Edward Louie | The Bucknellian A Bison swimmer prepares herself at the block. The Bison defeated American but fell to Navy.
Lauren Boone
Contributing Writer
The women’s swimming and diving team held its own in a dual meet against American and Navy, defeating the host Eagles 252-36 but falling to the defending Patriot League champion Midshipmen 185-113.
Kelly Pontecorvo ’14 (1,000 freestyle) and Emma Levendoski ’16 (100 backstroke) led the Orange and Blue in the swimming competition held at Reeves Pool in Washington D.C., both earning first place finishes in their respective events. Levendoski posted a time of 57.98 seconds in her heat. Although she already held the eighth fastest time for this event in Bison program history, she improved her record by 0.26 seconds. Additionally, Levendoski was the runner-up in the 200 backstroke. Pontecorvo also added to her contribution with a third place finish in the 500 freestyle.
Leading the Bison in diving were Tara Boyle ’15 and Katie Hetherington ’15, who finished with first place victories in the one-meter and three-meter boards, respectively. In support, Tori Molchany ’15 was fourth off both boards, followed by teammate Lisa Bolle ’13 who finished seventh in the one-meter and fifth in the three-meter.
“Our meet this weekend went very well,” Levendoski said. “We are continuing to improve and are getting faster at every meet. It was the first meet against teams in our conference so it was a good gauge of our competition. We are looking forward to our meet this weekend against Lafayette and the Bison Invitational next weekend.”
The weekend left the Bison’s overall record this season at 1-3. Tomorrow the Orange and Blue face Lafayette at home before the Bucknell Invitational takes place on Nov. 16-18.
Chris Paine | The Bucknellian A Bison swimmer leaps into the water. The Bison showed promise in the highly-contested meet.
Billy Tyler
Contributing writer
The men’s swimming and diving team saw career-best performances from Tyler Wenzel ’16 and Mike Nicholson ’14 this past weekend as the team split its double dual meet against American and Navy, beating American 196-98 while falling to Navy 187-108.
The diving competition on Nov. 2 featured very tough competition from both Navy and American. Stepping up to the challenge was Wenzel, who set school top marks on both the one meter and three meter boards. Wenzel came into the event knowing he, and the team as a whole, would need a solid performance to be competitive.
“I was nervous in the beginning, as Navy has a good reputation for their ability in water athletics,” Wenzel said.
He was able to shake off his nerves and delivered a career best score of 245.3 on the one meter-board, earning him the sixth best performance in the school’s history. This was followed up by a score of 245.55 on the three-meter board, gaining him third in the heat and seventh in the school’s records.
“I just did what I could within my ability and was given confidence by the support of my family and my two teammates, who both dove very well this weekend,” Wenzel said.
The swimmers, who competed on Nov. 3, were led by Nicholson, who won three out of the four individual events captured by the Bison. He finished first in the 200 breast, the 200 fly and the 200 IM by a combined total time of 5.06 seconds. The two-time All Patriot League swimmer was pleased not only with his performance, but also those of his teammates who stepped up to the tough competition, especially from Navy.
“We won four events and the events we didn’t win we managed to get to the wall ahead of some of their other guys, which was what we had to do to prevent them from running away with the meet,” Nicholson said.
The other individual win for the men’s swimming team was earned by Ben Seketa ’15. In addition to his victory in the 100 breast, Seketa finished fourth in the 200 breast and second only to Nicholson in the 200 IM. Some of the other top finishers for the Bison included Chris Ortiz ’16 (third in 100 free, fifth in 200 free and seventh in 50 free) and Brian Phillips ’16 (fifth in 1000 free and eighth in 500 free).
“We really emphasize making improvement from week to week and meet to meet at this point in the season and we definitely saw improvement in a number of areas from a number of people,” head coach Dan Schinnerer said.
The next time the Bison take the water will be at the team’s home invitational event on Nov. 16-18 in Kinney Natatorium.
The women’s volleyball team played their last home games of the season last weekend, first crushing Holy Cross in a decisive 3-0 victory before falling to a tough Army team.
The Bison came out for Senior Night on Nov. 2 against a Holy Cross team they had lost to earlier in the season, and quickly took care of business with a victory in three straight sets. Kebah Edoho ’13 and Kat Tauscher ’13 were honored that night, and both players stepped up with impressive performances, with Edoho racking up six blocks and a career-best 14 kills, while Tauscher pulled a double-double with 10 digs and 22 assists.
