Men’s Soccer Team Has Mixed Results
By Sehban Zaidi

There were mixed results for the Oberlin College men’s soccer team this week. On Saturday the Yeomen secured their second overtime win of the season by beating Muskingum College, 2-1, away. Oberlin couldn’t repeat the victory at home on Wednesday, though, losing to John Carroll University 2-0.
“We learned on Saturday that executing our tactical plan leads to success,” senior Luke Eisenhauer said.
The Yeomen’s tactical plan helped them come from behind to win a game for the first time this season. Having gone a goal down to Muskingum, Oberlin battled back with a late goal from first-year David Wilson — who has now tallied four goals for the season — to send the game into overtime. Senior Richard Braithwaite settled the thriller in over time with his seventh goal of an increasingly fruitful season.
“The Muskingum game should have been 4-1, we missed a lot of easy chances,” head coach Blake New said.
The Saturday away victory was followed by a loss at home to John Carroll University. The loss left the yeomen with a 5-3-1 record for the year. John Carroll scored in the 30th minute when first-year goalkeeper Lincoln Smith failed to keep out a solid shot on goal. With the exception of that mistake, Smith had a solid game making seven saves, three of which were off breakaways.
“After watching the tape of the [John Carroll] game I am very pleased with our defensive organization,” New said.
Sophomore Jamie Davis and Eisenhauer both made goal line clearances to keep the John Carroll attack in check.
“There were a few short periods of time that we didn’t put the work in energy-wise against [John Carroll], which allowed them to play well timed balls to well timed runs, but even in those periods our ‘D’ never allowed them to look too dangerous. [First-year] Evan [Childress] showed he can eat it up at left back if we need him there,” Braithwaite said.
Oberlin kept attacking even after John Carroll’s second goal and created a number of chances that they couldn’t finish.
“I think the only real problems that we are having right now are our combination play in the final third and our finishing ability. Tactically, we are doing the things both defensively and offensively that I want them to be doing but it breaks down in the final third,” New said. “I feel good about where we are going in to conference play but we must be willing to take risks and get numbers forward to be successful.”
The Yeomen Host Capitol University tomorrow at 1 p.m. and on Tuesday they have their first conference game against Denison University at 4:30 p.m.

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