Although the women’s lacrosse team lost two more games this week, the scoreline continues to get closer and the fight is getting harder for the opposition.
The better of the two games came last Sunday as the Yeowomen were defeated 13-8 by St. Vincent College. On Thursday, the team travelled to Ohio Wesleyan University losing 15-7 and dropping the team’s record to 0-8 overall and 0-4 for the conference.
The start of Sunday’s game seemed all too familiar as St,Vincent scored four unanswered goals in the first five minutes.
Just seconds later, junior Anna Ialeggio responded with an Oberlin goal. The Yeowomen proceeded to stifle St. Vincent, keeping them from scoring again for another 18 minutes.
With 12 minutes left in the half senior Briana Quinn made a nice pass inside to the eight meter mark to assist sophomore Alice Powlen’s goal.
With seven minutes left a flurry of offensive activity produced six more goals for St. Vincent and two for Oberlin from Ialeggio and Quinn to make the score 10-4 at half.
In the second half, Oberlin pulled together some loose ends mainly in the defensive end of the field.
“[Sophomore] Sarah [Pilzer] really stepped it up big time in the second half and did the things she needed to fix,” head coach Deb Ranieri said.
The effects of Pilzer’s adjustment were readily visible as she held St. Vincent to just three goals in the second half, while Oberlin rattled in four. First-year Christine Castilla scored one, Quinn had another goal and Ialeggio netted two more.
“We had our best offensive game of the season,” Ranieri said. “But some other part of the game didn’t come together. I think if all parts of the game had come together the score line would have been even closer.”
When the team pulled things together to win the second half hour 4-3, they proved that they could compete. Unfortunately, they still suffer from slow starts and the inabilty to play to their potential throughout the full game. St. Vincent had scored enough in the first half to come out with a victory, 13-8.
But a better understanding of the game by the Yeowomen has brought them closer.
“There’s definitely a feeling of more confidence in what they are capable of doing,” Ranieri said. “Just really understanding what needs to be done and visually being able to see the things that we’ve been talking about doing.”
Against St. Vincent, Oberlin managed to win the draw control 13 out of 25 times, and maintained possession as they ran their plays.
On Thursday, the Yeowomen fought hard again bringing the scoreline within two goals at one point in the second half before losing 15-7.
Quinn had three goals and an assist, first-year Meg Reitz had one goal, Ialeggio had two goals and an assist and Powlen had a goal and an assist.