On Wednesday’s chilly night, the women’s lacrosse team took the field for their home opener against the Baldwin Wallace University Yellow­ Jackets at the Knowlton Athletics Complex. With the temperature at an icy 21 degrees, home fans’ resilience to the cold was ultimately rewarded when the final whistle blew and Ober­lin emerged victorious with a score of 15–10.

The Yeowomen’s highly touted offense was flawless in the first half, shooting 15 shots on goal and earning themselves 11 goals before intermis­sion. Oberlin would finish the contest shooting 26 total shots, 24 of which were on goal.

Despite Oberlin’s dominant attack, Baldwin Wallace drew first blood, finding the back of the net only 51 sec­onds into the game. Senior midfielder Grace Barlow would answer less than 20 seconds later with her lone goal in the contest and her fifth goal in the season. For the next 10 minutes the game was a back-and-forth affair, with goals from senior midfielder Su­zanna Doak and junior attacker Mag­gie Mullard, bringing the game to a 3–3 deadlock. With slightly less than 20 minutes left in the half, Mullard would net the first of six unanswered Oberlin goals. After that run, the Yeo­women would not trail for the rest of the contest.

Sophomore midfielder Natalie Rauchle spearheaded the Yeowomen’s attack, finishing the game with six goals and one assist. Rauchle was also a perfect 2–2 on free-position shots and contributed four of Oberlin’s 19 total draw controls.

Rauchle was pleased with the Yeowomen’s efforts but stressed that there is still a long road ahead for her team. “I think that we can only get stronger moving forward,” Rauchle said. “We’re already able to read each other’s next moves, and it’s only the second game of the season.”

The Yeowomen’s offensive domi­nance was the highlight of the contest, but their defense also earned well-de­served praise. Their newly practiced zone was efficiently executed, barring the Yellow Jackets from good shooting positions and limiting penetration.

“Our main focus defensively for last night was to execute our zone that we’ve been working on, which I think we did a pretty good job of,” said junior defensive midfielder Michaela Puterbaugh.

Junior goalkeeper Alexa L’Insalata was the anchor of Oberlin’s defense. Tested with 25 shots on goal, the New Jersey native impressively deterred all but 10, finishing the game with 15 saves.

L’Insalata said that team play was the key to Oberlin’s success Wednesday.

“What I think was successful for us last night was that we played as a co­hesive team,” L’Insalata said. ”Baldwin Wallace is super aggressive, but we did not play to their level. We still played smart and aggressive without playing dirty.”

Despite the Yeowomen’s domi­nant 2–0 start this season, Assistant Women’s Lacrosse Coach Pamella Jenkins recognizes that there is still much room for improvement for her talented squad.

“I think that we are in a very for­tunate place to have so many people that can score and that our future looks bright,” Jenkins said. “It’s about developing, continuing to get better and not getting complacent — realiz­ing that there is always another level that we can get to.”

The Yeowomen are back in ac­tion Saturday against Sewanee: The University of the South at 12 p.m. in Wooster, Ohio.