Field Hockey Falls to NCAC Power Denison
Yeowomen Lose to Big Red in 3-2 Overtime Thriller
by Liz Logan

The field hockey season that started off with a bang — two victories over Transylvania and Earlham — seems to have finally hit a bump in the road. On Tuesday, Sept. 18, the Yeowomen suffered a remarkably close loss to Denison College, a long-time rival. By half-time, the score was tied 2-2.
Marked by continuous movement of the ball back and forth on the field, the game was deadlocked for the second half and the first overtime.
The tie was finally broken in the second overtime, when a scuffle in the circle left two players on the ground, including the Oberlin goalkeeper, and knocked the ball into the Oberlin cage. There was such chaos on the field that scorekeepers could not even attribute the goal to any one player. The Yeowomen came off the field confused over the loss and hurt that a close game came to such a frustrating end.
The fact that the two teams were so evenly matched shows how far the Yeowomen have come this season, and makes their future look very bright. Denison has won the NCAC championship for the past two years, last year tying with Wittenberg to share the championship.
Denison’s reputation for being a dominating force in the NCAC caused a lot of hype before the game that affected the Yeowomen’s performance.
Junior Chaney Stewman said, “I wish we hadn’t been as nervous. It was a very emotionally draining game because we really wanted to win. I wish that we had kept our cool a little bit more.”
Though they suffered a loss, the Yeowomen put up a fight filled with many small triumphs.
“[We] played consistently well in the game,” Coach Liz Graham said, “which is different from previous games, because a lot of times we have our moments when we play well, then our moments when we play poorly. Also overtime is tough — its seven on a side instead of 11, and still full field so the game becomes a foot race.”
The two Oberlin goals were scored by some of the team’s senior leadership, right wing Vanessa Wirth and mid-fielder Jenny Lusk-Yablick.
“[Wirth] is a real strong player who keeps getting better and better— she’ll be a regular scorer in the future,” first-year Jamie Johnson said.
Recalled Johnson, “Jenny Lusk-Yablick scored on a penalty stroke that was so beautiful — the goalie wasn’t even close. She hits the most gorgeous strokes I’ve ever seen; she always puts the ball in the right spot, so there was never any doubt in my mind that she would get it in.”
Two players had defensive saves that Graham called spectacular. One of these defensive feats was the work of junior Briana Quinn.
“Bri’s save was unbelievable,” Johnson said. “My heart sank because I saw the ball about to go in, but she came out of nowhere and hit it away — it was really sweet.”
Said Graham, “Our ball movement was good for most of the game and defensively we were stronger than the past two games. Both goalkeepers played, and both had great saves. There were a couple one on one breakaways — those were some tricky shots that they did a nice job with.”
“We worked really well together and we’re off to a good start,” Stewman said. This game was really good considering we had only had two games beforehand, both of which were against teams that are below us in the conference. We worked well with transitions in particular — retrieving the ball, speeding up, taking the ball up the field — we were an effective offensive unit. The loss is hard to take, but everyone’s proud of how we did. We’re excited about where we’re going to go this year.”
“[This was] not a surprising loss,” Graham said, “Denison has strong players who tend to be very athletic. They have a couple of good midfielders, and they are very fast with the ball. They’re also strong in traffic within the circle which gives them lots of opportunities to put the ball in the goal cage. They lost some good players last year but have gained some strong first-years. They’re a little bit weaker than in the past, but not much different.”
Said Stewman, “This was the weakest Denison team I’ve ever seen, though they had some midfielders that were really strong and held everything together. We totally could have beaten them. They aren’t good at double-teaming at all. They move all the players to where the ball is, so we had to get our shots through a massive pack of opponents. Also, normally we are good at getting the ball in the circle and creating lots of chances to score, but in this game it was a real struggle to corner the other team offensively. We weren’t able to do that once during the entire first half.”
Being the number one team in the conference, the Big Red has always been a big rival for Oberlin, but this close defeat has made the Yeowomen more confident about contesting them for the championship.
“Denison had a shoving phenomenon that really frustrated us and we crumble a little bit when things like that happen,” Lusk-Yablick said. “We had short, little breakdowns which cost us the game, but we’re not afraid of them. They piss us off. We have lots of strong moving and shifting players, whereas they just hit the ball as far as they can and run onto it. They don’t play good hockey. We play good hockey. At no time in the game did we feel outmatched.”
The team’s seniors were particularly disappointed by the defeat because in the past fours years Oberlin has beaten all the teams in the NCAC conference at least once — with only Denison as the exception. After this tight contest, the Yeowomen are passionate about coming back to conquer their old rival.
“We’ll play them again on our turf,” Johnson said. “We have a lot more to show them and they’re in for a surprise.”

Overall, the tough competition proved to be a rewarding, positive experience for the Yeowomen. “It was exciting to see — every season we just get better and better, and I’m confident that there are successes on the horizon for every player.” Lusk-Yablick said, “this was one of our best team efforts overall. Everyone gave tremendous energy. It’s really satisfying to feel like I was a part of something like that. There were bits and pieces where we stopped communicating, and the end was very confusing, possibly a bad call. The game did not come down to that one play; we lost because of little flukes here and there that shouldn’t have happened. The loss really hurt because we came in with such gusto and such a good attitude.”
“In my three years of playing, this has been the hardest loss for the team. We tried so hard and we wanted it so bad — we had so much more heart than they did,” Stewmen said.

Said Lusk-Yablick, “Before the game, we were talking them up because we hadn’t ever beaten them, so when it was all over, Johnson came off the field and said, ‘If they’re the best, then we’ve got the championship, because I am not impressed.’ And I said, ‘Right on!’ When Denison comes here they’re going to eat grass!”