Men's soccer opens season with victory

In a 3-0 victory over Defiance College on Saturday, the Oberlin men's soccer team proved that all the pre-season discussion about team work wasn't just talk.

From the minute the Yeomen took the field it was evidentall their hard work put in during the two weeks before school had paid off. They played not as individuals but as a giant fussball game come to life. The passing was quick and clean. Shouts were constantly heard as players gave suggestions and encouragement and sometimes criticism and demands.

Coach Chris Barker said, "The team played well, dominating play. We played good team ball."

In the first three minutes of the game junior Zach Fine scored the first goal. It was clear Oberlin was in control of the game and this would not change for the next 87 minutes.

The men's finesse passing and lack of drawn out dribbling left Defiance one step behind them throughout the entire game. Twenty-eight minutes into the first half, Oberlin scored again. Junior Jon Wilson made the goal assisted by fellow Captain junior David Lessinger. "David beat a guy in the corner; I volleyed with my left foot and kicked it into the left corner of the goal. It put the other team under. I think it disheartened them," said Wilson. The Yeomen ended the first half firmly in the lead, 2-0.

"We had pretty good flow, passing was good. But early in the second half we started slow," said midfielder sophomore Sam Hopkins. The Yeomen quickly recovered from this sluggish start and controlled the remainder of the game. The ball spent very little time anywhere near Oberlin's goal early in the second half. Goalkeeper sophomore Caleb Stokes said, "Marking was really tight. The defense didn't allow a lot of shots on goal. Defense did a really good job."

The Yeomen dominated the second half taking 16 shots . Their passes remained too fast and too accurate for the Yellow Jackets to handle.

With less than three minutes remaining in the game first-year Abe Jaffe scored Oberlin's third point, clinching the win.

"It was a really good effort by the whole team for a well earned victory," Barker said.

"It's great to start the season with a win but most of the teams we'll be playing will be better," said Lessinger. Hopkins agreed, saying, "Now we need to look onto harder games. We need to start on top of our game otherwise better teams will demolish us."

On Wed-nesday the Yeomen had a disappointing match at Heidelberg College, losing 2-1. They also suffered the loss of their starting goalkeeper for the next few games.

The Yeomen started off strong. In the first half Fine scored for the men. Wilson said, "Zach scored on a free kick. He bent it around the wall. It was spectacular."

35 minutes into the game Stokes suffered a dislocated shoulder, colliding with a Heidelberg player as he went for the ball. He should be playing again within two weeks.

With Stokes out of the game first-year goalkeeper Tyler Smith went into the game. "Tyler did a really good job," Stokes said.

At half time the Yeomen led 1-0. The second half didn't go as well. Wilson said, "We played well in the first half, but went down in the second." The men didn't play as a team, and had trouble with Heidelberg's physical, aggressive style.

Despite the loss and the disappointing second half, there were high points in the game. Stokes said, "The last time we played a team this physical and this good was in the pre-season. We got crushed totally. This time we didn't break as easily."

The Yeomen face Penn State University-Behrend away on Saturday and Kenyon College away on Tuesday. Lessinger said, "Kenyon is in the top ten in the country. It will be challenging. With Penn State we're more evenly matched. Sophomore midfielder Stephen Menyhart said, "Penn State is a really competitive team. With Kenyon we're just hoping to pull off a miracle win."