The women’s lacrosse team found the consistency to play to their potential for a full 60 minutes on Saturday, coming out on top of Earlham 13-6 for their first win of the season.

The team traveled to Allegheny for a game on Tuesday, but poor field conditions and trouble with transitions led to a 13-7 defeat to put their record at 1-10 overall and 1-5 for the conference
The team, led by head coach Deb Ranieri and the sole senior Briana Quinn, has been forced to concentrate on fundamentals of the game due to the young roster. While aspects such as their transitions, possession and ground control have improved, they have been slow to adjust to teams that most of the players have never seen before.

Against Earlham, as in previous games, the opposition scored first, but this time the Yeowomen responded quickly. Within a minute, sophomore Anna Ialeggio had scored twice to give Oberlin their first lead of the season. The Yeowomen held the lead for four minutes before the Quakers tied the score.

Sophomore April Gentile-Miserandino assisted Quinn for a goal, and sophomore Alice Powlen added one of her own to give the Yeowomen a 4-2 lead. Earlham battled back again, tying the score midway through the first half.

A minute later, Powlen scored again to give Oberlin a lead that they would keep for the rest of the game. Another goal from Powlen and one from first-year Christine Castilla gave Oberlin a 7-4 lead at half.

“We really played our best offensive game,” Ranieri said. “We took our time to set things up and create one-on-one situations, which we were able to score off of. The team really came together and did what they were capable of doing. It makes you feel good.”

On several occasions the Yeowomen have yielded impressive second half performances, but winning the first this time gave them the extra lead to pull out a victory.

True to form, the Yeowomen performed better in the second half. Two more goals from each Powlen and Castilla, another from Quinn and one from junior Justine Strayhorn gave Oberlin six additional goals while the defense held the Quakers to just two more.

“I was really happy with our win against Earlham,” Quinn said. “I feel that we as a team played up to our full potential and we definitely worked together for the win.”

“We have been working for this all season long and all of the pieces finally game together last Saturday,” she said. “It may have taken a long time, but I’m glad that we finally got to see what we can accomplish when we play together as a unit.”

For Quinn, the win meant even more as her last home game.

“I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day and the win definitely made it the best it could have been,” she said. “With a growing team and the struggles we have had this season, it was really satisfying to go out and play well as a team for my last time on my home field.”

On Tuesday, rain and wet snow combined with another slow Oberlin start as Allegheny opened with five unanswered goals. Quinn and Gentile-Miserandino scored Oberlin’s only goals of the first half, while Allegheny scored three more to make it 8-2.

Again the Yeowomen performed better in the second half, matching the Gators’ goals five for five, but the early deficit was too much to over come.

Gentile-Miserandino and Castilla scored early in the half. Two goals from Ialeggio and one from first-year Becca Ruben made up the final flurry as Oberlin finished strong.

“We played very well the last 15 minutes of the game,” Ranieri said. “We scored three goals in the last five minutes of the game. It showed that we were able to put things together and play our best. We just have to play a full game.”

“Against Earlham, we came out to play with confidence and the will to win,” Quinn said. “I hope that we as a team do the same for our final two games of the season.

The Yeowomen will finish their season on the road agaisnt Kenyon on Saturday and Wittenberg on Tuesday.