By John Bray and Nina Zimmerman

Cross Country

Coming off of a bye week, the Kenyon men’s and women’s cross country teams raced into one of the most competitive meets in the country at the Inter-Regional Rumble hosted by Oberlin College.

On the men’s side, Nat Fox ’16 and Sam Lagasse ’16 led the Lords to a 14th-place finish out of 31 teams. Both runners set personal bests for the 8-K race during the meet. Fox finished at 26.22.4, with Lagasse close behind, finishing six seconds later at 26.28.0.

For the Ladies, Jenna Willett ’14 set pace with a time of 22.16.2 on the 6-K course. One of the Ladies’ top runners, Natalie Plick ’16, was unable to compete, but her absence did not stop the Ladies from an impressive 10th-place finish out of 34 teams.

Head Coach Duane Gomez felt the Lords and Ladies ran “good and solid races” on Saturday. His mindset, however, has already shifted towards the conference championships. “The key for us for conferences will be for the teams to be rested and healthy,” Gomez said.

Both teams will enjoy another off week before heading to the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships hosted by Allegheny College on Nov. 2.

Women’s Soccer

Despite the fall freeze yesterday, the women’s soccer team took to Mavec Field in a midweek matchup against the Wittenberg University Tigers, beating the Tigers 3-2 in dramatic double overtime fashion. The Ladies are now 4-9-1 overall and 2-3 in conference play, and have a 2-1-1 record in double overtime games this season.

The game began slowly, mirroring the cold weather conditions. The teams totaled nine shots combined in the first half, with neither team finding the net.

The deadlock finally broke when the Tigers took the lead with a goal at 63:12. But the Ladies tied it up two minutes later when Katie Blake ’14 tallied her second goal of the season ﾗ an unassisted score that sank into the back of the Wittenberg net at 65:16. Maggie Smith ’17 gave the Ladies the lead at 71:34 with her fifth goal of the season, assisted by Co-Captain Becca Romaine ’15. Romaine leads the Ladies in assists this season, with four.

Though the Tigers were down, Wittenberg refused to relent and tied the score two apiece less than three minutes before the end of regulation, sending the game into overtime. But neither team found the net in the 10 minutes of the first overtime, and play continued with a second overtime.

Thiry-two seconds into the second overtime, Smith sealed the Kenyon win with her second goal of the game and her sixth of the season, an unassisted shot that ended the game in the Ladies’ favor. She leads the team in goals scored this season.

Kenyon shot with great accuracy in the second half, making six shots and finding the net on two of those. By contrast, Wittenberg had 10 shots in the second half and scored twice as well, thanks to the Ladies strong defensive efforts. Alissa Poolpol ’16 spent the entire game in the net for the Ladies, racking up 10 saves to bring her total up to 30 for the season.

Three games remain for Kenyon in the 2013 regular season, all against North Coast Athletic Conference opponents. The Ladies head to Hiram College this Saturday to play the Terriers at 11 a.m.

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