Women’s Soccer Wins Two
by Robert Smith

After beating Case Western University on Tuesday, the Oberlin College women’s soccer team was finally ready to play Notre Dame College (Ohio). This game was originally scheduled for Sept. 13, but due to the tragic events of that week the game was postponed. The women from Notre Dame traveled to Oberlin on Thursday Oct. 3. The weather was not very cooperative. The game was slightly delayed but the girls got it on anyway.
Under the poor playing conditions, Notre Dame got on the board first. Jessica Whitesel got through the Yeowomen defense and put the ball in the back of the net.
“It’s been a hard adjustment losing our sweeper first-year Leah Frederickson to injury. She’s our last line of defense,” sophomore Chelsea Wallis said.
Senior Julie Noyes, who started the game in goal for the Yeowomen, was victimized for this early first half goal. From then on she got stingy. A few minutes later, Lisa Green-Stark assisted senior Becky Kanuch for a goal. It was Kanuch’s 10th goal of the year and it led the Yeowomen into halftime with a tie.
“We didn’t come out as strong as we could have. We started slow,” Wallis said.
The second half saw more of the lower scoring trend that the first half showed. The two teams fought each other scoreless for nearly 38 minutes until a second half goal was scored, with 7:20 left to play, a thunderous kick by Junior Courtney Stackhouse put put the ball past Notre Dame’s goalie and got the Yeowomen up 2-1. Noyes and the defense did the job from there as the Yeowomen went on to the victory.
After two straight wins the Yeowomen now found themselves with a .500 record overall at 5-5-1. In conference they still stood winless at 0-3-1.
“We’ve come through some tough games, and it’s important for us to become a stronger team,” first-year Elvie Miller said.
Paying the Yeowomen a visit on Oct. 6 were the Tigers of Wittenberg. This game should have been more or less evenly matched, as the Tigers came into Saturday’s competition with an overall record of 3-6-2, and a conference record of 1-3.
The sun came out Saturday giving the illusion of a nice day, but as the women stepped on the field they realized that the sun had lied. The ground was still soggy from the previous day’s rain and the wind was constant. Though chilly, the girls played and Wittenberg jumped out to a 2-0 lead before Oberlin could answer back. With time ticking down in the first half, Kanuch notched her 11th goal of the season, putting the Yeowomen at striking distance with a one goal disadvantage going into halftime.
The Yeowomen came out of halftime looking strong as sophomore Tessa Stevens scored her first goal of the season to tie the game at two apiece. Two more goals by Wittenberg put the Tigers up 4-2. Then Sophomore Mara Brecht, who was all conference last season for the Yeowomen, put the Yeowomen back in the game with her third goal of the year, making the score 4-3 Tigers. But the Yeowomen couldn’t muster up any more scoring from there. The Tigers added another goal and left Oberlin with a 5-3 loss.

“We felt that we should have, and could have, played much better,” Wallis said. Injured starting sweeper Frederickson also made her return to the field on Saturday.
“[Fredrickson] knows how to play her position very well, we felt her presence right away when she came back,” Wallis said.
First-year goalie Alison Palmer was minding the net for the Yeowomen again Saturday. She let in the five goals but also made 11 tough saves facing 34 shots total.
Oct. 10 found the girls traveling to play Allegheny College. The long bus ride made for an even longer evening for the Yeowomen. After one half of play the Yeowomen were hanging tough with the Gators of Allegheny, a tough conference foe, and trailed 1-0. After half time, the Gators exploded for four more goals, leading to a 5-0 defeat. They didn’t have a taste for Gator blood on that Wednesday afternoon.
The Yeowomen now hold a record of 5-7-1 with a conference mark of 0-4-1. With two conference games coming up, the Yeowomen have a good chance to finally get an important conference win.
Next up for the Yeowomen is a trip to Hiram College on Oct. 13 and then a home match against the women of Wooster on Saturday Oct. 17. “I’m looking forward to the rest of the season. I think we’ll finish strong,” Miller said.