Gambier, Ohio – The Oberlin College field hockey dropped its first North Coast Athletic Conference match of the season, falling 7-0 at Kenyon College on Tuesday afternoon.
The Ladies, who were picked third in the NCAC Preseason Poll and earned three first-place votes, controlled the run of play throughout the match, but the Yeowomen fought hard to hold their own throughout the first half.
In 2016, the Yeowomen lost the first game to the Ladies 5-0, but in the second match-up Oberlin gave the Ladies all they could handle as Kenyon escaped town with 3-2 double overtime win.
In the first half of today's match-up, an early defensive save by Dillion Sebastian kept the Ladies off the board, but Kenyon would eventually breakthrough for two first-half goals. In the sixth minute, Hannah Sklar scored with the help of a Katelyn Hutchinson assist and just over two minutes later it was Paulina Mendez who cashed in a Weezie Foster feed.
In the closing moments of the opening half, Oberlin had a break-away chance, but Ladies keeper Sarah Speroff charged at the on-coming attacker and knocked the ball away prior to the shot.
The Ladies would continue to control the game throughout the second half, adding on five more goals to leave no doubt in the eventual outcome.
Kennedy Kline worked all 70 minutes in the cage and finished with nine saves.
Oberlin dropped to 1-2 on the season and 0-1 in the NCAC while the Ladies remained unblemished at 3-0 overall and 1-0 in league play.
The Yeowomen will open the home portion of their schedule in front of large homecoming crowd on Friday afternoon as they welcome Christopher Newport University to the Austin E. Knowlton Athletics Complex for a 5 p.m. matinee.
