September 30, 2010

Pink Jersey Auction




The Oberlin College Men's Soccer team lined up against Earlham College wearing pink OC uniforms this past weekend. The team donned the special uniforms to honor a member of our soccer family. Elizabeth Miller, mother of midfielder Oliver Miller-Farrell, passed away this past spring after a five-year battle with breast cancer. She was a leader in the fight against the disease and spoke at several conferences around the country to survivors and others battling breast cancer.

I got to know Elizabeth when we were recruiting Ollie and it was clear from the start that she was a dynamic person,” Head Coach Blake New said. “I would only see her occasionally, but when I did we had great, lively conversations and she was always concerned about others, but especially about her son. My two daughters were just instantly drawn to her, and each Parent's Weekend we would have to pry them off of Elizabeth's lap. She was a great person and so giving and loving, so we feel it is our duty to honor her by raising awareness of this disease that will affect all of us in our lifetimes."

We are raising money for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation and are asking $20 for a shirt. You can certainly donate more if you want, but $20 will get you a shirt! Email us at blake.new@oberlin.edu and let us know what number you want.

September 10, 2010

Oberlin v. Baldwin Wallace

We finished up the home stand on Tuesday versus another OAC opponent with Baldwin-Wallace visiting Fred Shults Field. The game had an ominous beginning when BW opened the scoring with a tap-in off a quick transition in the 7th minute. Despite the rest of the 1st half's numerous chances for both sides, the scoreline would remain 1-0 to BW at the half.

We made some tactical adjustments at the half and took the initiative early in the 2nd half. Our attack pressed forward and Matt Capozzi nearly opened his Oberlin account only to be denied for a corner. That corner would produce the equalizer when Alen Cisija's service bounced around in the penalty area and found Wyatt Hayman free to roof the ball into the net in the 53rd minute. However six minutes later BW would cash in on a scramble in front of goal from a set piece to go ahead 2-1. We continued to take the game to our opponents and Zach Lipshultz put in another good display with some key saves to keep the game at 2-1 but chasing the game again would catch up with us as we conceded a brace in the 83rd minute. Then with the game at 3-1 to BW, Justin Griffiths took advantage of a poor clearance and a wandering goalkeeper to put the scoreline at 3-2 in the 87th minute. Though the goal gave us a lifeline, the clock would run out on our comeback effort and we were left to regret our defensive miscues once again being on the wrong end of the scoreline.

Not much time to regroup before we head to Danville, Kentucky to face perennial powers Centre College and Transylvania University. We open with a stiff test Friday playing Centre in their home opener and on Saturday we meet Transylvania, a sweet 16 NCAA team from a year ago. We'll surely be tested but look forward to the challange.

Oberlin v. Capital

Our good start to the weekend and bright start to the game came apart in a matter of minutes against Capital on Sunday. We opened the game with a goal in just the 2nd minute from Oliver Miller-Farrell, who tucked away his first tally of the year after a Justin Griffiths through ball unlocked the Capital rearguard. However our bright start unraveled in the 30th minute when a defensive miscue gift-wrapped Capital an equalizer. Just a minute later another lapse saw us concede a second goal to Capital and the even contest now had momentum swinging against us. We went into the half confident we could recover from the one goal deficit. In the 2nd half we created chances and were buoyed by Zach Lipshultz's strong play between the sticks but we couldn't manage an equalizer, chasing the game eventually caught up to us and we conceded a 3rd goal in the 79th minute in transition. The game ended and we were on the wrong end of a 3-1 scoreline. We left feeling equal to our opponents but weren't nearly as sharp on the night, so we look forward to correcting some of the lapses and rebounding against BW on Tuesday.

September 7, 2010

Oberlin v. Otterbein

Our second match went much like the first, we had control for much of the game and couldn't quite connect in the final third. Though this time we did have to wait until the 75th minute for Justin Griffiths to tally his game-winner off a set piece. Otterbein had a bit more bite than Albion, but rarely threatened. It continues to be a good start keeping a second consecutive clean sheet but more potent opponents are ahead with Capital and Baldwin-Wallace looming.

Enjoy the game recap below. Keep following us here and catch a live home match via webcast at www.goyeo.com

September 2, 2010

Season Opening Win

For the first time in several years the Oberlin College men's soccer team opened the season away from home. The team traveled to Albion, Mich. to take on the Albion College Britons. The team's objective was to treat the match as a business trip... get there, establish our style of play, get the win and return to Oberlin to prepare for a three game home stand. As the team unloaded from the bus the temperature was a bit warm and the air heavy. As the boys were halfway through their warm-up it began to rain, we experience on again off again heavy rain throughout the contest. The starting 11 found good rhythm and time on the ball to create good chances early. Sophomore forward Justin Griffiths turned on the top of the penalty box after receiving a fine entry pass from Oliver Miller-Farrell and buried the shot at the far post in the side netting. The team produced a few other moments of brilliance that came up just a bit short in the first half. The team endured an energetic spell from the Albion team through the first 20 minutes of the second half before finding the majority of possession through the final whistle.

"It was a good first effort by the team. We were a bit short handed due to a few injuries and a couple of first-year players who remained on campus to take placement exams. The combination play between our front players is really starting to come together and last night it resulted in a beautiful goal by JGriff," commented Associate Head Coach Wes Davis.

Enjoy the video footage of the first goal of the 2010 season. If you are unable to make it to a home contest in Oberlin be sure to watch all home matches streaming live at www.goyeo.com .