Yeowomen
Kickers Notch a Win, Loss and Draw
by Rob Smith
They
had five games to get ready, but they knew it would come. On Saturday,
Sept. 22, it came. The North Coast Athletic Conference season started
last Saturday for the Oberlin womens soccer team when the
Ladies of Kenyon College visited lovely Oberlin, Ohio.
The sun was out, there wasnt a cloud in the sky and by daytime
the temperature was just perfect. The women put on their jerseys,
strapped on their spikes and got ready to rumble. In what was a
well-played physical first half, the Yeowomen and the Ladies were
tied up at zero apiece. First-year Alison Palmer was at goal for
the Yeowomen coming off her great performance against Heidelberg.
Despite a scoreless first half, Oberlin was unaffected and took
charge as the second half began. With 38:26 remaining in the second
half, Kathryn Slater of Kenyon got the ball past Palmer to give
the Ladies a 1-0 lead. The score remained that way until junior
Courtney Stackhouse decided to change things by taking the ball
unassisted and putting it by Kenyons goalie. The score was
knotted up at 1-1 and for the second time this week the Yeowomen
took a game into overtime.
Oberlin played too hard and too well to let this game get away.
They played two overtime periods, each being 15 minutes long, and
with college rules only allowing two overtime periods to be played,
the Yeowomen had to settle for a tie. Coming off a game where they
werent as focused as they could have been, this well-played
game showed that the Yeowomen are heading in the right direction.
This was one of the best performances weve had against
Kenyon in years, Head Coach Jane Wildman said.
One of the teams best defensive players, first-year Leah Frederickson,
was sidelined for the game with split tendons in her ankle. Even
though she wanted desperately to play, she felt her team played
as well as they were capable of. Said Frederickson, It was
hard to see them play and not be out there, but they functioned
as a unit and looked very impressive. I cant wait to get back
out there again!
The Yeowomen took Saturdays performance for what it was worth
and were determined to build upon it when they hosted LaRoche (Pa.)
College on Sunday afternoon. Oberlin started early in this one with
a first half goal by Stackhouse and an assist from senior Becky
Kanuch. In the second half, the Yeowomen werent satisfied
with only one goal on the scoreboard, and so they decided to step
up their intensity and add two more scores before it was all over.
Stackhouse scored again, this time assisted by first-year Mara Brecht,
and then sophomore Sarah Kipp added her third goal of the season
with an assist coming by way of Kanuchs foot.
Kanuch not only leads the team in assists, with six, but she also
is the team points leader with 20. Stackhouse leads the team in
goals scored with nine and is a close second to Kanuch with 19 overall
points (number of goals plus number of assists).
Along
with two solid performances, the Yeowomen had another great sign
this weekend. Junior Vicki Alla, who is one of the top-returning
players from last season, made her return from injury. She had been
nursing an ankle injury all season long and is now ready to chip
in and make an already solid defense even better.
After a long and hard-fought game on Saturday, Palmer got the day
off from tending goal. Senior Julie Noyes and sophomore Katie Crosta
split time evenly and the Yeowomen did not skip a beat, with the
both of them refusing to allow a goal all game.
Wednesday, Sept. 26 was a big test for the Yeowomen. That day found
the Oberlin women in Granville, Ohio ready to play The Big Red of
Denison, who are a traditional conference powerhouse.
Despite all of their preparation, Wednesday was a chilly day that
yielded even colder results for Oberlin. Denison jumped on the Yeowomen,
scoring three goals in each half.
The one bright spot for the Yeowomen was that their offense shot
perfect in the game. First-year Ellie Fitzpatrick took the only
shot of the day for the Yeowomen put it in the back of the net,
but the women fell
6-1.
It was a rough game; I got beat up. But now its time
to get ready for another tough game against Ohio Wesleyan on Sunday.
We cant look back, sophomore Chelsea Wallis said.
The busy week of soccer continues for the Yeowomen tomorrow at 1
p.m. when they host conference opponent Ohio Wesleyan.
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