Women's lacrosse team plays like champions

Sparked by a 12-goal second half, the women's lacrosse team pulled away from Ohio Wesleyan University 16-11 Saturday.

With their victory, the team was assured of a first round bye in the upcoming NCAC Championship Tournament this weekend at Denison Universiity.

Sunday the team whipped Canisus College 15-5 in the slosh and mud that was North Field.

Last Saturday, though, the team continued its recent trend of starting slow, trailing 5-1 midway through the first half and 5-4 at halftime.

"Basically, we played a crappy first half," senior Amy Kremen said."The feeling at halftime was they are not a bad team, we are better."

"Usually we don't realize what we are doing wrong," sophomore Nina Thompson said. "Once we can figure out what we are doing wrong, it's easy."

After Ohio Wesleyan seemed to break away with three quick scores to build a 8-5 lead, co-captain senior Anne Ewens came roaring through the OWU defense for two quick goals.

And then at 19:02, after some quick cuts, senior Katherine Roberts tied it up. A goal by junior Cecily Beane gave Oberlin the first lead since the team's 1-0 lead at the beginning of the game.

"We won't give up mentally," Thompson said. "We just won't give up. With some teams eventually they will stop caring. We never do that."

OWU came back to tie the game up at 11-11 with 11:34 to play before a barrage of Oberlin goals by first-year Mary Sarah Salvania. Roberts and Kremen gave them a 16-11 advantage which they would never relinquish.

The Oberlin defense clamped down hard as co-captain senior Alysia Oakley made some key saves in goal.

"The intensity got higher and higher as the game went on," Kremen said. "That's a fun game to play."

With two minutes to go, Oakley held on to the ball for about thirty seconds and passed it out to a defender, and after a few more passes, Roberts ran with the ball down the sideline to cheers from the crowd as time expired.

"We didn't start out strong, but had a good game overall," senior Amy Kremen said. "We figured out our weaknesses, not winning our draws. We started getting all the draws, getting position and winning."

Sunday against Canisus, the team had no problem building a 14-2 halftime lead and went on to romp 16-6.

"We thought they would be better," Thompson said. "They were really not that good."

The rainy weather and a weak opponent made for a poor performance, despite the team's success. Thunder served as a reprieve for the players during the game. Kremen and Ewens scored four goals, while Roberts and first-year Mary Sarah Salvania had three goals a piece.

For her performance over the weekend Kremen was named the team's player of the week by Coach Mindy Manolovich.

In preparation for their games in the NCAC tournament this weekend the team watched videotapes of their games against Denison and Ohio Wesleyan.

Earlier in the season against Denison, the team got wallooped by the score of 19-9. They were simply overrun by the Big Red's larger and faster squad.

"It's embarassing when I see myself jogging when I should be sprinting," senior Atsuko Sakurai said. "It definitely helps to watch a tape."