Yeomen Take a Loss and a Tie

Team Makes Good Effort in Crucial Conference Game

The men's soccer team played 'a better defensive game,' against Carnegie Mellon earlier this week according to head coach Blake New, but came out on the losing end. Their record after this week is now 2-4-1, and 0-0-1 in the conference.

Playing away from the friendly home field, the Yeomen held Carnegie Mellon to no goals for most of the game. Then, senior Ian Maher went airborne to head the ball to a teammate when a Carnegie Mellon player went up with the same intention. In his case, he wound up getting 12 stitches.

Maher had to leave the game to get his wound sewn up, and with his departure left much of the team's morale. Mellon came away with a goal with only 25 minutes left. They scored again on a penalty kick late in the game sparking controversy when senior goalkeeper Caleb Stokes pushed an opposing player to get to the ball.

Overall, it was a much better performance than earlier games, although it was not up to the level the coaches and players want to be at the end of the season.

'We need to not be content with the score being 0-0,' said New. 'And we need to attack more early in the game.' If the Yeomen can build a stable lead early, their defensive ability will carry them to some wins.

In their second contest of the week, the Yeomen battled conference rival Allegheny, again away from their home field. Allegheny finished second in the conference last year, and Oberlin was happy to come home with a tie. First-year Jesse Kipp scored Oberlin's only goal.

'They had some good chances, and so did we,' said sophomore Simon Spaid. 'Maybe the flow of play went a little bit more their way, but I think we had more quality chances on goal.'

Even though they would rather have won, it was 'huge to go up there to their place and steal a crucial point in the conference standings,' Coach New said.

'Defensively, we're looking really solid,' said sophomore Richard Braitwaite. 'Once we figure out how to hold the ball up top and our offense can start up and control the ball for some time during the game, our defense will be even stronger, and we should really be able to dominate instead of just pulling off and counter attacking.'

The Yeomen seem to be improving, and it's maybe just a matter of time before they put all the pieces together at once. Their next game is Saturday at home against Bluffton College at 1 p.m.

'Fan support is important for any team to succeed,' Coach New said. 'I think we have something for the students to take pride in.'