Women's Soccer Begins to Kick Into High Gear

Bethany and Lake Erie Both Fall to the Yeowomen

The Oberlin College Women's soccer team had a positive overall week to get back to a .500 record at 4-4-0. After losing to Baldwin-Wallace 1-2 on Thursday, Sept. 14, they came back to beat Bethany 2-0 on Sept. 16 and Lake Erie 3-0 Thursday. Leading the way for them is sophomore Courtney Stackhouse, who scored six goals this week.

Last Thursday the Yeowomen hit the road, resulting in a disappointing loss against Baldwin-Wallace. Stackhouse scored the only Oberlin goal early on in the first half. Unfortunately, Baldwin-Wallace scored right at the end of the half making the score a 1-1 tie at the break. The Yeowomen weren't able to keep their energy up and the opposition managed to score yet another goal. The scoreboard showed a loss even though the play was pretty even throughout the game.

Oberlin fared better against Bethany on Saturday, as they controlled the pace of the game. Stackhouse scored twice, once in each half. The Oberlin defense managed to keep Bethany from scoring.

Oberlin came out against Lake Erie, not only ready to win, but ready to prove it. Stackhouse scored almost immediately. Oberlin continued to be in control throughout the game. Stackhouse scored twice more in the second half.

Stackhouse has played a vital role for the team, leading in goals scored with 13 goals already this season.

"Soccer was something I could do, and I was bored with all that girly crap. They were like, 'here, go dance' and I was like 'no,' so I went and played soccer, and I loved it," said Stackhouse.

"The role that Courtney plays ‹ we use her as a target player, so that's her role," said head coach Jane Wildman. "We're supposed to hit her, and basically with her speed we want her to take defenders on one on one. It takes the whole team to actually get to that point and put us in the position to score goals."

More important than their overall .500 record is their 1-0 conference record. "Conference-wise we did ourselves a favor by that big win against Earlham, so we're right where we want to be at this point," said Wildman.

The team has to finish in the top four in the conference to advance to the tournament. "We can definitely do it," said Stackhouse.

They face conference competitors Denison on Wednesday, 4:30 pm.