Yeowomen demolish Kenyon lacrosse team

Stunning win against Wooster brings Oberlin's record to 4-2

In the thick of its season the Oberlin women's lacrosse team continues along a path that looks more and more certain to end at the championships. The team had two more wins this week to bring its record to 4-2, including a big win against the College of Wooster.

Wooster was undefeated before the Yeowomen got to them on Tuesday and had even attended a special lacrosse camp in Florida. "It was a good opportunity to show that we're a good team, and we are," first-year Cecily Beane said. The team won 14-9.

Wooster also had a junior varsity team that lost 10-6 to a team composed of a mixture of Oberlin players. This team was mostly composed of bench players but also included some odd placements as home players sophomore Katherine Roberts and first-year Marissa Kowalczuk played in goal and goalie Alysia Oakley took the field.

After the game Wooster's men's lacrosse coach commented on how good Oberlin's off-ball movement was, something the new coach, Mindy Manolovich has emphasized. "It's almost more important than offense itself," senior Katherine Readey said. Manolovich has also been working extensively on defensive positioning. She wants players to use their bodies more on defense instead of going to knock the ball out of a player's stick or checking a player.

Further incentive to beat the team was the fact that Wooster beat Skidmore College, coached by former Oberlin women's lacrosse coach Katherine Perry-DeLorenzo and that they had obnoxious fans.

The game had exciting moments when sophomore Katherine Roberts stole the ball from the goalie who was trying to clear it and scored before the goalie even knew what happened. Roberts was probably as surprised as the goalie. "You try and rag the goalie but it doesn't usually happen," Roberts said. Sophomore Anne Ewens racked up a hat trick.

The team is not as proud of its win against Kenyon even though they won 19-4. "I think that Kenyon and Allegheny weren't extremely challenging [as compared to Wooster]," Beane said. In fact one of Kenyon's points came as a result of a miscommunication between an Oberlin player and the goalie that ended up with the ball rolling into the goal past a surprised Oakley. This occurred early in the game, but the Yeowomen did not let this stop them from pounding Kenyon.

One of the 30-or-so fans present at the game was even heard to say something like "Uh-oh, they're not scoring a goal a minute anymore" as Oberlin started slowing down from the initial thrashing given to Kenyon to make up for the lost goal. For the fans who turned out on the sunny day hampered only by a cold wind, there was also a raffle for a T-shirt at halftime.

The Kenyon game was an example of the way officials could have quite an effect on a game. Two Oberlin players were issued yellow cards for dangerous fouls. "Refs can decide if a team is playing dirty and step in and start to make completely biased calls," Readey said.

During one game, Manolovich counted the number of times one referee would stop a game as opposed to the second referee to illustrate the inconsistency between referees, and discovered that one blew the whistle at least five times as much as the other. "One game we had shooting space fouls every five minutes while at another we had none," Readey said. These types of foul calls give the other team an excellent opportunity to score as they result in a sort of penalty kick situation. The referees will on occasion stop the game for a foul that has no consequence as the ball stays in the same hands and all that shifts is momentum. "Some times they make poor judgement calls," Readey said.

In spite of this the Yeowomen beat Kenyon by a landslide and are looking at the next few games that are on their path to the championship. The team plays Division I Ohio State University on Monday and then has an important game against Denison College on Saturday. This is an important game at home because Denison is the only other undefeated team besides Wooster in Oberlin's conference.

Still, the team does not want to get too much in to the championship hullabaloo and brouhaha. "We're trying to take it game by game. The championship is such a big thing and we all want to get there, but we need to take it game by game and focus on the present," Beane said. "We're a tight team and we're becoming tighter and tighter."

Sticking it to the competition: Amy Kremen chases the ball carrier. The Yeowomen won two conference games last week, bringing their record to .600. While Oberlin easily defeated Kenyon, the College of Wooster presented a greater challenge. Oberlin beat the previously undefeated Scots 14-9. (photo by John Matney)