Field Hockey:

Despite being viewed as underdogs at the start of the season, the Oberlin field hockey team left its mark on the North Coast Athletic Conference. Head coach Deb Ranieri, in her second year here, guided her team to a record breaking season. The 2003 Yeowomen smashed through the previous school record for most conference wins with their eighth conference win, a hard fought 3-2 overtime victory against Denison. By the end of the season, the team compiled a 10-7 overall record and went 9-3 in conference play, establishing the current record.
The team’s conference standing placed it in a three way tie for first place with Wooster and Wittenberg. The Yeowomen lost the semifinal game 6-1 to Wooster but had “the best passing game of the season,” according to Ranieri.

Unlike past years when the team relied on a few key players for the majority of its goals, the 2003 squad spread out the scoring. Sophomore Meg Reitz and freshman Claire Cheney led the team with four goals apiece and sophomores Christine Castilla and Rosemary Mudry added three each. The Yeowomen’s defense was just as impressive. Sophomore goalie Siv Tang’s .860 save percentage was the highest in the conference and her 17 total career shutouts are a school record. First-year Sarah Heaton helped Tang out by snagging sixteen defensive saves, ranking her third in the nation. Heaton was recognized as the NCAC Newcomer of the Year and named to the All-Conference first team. She was joined on the first team by Co-captain Jaime Johnson, whose stellar play on both ends of the field distinguished her throughout the season. Johnson also received a place on the STX/NFHCA DIII Great Lakes All-Region first team and Tang and Heaton were nominated to the second team. Tang and Mudry were selected for the All-Conference second team and Castilla, Sam Kyrkostas, and Reitz earned honorable mention.

Women’s Soccer:

The beginning of the season looked promising for Oberlin women’s soccer; the team won three of their first five games, leading head coach Jane Wildman to set her sights on finishing in the top four in the NCAC. But despite a strong start, the season took a turn for the worse and the Yeowomen went without a win for the next ten games. The team came through towards the end of the season, however, with important conference victories over Earlham and Hiram. The overall 5-12-1 record is a decrease from last years’ 7-10-2 finish but the team has held their conference record steady at 2-6 for the past two seasons.

Although the 2002 leading scorer, Courtney Stackhouse, graduated, first year Sam Schongalla was ready to fill this void. Schongalla’s boot churned out eleven goals and four assists, earning her All-Conference second team. Senior Sarah Kipp added five goals and one assist and junior Magdalen Dale kicked in four goals and one assist. Senior Tessa Stevens commanded the midfield and was named All-Conference honorable mention. Despite constant injuries, goalkeeper Allison Palmer recorded a .739 save percentage. Helping her out was the defensive play of Laurie Stein, an All-Conference honorable mention.

Men’s Soccer:

The Yeoman finished a solid 7-8-3 with an improved conference record of 4-4-1. They were led heavily by David Wilson (Beaver, PA/Beaver Area), a sophomore midfielder, was named second team All-NCAC. He led Oberlin in scoring with 6 goals, 6 assists, 18 points, and one game-winner. His 1.06 points per game average was good for sixth in the NCAC. In 2002, Wilson was named honorable mention All-NCAC Jamie Davis (Spartanburg, SC/Spartanburg Day), junior defender, was named second team all-NCAC. Davis primarily played defense but was also successful offensively, producing one goal. Dan Homan (Gainesville, FL/Eastside) was named honorable mention all-NCAC. Homan, a senior midfielder, registered one goal, three assists, five points, and one game-winner. Jesse Kipp (Mount Vernon, OH/Mount Vernon) was named honorable mention All-NCAC. The senior forward was the second leading scorer, tallying seven goals, one assist, and 15 points. The Yeoman will return a solid group of returnee’s including a heralded recruiting class. Look for the Yeoman to contest for a top four finish in NCAC play in the fall of 2004.

Volleyball:

After the opening weekend of competition, the 2003 volleyball team knew this season was going to be different. The team began play by hosting the Oberlin Volleyball Invitational and going 2-2 on its home court. With two victories against the University of Pittsburgh-Greensberg and D’Youville College, Oberlin had already matched its total number of wins from the 2002 season. Although the team ran into some tough competition along the way, it went on to secure a 10-21 overall record and a 2-6 conference record. The ten wins was a dramatic jump for a team that notched only four wins total in the previous two seasons combined. The Yeowomen’s record was good enough for a NCAC seventh place finish, the team’s highest since 1993.

Leading the team was senior Amber Coleman, who racked up 379 kills and 503 digs. These numbers ranked Coleman third and fifth in the conference, respectively, and earned her a spot on the All-Conference first team. Senior setter Darci Leonhart’s consistent performance provided her team with 799 assists. Sophomore Katie Au and senior Adrienne Zoller supplied defensive strength by getting 330 and 292 digs, respectively. Zoller and sophomore Shoshonna Bramlett also powered the scoreboard with 247 and 210 kills.

Cross Country:

This was a year of growth for men’s and women’s cross country. The men’s team built up their numbers with the addition of eight first-years, while the women made up for a lack of seniors with strong showing from their underclassmen.
The women’s team started out their season seeking new competition - the team traveled to New York to participate against DII and DIII schools at the NYU Invitational. Senior Julia Goeke crossed the finish line fourteenth in 19:56 while teammate Rebecca Turnbull was only a few minutes behind, coming in at 21:35.
The men also gave a strong showing at their first event of the season, finishing third out of ten teams at the CWRU meet. Adam Greeney finished first of the Yeomen, placing seventh with a time of 27:20.
Both teams did well in the NCAC finals. The Yeowomen aimed to match their second place finish in the 2002 finals, but ended up in only sixth place. Without All-Conference selections Laura Feeney OC’ 03 and Lori Tuchfeld OC’03 leading the pack, Julia Goeke took the initiative and was the first Yeowomen to cross the finish line, coming in fifteenth with a time of 19.58 and receiving an honorable mention nomination.
The Yeomen recovered from a challenging midseason to place fourth in the NCAC finals, led by Greeney with a 5th place finish and a time of 26:39. First-year Travis Grout also turned in a strong performance, finishing 15th with a time of 27:39. Both Greeney and Grout received All-Conference recognition, Greeney making the first team and Grout getting honorable mention.

Football:

The Yeoman football team continued its progress up the ranks of the NCAC, finishing in a three-way tie for second place in the conference. The Yeomen’s overall record of 5-5 was the best since the 1974 season, and a far cry from the winless 2000 season endured by the four-year letter-winners among this year’s 16 graduating seniors. Since that time, the Yeomen football program has gone only up, up and up, improving every year.

Among the highlights for the Yeomen this year was a 14-7 victory over conference rival Wooster on Oct. 11. Wooster had come into the contest at 3-0, ranked 14th in the nation, but when the teams left the field that afternoon it was Oberlin that was in first place in the conference, tied with Allegheny at 2-0. The Yeoman continued their dominance over Kenyon with a 9-6 win and Denison with a 42-3 stomping, extending their winning streaks over both opponents to three games.

Nine Yeomen received All-NCAC honors this season. Accolades went to seniors Qammie Semper, Ryan Drews, Jesus Juarez, Greg Jaquay and Mark Lengel, juniors Vinnie Hachigian and Joe Ramsier and sophomores Vance Murphy and Shawn Brunner.