Oberlin forfeits field hockey game to Bates at halftime
October 25, 2005

LEWISTON, Maine -- In this story, the main character was the nasty weather from the very beginning. And midway through, the weather stole the show and closed the curtains.

Having traveled over 800 miles by bus to play at Bates College on Tuesday, the Oberlin College field hockey team took a 2-1 lead by halftime at shiny Campus Avenue Field, amid temperatures in the 30s, partially frozen precipitation and high winds, aftereffects of Hurricane Wilma.

Seeing her players shuddering and hunching over inside a dormitory during halftime was quite enough for Oberlin head coach Deb Ranieri, who forfeited the game to Bates.

"We have a very big game coming up on Saturday (vs. Wittenburg) that we have to win in order to win our league (the North Coast Athletic Conference)," Ranieri explained. "We need to be as healthy as we can be for that game. It's much more important than a non-league game for us."

Bates head coach Wynn Hohlt accepted Ranieri's decision, which raises the Bobcats' record to 6-7 overall.

"We were starting to break through, though," said Hohlt. "We were on the prowl."

After Oberlin (13-3) led off the game with goals by Rosemary Mudry and Meg Reitz in the 13th and 20th minutes, respectively, Bates finally was able to get the ball into the Yeowomen's end of the field and keep it there, and began exerting some pressure of its own. First-year forward Rachel Greenwood (Williamstown, Mass.) got the Bobcats on the scoreboard with under seven minutes to play in the half.

According to NCAA rules, the official score of the game is registered as 5-0 in favor of Bates, but no statistics from the half that was played will count.

Bates plays at Colby College on Saturday to finish up its season.