The women’s lacrosse team returned from spring break undefeated with victories over Randolph College in Lynchburg, VA, on March 23 and Kenyon College on March 29, its first victory over the Ladies in the past 12 years.

Randolph proved to be an easy win for the Yeowomen: junior and co-captain Kate Hanick described the game as “not much of a challenge, but it made going to Virginia worth it.”

The Yeowomen had 47 shots to Randolph’s 10, won 17 of the game’s 22 draws and were victorious with 26 ground ball battles to Randolph’s 11. Oberlin had six different players score, with the scoreboard reading 5–15 at the game’s end.

“It was our first time [this season] playing a team we didn’t know,” said Head Coach Lynda McCandlish. “We had to focus on ourselves more and our strategies.”

She added that it was great that the girls were getting plenty of shots off, but shooting accuracy is a weak spot for the young team.

Senior midfielder Sarah Andrews agreed with McCandlish.

“It wasn’t our best showing. Our shots could have used a lot of work.”

The Yeowomen’s shot percentage increased after their Kenyon game, though, making 14 of 27 shots, with a final score of 14–6 for their first North Coast Athletic Conference win of the season.

It was clear the Yeowomen were more than ready to break the curse and beat Kenyon on Sunday.

“The energy at the Kenyon game was so high — everyone was so excited, even on the sidelines,” said first-year Morgan Daruwala.

“Over the years, you definitely develop strong feelings toward certain teams since you play them every year,” Andrews said. “It’s a day that I’ve waited for for a really long time, and it felt so great.”

Beyond shot percentage, the team showed improvement all over the field.

“The attack showed a lot of patience, really waiting for the best opportunities,” McCandlish said.

Hanick added, “We used to be just a first half team, but we were scoring until the last minute.”

The team’s defensive performance was singled out as a positive as well. “Our transitions worked really well, and our transition defense played well against their transition offense,” Hanick said.

Daruwala called the defense on Sunday “really solid,” citing senior defender, co-captain and Review editor Sarah Orbuch and first-year goalkeeper Alexa L’Insalata as game changers. L’Insalata came away from the game with 13 saves.

The team is now looking ahead to the rest of its conference games, which McCandlish said could be challenging given the caliber of play among some of the other NCAC teams.

“We have to take it game by game,” she said.

Andrews agreed. “There are many different levels of play in NCAC, and we’re going to have to make sure we play Oberlin lacrosse as well as we can in all of our games,” she said.

The Yeowomen are optimistic about their prospects this season, but are ready to keep improving.

“Beating Kenyon has given us confidence, but we still have to work on some things and step some things up,” said McCandlish.

Andrews cited the teams stats’ tendency to vary dramatically from game to game. “I think something we can focus on is consistency,” she added.

Overall, though, the mood is confident. “I want to see our freshmen be fearless later in the conference against hard matchups,” Hanick said. “We’re such a strong team.”

“I think we’re really in control of our destiny this year.” Andrews said, with her thoughts on the conference tournament. “I’m confident that we’re going to do well, and we’re going to be the ones who decide how far we make it.”

The Yeowomen currently sit 5–1 on the season and 1–1 in NCAC play after a 6–10 loss to Denison University earlier this week. Oberlin hopes to get back on track Saturday as it takes on DePauw University. The team returns home on April 9 to duke it out with the Battling Bishops of Ohio Wesleyan University.