Men’s
Soccer Closes With Tough Wooster Battle
By Sehban Zaidi The
Oberlin College men’s soccer team’s roller coaster season
ended with a hard fought 1-0 loss to the College of Wooster last
Saturday.
The Yeomen came just short of a .500 season with a 9-10-1 overall
record and a 2-7 record in the North Coast Athletic Conference,
a marked improvement over last year’s 1-15 season.
Wooster came to Oberlin with a 14-0-3 record attempting to secure
an undefeated season. The Yeomen went into the game with a 9-9-1
record and the possibility of finishing over .500.
Oberlin played arguably their best game of the season in the highly
contested match, continuously attacking the Wooster goal. Wooster
made constant wholesale substitution, changing six players every
15 minutes. Through crisp passing and purposeful off-the-ball running,
the Yeomen made sure the Wooster subs didn’t settle in. As
the half drew nearer Wooster began to make determined runs at the
Oberlin goal. At halftime, however, it was the Yeomen who had the
upper hand.
In the second half the game became more balanced with both teams
searching for the opening goal. Wooster struck first with a controversial
goal. After a long ball into the Oberlin 18 yard line a Wooster
forward pulled senior fullback William Singer to the ground and
belted the ball past first year Lincoln Smith. Despite the vehement
appeals by head coach Blake New, the goal stood and the Yeomen were
1-0 down.
The goal only inspired the Yeomen to work harder and they began
to test the Wooster back line. Sophomore Max Hellerman hit the cross
bar after a well worked Oberlin move, but that was the closest the
Yeomen were going to get and as the final whistle blew Wooster led
1-0.
“Playing against the number two team, I think we really passed
around them. We had some hard chances. We’re ready for them
next year though,” junior Danny Homan said.
“We were nicely organized in the back. Lincoln didn’t
have to do much. He made one good save, and was unlucky on their
goal, which was scored on a questionable call,” senior Richard
Braithwaite said.
Braithwaite and Singer are two of the five seniors graduating this
year. The other three are Simon Spaid, Jay Rosenthal and Luke Eisenhauer.
All of them were part of the spine of the Oberlin team but with
much skill and poise shown by the incoming first-years, next year
brings with it new promise.
|