Menıs soccer looking to leave history behind

Throughout nature the process of shedding skin is necessary before new growth can occur. Right now the Oberlin College menıs soccer team is trying to shed their skin. Over the past couple of seasons the teamıs image has been one of underachievement: they have not finished over .500 or won more than two conference games in a season in nine years. But they are now at a point where they can shed this history and begin to develop a solid soccer program.

The Yeomen were busy in the past three weeks playing seven games. They finished evenly winning three, losing three, and tying one. However, they still are not playing up to the level of play that they could, and they have made finishing above .500 a difficult task for themselves as a result. Their record currently stands at 7-8-1 with three games left to play.

On Oct. 8, Oberlin earned a big win over Theil College, 7-0. The game brought their record back to .500 and heralded the return of senior forward Jon Wilson who had been out with an ankle injury. On Oct. 9, the Yeomen came up just short, losing 4-3 to Wabash University. Since the team had charged back from a three goal deficit to tie the game, the loss was especially hard to swallow. Oberlinıs problems stemmed from defensive breakdowns that permitted Wabash to take advantage of some easy goals. "We just basically gift-wrapped three easy chances for them," said Head Coach Blake New. The loss was doubly unfortunate since a victory over Wabash would have strengthened Oberlinıs shaky standing in the NCAC.

Oberlin rebounded with back to back wins. The first came at home on Oct. 13 against Case Western Reserve in a 2-1 victory. The team followed with a win on the 16th and carried some significance. Not only was it an away game but they were also facing conference rival Wittenberg. The 3-2 win would boost Oberlinıs NCAC wins total to two, doubling last yearıs output.

The next three games would not be so promising for the Yeomen. Their first match ended in a 2-2 tie against Emerson on Oct. 21. Oberlin had been dominating play, but the game was called 10 minutes early due to darkness. Following this clerical error of a tie was a 2-0 loss at Vassar College on Oct. 23. The loss came as a result of two defensive mistakes. Tuesday yielded another conference loss, this time to Allegheny College, 4-1.

The team has been struggling defensively all year, but New is taking issue now. "In the last four games, I donıt think weıve allowed a goal that another team has earned," said New. "Weıve made mistakes defensively and done things to give games away."

Some changes have been made in the back line to try to fix the problem. While junior sweeper Ian Maher was in charge of the fullbacks, he became the resident scapegoat and has since been replaced by senior midfielder Zach Fine.

Scoring is not the problem for the Yeomen; they have two of the top three scorers in the conference in Wilson and junior forward Sam Hopkins. But they give up too many goals and are a disappointing 2-5 in the conference.

"It could still be a great season," said junior goalkeeper Caleb Stokes. "We need to win these last three games though." The team still aspires to finish above .500. "Weıve made it tough on ourselves by losing [on Tuesday]," said New. The Yeomen face no easy task trying to close out the season on a positive note with a nine-year history of failing in that mission haunting their every move.

They face La Roche tomorrow on the road. On November 3, they will travel to Wooster to play one of the last two conference games. The match against Wooster ‹ ranked dead last in the conference ‹ should give Oberlin the third conference victory theyıve been waiting for.

Faster than a speeding Gator: The Yeomen battled hard against Allegheny, but suffered a 4-1 defeat. (photo by Brian Hodgkin)

Dancinı fool: An Oberlin player does a nifty two-step through the oppositionıs defense. Despite being light on their feet, the Yeomen are struggling to break .500 for the ninth straight season. (photo by Brian Hodgkin)