Women's soccer falls 5-0

Don't let the score fool you. The women's soccer team put forth a valiant effort against a much-improved Earlham team this past saturday, but suffered a disappointing 5-0 loss. "They had a much stronger team than last year," Assistant Coach Katherine Roberts said. "They had a couple of really strong forwards. Earlham just played a little better."

The Yeowomen played in Indiana against not only a tough team, but also a very intimidating home crowd. "We were intimidated by their homecoming crowd," said sophomore forward Becky Kanuch. "We played flat. There was no chemistry at all during the game. The other team just switched the field on us mad times. It was crazy."

The women were slightly hindered by the absence of senior Katie Durham-Hammer, the team's sweeper. Nevertheless sophomore Lissa Green-Stark stepped up and played the sweeper position. "She played very well, but it's hard to lose a strong defender like that, someone we are used to having," said Coach Roberts.

The Quakers scored four goals in the first half, but Oberlin tightened up its defense and held them to only one goal in the second half. "The positions were changed up a little bit which definitely affected the game," said sophomore defender Josie Ferrell. "We tried to play a low pressure game and keep the numbers behind us."

We started off low pressure, but since we were losing so bad our coach switched it to a high pressure near the end of the game," said Kanuch.

While the Yeowomen were understandably disappointed by the outcome of their contest with Earlham, they nevertheless took something positive from the loss. "I feel like we didn't play as well as we could have, but I feel we're on our way to a more intense mental game," said Ferrell.

Right now, Oberlin is mired in a three game slump with an overall record of 5-7 and a conference record of 1-4. Times are tough, but with the support of the fans and a little encouragement, the Yeowomen might just be able to pull out of it and come out on top starting with a victory against Ohio Wesleyan this weekend. This conference game will take place on Saturday at noon against the undefeated Battling Bishops.

Gray skies are gonna clear up: Junior Jessa Klotz jockeys for positions, and more importantly, the ball. (photo by Brian Hodgkin)