Men’s Lacrosse Beats Marietta In Season Opener

by Blake Rehberg

The Oberlin men’s lacrosse team trounced Marietta, their first opponent of the season, in a convincing 11-5 victory Wednesday. 

The Yeomen have beaten Marietta consistently for the past 20 years, but this game was a quality showing of skill on the part of the Yeomen. All parts of the team played exceptionally well.
The weather was fair and the field was in good condition, but unfortunately, few spectators showed up for the Yeomen’s first home game.

Marietta started off the action by scoring first, but Oberlin managed to tie the game before the first period was over. In the second period, Oberlin scored three more goals to leave the halftime score at the relatively low 4-1. “In the first half I wasn’t sure whether it was good defense or inept offense on both teams,” Head Coach Jim Donovan said. “But as it turned out, I think it was more of us playing pretty good defense.”

The second half featured a lot more goals from both sides, but Oberlin managed to stay on top for the 11-5 win. The key to the team’s success was the defense that managed to hold Marietta to just five goals. Anchoring the defense was junior goalie Dave Smolev, who had an outstanding game with 17 saves. 

“[Smolev] did a very good job of clearing the ball,” Donovan said. Just as important as the defense’s solid play in the back was the offense’s ability to move the ball and score. “Sometimes in the first game of the season the ball is on the ground more often than not,” Donovan said. “That wasn’t the case [Wednesday].”

Sophomore Erik Vachon led the Oberlin attack with four goals and two assists. Also key to the offense was senior Evan Kelly, who had two goals and three assists. Kelly had no assists last season, and the Yeomen will look to capitalize on his improvements. Junior Mike Wexler contributed two goals and two assists as well.

Hopefully, the vigor of the team will carry over when the play Wittenberg. Wittenberg will have the advantage of already having played several games this season. In addition, they have a new coach this year. “Last year we didn’t play well against [Wittenberg]. They beat us badly both games,” Donovan said. “We’d like to change that around.”
The Yeomen play Wittenberg at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.

 

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