Women’s Lax Loses Two On Way To Tournament
BY BLAKE REHBERG

Oberlin Women’s lacrosse has suffered a rough season, losing two recent games to Colorado and Denison to drop their overall record to 3-8. After losing a strong class of players last year the team has been in a rebuilding process.

On Saturday, they played Colorado College in what started out as a promising game. The score stayed close through the first half. The Yeowomen were only down 6-4 at the half.

(photo by Laura Paley)

“We actually played a very good first half,” Head Coach Liz Graham said.
The second half started off decently, but halfway through Colorado began to capitalize on some fast breaks, scoring five goals in five minutes. The Yeowomen managed to stick one more goal in, but it wasn’t enough, as the final score was 12-5.
Wednesday’s game against Denison was similar. Denison got an early goal within two minutes. Oberlin responded with some intensity. Senior Annabeth Macy made an aggressive run out of the defense to start off the attack. After a couple of calls that went Oberlin’s way, sophomore Briana Quinn managed to score off a free position on goal to tie the score. That would the last time the score would be even, as Denison responded with three unanswered goals.

Senior Alex Grindle did her part to keep the Yeowomen in it. Denison got two free positions on goal, but Grindle managed to save both of them. Grindle accidentally gave away possession of the ball in front of goal, but came up with a save when Denison put the ball back at her. 
Junior Laura Kent-Monning kept the fighting spirit alive with her first goal of the game. Shortly after, she again found herself in possession of the ball in an attacking position. After one denied shot, Kent-Monning succeeded in getting her second goal. However, Denison scored once more to end the half at 7-3.
The second half opened with some grim portents. Denison capitalized on some breakaways to score five goals within the first three minutes. Oberlin called a timeout to adjust, but by then it was too late.
“By then the damage had been done,” Graham said. 
Quinn managed to get a second goal, and Kent-Monning got her third off an assist from senior MarySara Salvania. Senior Maya Leonard-Cahn also scored a goal, but the Oberlin efforts weren’t enough. The Yeowomen lost 16-6.
“A lot of the teams that we play rely pretty heavily on the fast break style of attack. When we are successful at slowing them down, that’s generally when as an entire team we are successful,” Graham said. “In the past two games, we’ve had periods where we’ve been unable to slow that down, and that’s where we get nailed.” 
The Yeowomen have a few kinks to work out on defense, but they still succeeded in advancing to the conference tournament next week as the sixth seed, significantly lower than in years past. However, the growth that has occurred throughout the season gives the team a good chance in the tournament.

“In the last week and a half this team has really stepped up to a new level,” Graham said. “Going into the tournament we may surprise some teams that we faced earlier in the season. I really think this is a much different team”
The Yeowomen still have to play Kenyon Saturday, and the result of that game and a couple of other conference games taking place this weekend will influence who Oberlin will play in the tournament next week.