Eye of the Tiger: Junior Christine Castilla hunts down a Wooster player in the Yeowomens 2-1, two overtime win last Tuesday.

The Yeowomen downed long-time rival Wooster College 2-1 Tuesday in an intense game that went into double overtime. The win takes Oberlin’s record to an even 3-3.

This notable accomplishment comes after a particularly hard 3-0 loss against Houghton College where the team played well at times, but suffered too many mental breakdowns. In Tuesday’s win against Wooster, Head Coach Deb Ranieri believes that the team “worked hard together” in order to earn the victory.

“Hopefully it’s the kind of playing we’ll see through the rest of the season,” Ranieri said. The Wooster-Oberlin rivalry spans back nearly a decade. For as long as most Oberlin field hockey fans can remember, the Fighting Scots have always been the team to beat.

The competition between the two Ohio colleges became even fiercer when Wooster ended Oberlin’s season during the 2003 NCAC conference tournament. “Wooster is a great rival and the only team we haven’t beaten in my career,” junior co-captain Rosemary Mudry said.

Wooster outplayed Oberlin offensively in the first half, out-shooting them 11-6. Their persistence paid off early in the game with a goal at the 38:30 mark by Anlyn Addis and assisted by Lindsay Tingley.

In the second half Oberlin’s offense was able to step it up, nearly matching Wooster’s shots 7-6.

The major turning point of the game came from a goal by junior Christine Catilla off a pass made by first-year Kaitlin Barrer. Both teams’ defenses prevented other scores during regulation. First-year goalie Laura Malinowski had a total of 19 saves while Wooster goalie Anne Leigh had 15.

With the score still tied at 1-1, the game entered sudden death overtime. In the first overtime Wooster out-shot Oberlin 7-4, but neither team was able to score.

In the second overtime sophomore Clair Cheney took care of business and scored at the 10:20 mark, off a pass resulting from a penalty corner from junior co-captain Meg Reitz. “Revenge was sweet,” said first-year Kate Cook.

Tuesday’s victory was the culmination of hard work and hard lessons. “It was extremely satisfying coming up with this win because we played as a team and everyone stepped up when we needed them,” Castilla said. “Our conference has become quite competitive and we have seen some crazy upsets. The biggest factor in our win was the whole team coming ready to play.”

Field hockey’s next game is at home, Saturday, Sept. 25 against Earlham College.