Women's Soccer Beats Hiram

The Oberlin women's soccer team faced Kenyon last Saturday in what turned out to be a 2-0 loss, but rebounded to annihilate Hiram on Wednesday in a smashing 6-0 victory, bringing their record to 5-6-0 and 2-2-0 in the conference.

The week started off badly for the Yeowomen with a disjointed effort against Kenyon. Despite being relatively on equal teams, Oberlin never got their offense organized.

"They weren't better than us, we just didn't play well," sophomore Courtney Stackhouse said.

The Kenyon Lords capitalized on the Yeowomen's shortcomings and scored two goals midway through the first half.

"They scored two goals in the first half," Head Coach Jane Wildman said. "It's really hard to come back from that." Oberlin played a better second half but was unable to get the team machinery in gear. First-year Mara Brecht had to leave in the second half after heading the ball, apparently still feeling the effects of the concussion received a couple weeks ago.

"There was a huge gap between the forwards and the mid-field," Stackhouse said. "It was like we were playing defense the whole time."

"Kenyon was a tough game for us. I didn't feel we played our best," Wildman said. "We could have played them a lot closer. We could have created more chances. That's why I was disappointed."

The fact that Oberlin didn't play their best was highlighted by Wednesday's game when they did play their best against Hiram.

"We started off much stronger. As soon as the ball was in play, we were much more aggressive, and we stepped to the ball," Wildman said. "As a unit, we played a lot better. We were more direct in our play. We got our attack going right away. It took the other team out of their game, so they didn't really have much opportunity to score because we were playing so well."

Oberlin took control early, scoring four goals in the first half. The first by Stackhouse was followed immediately by a goal from junior Becky Kanuch. Junior Susan Axeen scored the third goal, putting the Yeowomen well on their way to a victory. Kanuch finished the half with an amazing goal, putting the ball between the keeper's legs.

"Becky is awesome. She's like a beast up top," Stackhouse said. "I'm so glad she's back." Kanuch returned on Saturday from a knee injury. Her presence on the field is easily noticed. On Wednesday, she paused mid-game to put her tresses back up, but when the ball came by she not only gained possession but managed to beat a defender and pass to a teammate.

Stackhouse got two more goals in the second half to complete her hat-trick.

"We played really well as a team. A lot of times we get kind of segmented when we are playing against harder teams," Stackhouse said. "It's always good to have a nice conference win under our belt when we go play a big scary team like OWU." The Yeowomen play Ohio Wesleyan Saturday.