Fall Sports in Review

During the fall, the Oberlin football team entered its second season under the leadership of Head Coach Jeff Ramsey. Despite hopes of winning a few games and turning the program around in advance, the Yeomen lost all ten of their games this year. However, another talented recruiting class is coming in for the 2001 season, and the team will be under the test in Ramsey’s third season of coaching.
After the conclusion of the season, a yearly opponent, Swarthmore College, saw their entire football program dropped after turning their team around to a near winning season. This brought about talks of Oberlin following suit, but Muska and the administration made it perfectly clear that Oberlin football is here to stay and they look forward to the Yeomen winning some games.
“I’d be disappointed if we didn’t win a couple of games next year,” Athletic Director Michael Muska said.
“We’ve got a bright future. We’re going to win some games and open some eyes next year. People are going to be nervous about coming here and playing us next year,” said first-year Quammie Semper, who started at cornerback for the Yeomen this season.
The Yeomen had four players named to the All-North Coast Athletic Conference Honorable Mention Defensive Team. All four were playing in their first season at Oberlin. Receiving the honors were first-years Brian Jansky and George Parr, and juniors Tim Salazar and Sam Hobi, who both transferred from Snow Junior College in Utah.
The men and women’s cross country teams now have impressive seasons under their belts, as they finished in top positions in numerous races throughout the season despite disappointing team finishes at the NCAC Championships, which Oberlin hosted for the first time in school history. Leading the Yeowomen during the season was sophomore Lori Tuchfeld, who earned first-team all-conference honors by placing fifth in a field of 94 runners at the NCAC meet. Senior co-captain Beth Spalding took home an all-conference honorable mention by finishing in 19th place. Overall in the NCAC meet, the Yeowomen finished in sixth place out of nine teams, but could have easily moved up two or three positions due to the closeness of the race.
“We’ve had a pretty good season overall,” said sophomore Laura Feeney. “The team as a whole did really great.”

For the men, senior co-captain David Bevacqua was the sole all-conference runner, as he finished in tenth place. First-year teammate Adam Greeney finished in 22nd place, which was one slot away from earning honorable mention. In the conference meet, the men’s team finished in a solid fifth place out of ten teams, as they tied with Wabash College. The Yeomen would have placed much higher in the meet if it wasn’t for the untimely injuries of senior co-captain John Rogers and first-year Alex Scally. Rogers was recovering from a stress fracture on a vertebra and Scally hadn’t run since October due to stress fracture in his leg.
The field hockey team finished with their best season since 1994, as they ended the year with a 9-9 overall record and a 5-7 mark in NCAC play. 
The team will lose three key seniors for play next season, B Chatfield, Annabeth Macy and Julia Rosenberg, however, many of Oberlin’s top offensive and defensive producers will return for the 2001 season. The Yeowomen will return all three of their All-NCAC First-Team performers in sophomore Briana Quinn, junior Emily Johnson and junior Pamela Walker. Johnson was named NCAC player of the week twice during the season, and she led the team in scoring with 1.67 points per game, which was also the second best average in the conference. Quinn led the team with eight assists, and also added five goals during the season. Walker had an impressive season as the team’s goalkeeper, racking up 144 saves and .862 save percentage.
Macy was second on the team with six goals and was named to the All-NCAC Second Team. Junior back-fielder Jessica Raynor was named Honorable Mention All-NCAC.
The men’s soccer team finished their season with a 8-9-1 record overall and 3-5-1 in conference play. Their conference record was just one win short of qualifying them for the conference tournament, which had been a goal of the team from the beginning of the year.
The team was led offensively by senior Sam Hopkins, who was second in the conference in scoring with a 1.61 average and was named to the All-NCAC First Team. The other senior the team will lose is defender Ian Maher, who racked up All-NCAC Honorable Mention.
Despite the loss of Hopkins and Maher, the Yeomen will return a young team next season, including sophomore midfielder Rich Braithwaite, who earned Honorable Mention All-NCAC.
The women’s soccer team jumped to an impressive start in their season, but finished with five straight losses to finish the year with a record of 5-11 overall and 2-6 in the conference.
Sophomore Courtney Stackhouse led the Yeowomen this season, as she was named to the All-NCAC First Team and was second in the conference with 17 goals scored.
“I don’t think the record is indicative of how we played,” Stackhouse said.. “Overall in conference play we competed a lot better than we did last year,” Head Coach Jane Wildman said.
Junior forward Becky Kanuch and first-year defenseman Mara Brecht also earned All-NCAC Honorable Mention for the Yeowomen. Kanuch scored four goals and had four assists during the season, despite missing games at the end of the season due to an injury. Brecht played solidly on defense all season long, and also managed to tally two assists for the team.
“The players that we have worked extremely hard. They gave everything. I’m not really judging it by wins and losses. I think this years team was much more positive in general. They fought every game to the end,” Wildman said.
The Oberlin volleyball team finished the 2000 season with an overall record of 9-18, and will lose the leadership of four-year starters Carrie Carter and Sarah Breon.
Juniors Anna Ruth and Alana Kenmore played solidly offensively and defensively, and Ruth earned All-NCAC Honorable Mention.
“I am going to miss being with the team, playing with the team, feeling like the team,” Carter said.
- Compiled by Zachary Pretzer