are leaving. We have always been competitive with Northwood. This year was the first time they beat us in nine years."

Andrew was highly optimistic about the upcoming Northwood game. He said, "Friday, we will kill them, we will do really good. Win! Win! Win! We will play the best we played all year." Right now, the men's lacrosse team is 3-9 overall, and 0-5 in the North Coast Athletic Conference.

You're burnt: This Kenyon Lord can't catch our fleet-of-foot Yeoman on a fast break. (photo by Dave Smith)