Oberlin, Ohio – The Oberlin College field hockey team celebrated its home opener with a fast start, scoring three times in the opening quarter en route to a 4-1 victory over Sweet Briar on Saturday morning at Knowlton Stadium.
"We worked on all of our forward ball movement. We worked on overlapping, and sending balls into the corner and trusting our teammates to go into those spaces to keep that counterattack moving. So we saw a lot of balls kind of coming into our defense, but defense working so hard and stopping it.
And then a hard counterattack within our midfield and full mind." Said Head Coach Jess West.
The Crimson and Gold controlled play throughout the morning, finishing with a 21-9 advantage in shots and putting 15 attempts on goal. Oberlin also earned 10 penalty corners while limiting Sweet Briar to one.
Samantha Finkelberg led the offense with two goals and three shots on target, opening the scoring in the 6' before finding the back of the cage again just 44 seconds later off an assist from Paloma Szyfer. Oberlin extended its lead to 3-0 with nine seconds remaining in the first quarter when Lucia Grant converted a feed from Bella Tilford. After a scoreless second period, Szyfer added the Yeowomen's fourth goal early in the third quarter. Finkelberg provided the assist, giving her five points in the contest.
Sweet Briar broke through in the fourth quarter, but Oberlin's early advantage proved more than enough to secure the victory.
Oberlin goalkeeper Mia Rubin earned the start and kept Sweet Briar off the board before Willow Maniscalco entered for the final quarter and made two saves.
"So super excited, very happy with this team. They did so much work. honestly, yesterday, the practice before, I think was the tone setter for this game.
So we're excited to hit EMU." West concluded
Oberlin returns home on Friday, September 11, to host Eastern Mennonite at 4 p.m.
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