Women¹s Lax Still Undefeated in Conference

The women's lacrosse team cruised to their third straight win and fifth consecutive conference victory by defeating Ohio Wesleyan University last Saturday 14-7 and Allegheny College on Wednesday by a margin of 11-5.

Both games featured strong first halves by the Yeowomen but a considerable drop-off in the second half - an alarming pattern that could have serious repercussions with NCAC powerhouses' Denison and Kenyon looming on the schedule. In the two games, OC took leads of 9-1 against OWU and 10-1 versus Allegheny into the lockeroom.

Get Up, Stand Up, Don't Give up the Fight: The Yeowomen have continued to dominate their opponents this season as they gun for a fourth conference title. But key games against NCAC powers like Denison remain before the celebration can commence. (photo by Andrea Kamins)

Junior MarySara Salvania emphasized the need to play a consistent 60 minutes, not just a half. "We know we need to pull it together versus Kenyon and Denison. We were really good in the first half, [but we suffered a] lull in the second half."

Along with these second-half lulls, the Yeowomen's offense has relied too heavily on the one-on-one play of seniors Lydia Ries and Maggie McFalls. On the year, the team has produced a paltry total of ten assists, compared with 87 goals.

Saturday's contest was no exception as OC jumped on the board early with tallies from McFalls and Ries. "We never trailed, we just came out and took it to them," said Salvania.

Leading 9-1 after the break, the team managed only five more scores while the Battling Bishops netted six.

"We went out really strong and racked up a bunch of goals. Then we calmed down," said Ries. Ries and McFalls were the leading scorers with five goals and four goals and two assists, respectively.

Wednesday's matchup brought a much weaker Allegheny squad to Mt. Oberlin Field. Again, the women laxers jumped out to early lead, highlighted by carefully scripted plays from Assistant Coach Blake New.

"We scripted four plays to do sequentially, so the opponent's wouldn't guess what we were doing," explained Reis. "We changed the plays with a code word."

The comfortable 10-1 cushion at the break enabled Head Coach Liz Graham to implement a stall [see page 21] on offense for 22 of the 30 minutes in the second half. The stickwomen maintained a careful, meticulous passing offense in which the objective was to essentially play "keep-away."

This tactic may have worked more effectively had it not been for the unusually high number of players playing out of position as the team tried to fill the holes left by injuries to sophomore Anne Burns and senior Amanda Kolker's knee injury. While Burns is expected back in action next week, Kolker's is a season ending injury that puts added strain on the bench.

The confusion aroused by the stall also stagnated the second-half offense. Oberlin's attackers, Ries in particular, had trouble developing scoring opportunities while in the stall. The slower game pace did help the stickwomen establish a controlled, calm offense - a stark contrast to the plethora of unassisted goals that have defined OC's attack this year.

The Tigers managed to tally four goals during the stall, with Oberlin mustering only one. Ries and McFalls were again the stars of the game with five goals apiece. "In both games, I thought that we did a nice job of controlling the tempo and momentum of the games, and that was probably the biggest key to the wins," said Graham.

Tempo and momentum will be key factors against Denison and Kenyon in the coming NCAC contests. "[When] we are on attack against Denison, we need to settle down. We want to defend their attack, not their transition," said Ries. "We can beat them, but it will take proper execution." Part of that execution will be increased playing time for sophomores Miranda Reason and Courtney Smith, who will help to fill Kolker's absence.

OC has a tune-up with non-conference Alfred University tomorrow afternoon on Mt. Oberlin Field at 12 p.m. before traveling to Granville to face the Big Red on Tuesday.