“Friday night was a great senior night for Kebah [Edoho] and I. We had a lot of fun playing in front of our family and friends and really appreciated all the love and support we received from our teammates and coaches,” Tauscher said. “It was a great overall team effort with no lulls or setbacks and it was icing on the cake that everyone, including Kebah and I, had such great games.”
Many other members of the team also stepped up for the Bison in the victory. Leylin Marroquin ’14 recorded 14 digs on the day, while Kristen Titley ’14 recorded eight kills. Karen Campbell ’16 also added two blocks to Edoho’s six, putting the Orange and Blue in the lead for team blocks.
The Bison struggled to keep up the momentum on Nov. 3 when they went up against Army team, losing in straight sets. The team was against bolstered by Tauscher and Meghan Wentzel ’16 who each recorded nine assists on the day. Campbell and Titley also played well, racking up eight and five kills, respectively.
“The difference between the two games was clearly the level of the competition as well as us as a team just not having a good night,” Tauscher said. “For some reason, on Saturday night we couldn’t put things together and nothing was going our way. With that said, it gives us something to work on this week and a chance for redemption this weekend at Navy and American.”
The Bison will finish out their regular season this weekend with two games on the road, travelling tonight to face Navy, and then facing off at American tomorrow afternoon.
The field hockey team concluded its season on Nov. 2 after a 4-0 loss to American in the semifinals of the Patriot League Tournament. The Orange and the Blue finished with a 3-3 record in Patriot League play, and a 9-10 record overall.
“I’d say that it was an exciting season with goals scored by multiple players, people stepping into new roles and taking them on with determination and a real infusion of emotion into the game by our players,” assistant coach Jamie Montgomery said. “They set the bar high this season and in doing so took real risks trying to get there.”
After facing American the previous week and dropping a close 2-1 contest, the Bison put in a week of practice to readjust and entered last weekend determined to come out on top. The practice appeared to pay off in the first half, where the Bison defense held American to seven shots and only one goal scored right before halftime. However, the usually dominating second half offense did not make an appearance for the Bison, and American was able to tack on three more goals to pull away.
“We traded opportunities to score with them in the first half, and when they were able to capitalize and we were not, it really changed the way we had to approach the second half,” head coach Jeremy Cook said. “Had we been able to put one away in the first, I think it would have gone differently.”
American finished with a 13-4 shot advantage, as well as a 6-4 edge in penalty corners. The Eagles lost to Lafayette in the final.
Goalie Erica Perrine ’14 recorded eight saves to go along with four goals allowed, and finishes the season tied for sixth in program history for wins in a single season. Defender Tayler Siegrist ’13 also finished the season with a team-leading eight goals. Midfielder Kelsey Mucelli ’15 and forward Rachel Misko ’14 were named to the Patriot League All-Tournament Team.
“This year was an awesome year for our team,” Misko said. “We were a young team who went out to every game with a lot of heart and the will to win every game … We may not have won the Patriot League Championship but we have made unbelievable strides toward the future as a team.”
Graduating from the team are Siegrist and midfielder Kelly Stefanowicz ’13.
“We are graduating two phenomenal student-athletes this year, both of whom are fantastic representatives of the scholar-athlete model in completely different ways,” Cook said. “I am very proud of them and the whole group; we were relentless in our pursuit even if we came up a bit short at the end.”
“Expectations are big next year … We return a large group of experienced student-athletes that I think have big potential within the league,” Cook said. “Adding a traditionally powerful program like Boston University will change the landscape in the league, but with hard work this spring and a strong incoming class, I think we’ll be in a great position to take another step forward.”
Collin Costello ’13 played a critical role last week as the men’s soccer team turned their season around with two 1-0 victories. The co-captain played every minute of both games, leading the defense that earned the team two shutouts by only allowing NJIT and Colgate a combined 14 shots. His efforts earned him the Brine Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week award.
“Over the past week, our team has been able to record two shutouts because we have defended as a team and not as a group of individuals. This has started with our forwards, and has finished with our goalkeeper,” Costello said. “When we can begin our defensive pressure in the opponents’ defensive third, it makes the other team uncomfortable and more susceptible to make simple mistakes. We have been able to capitalize on these mistakes the past two games.”
Costello did not receive much playing time in his first three years for the Orange and the Blue, but his patience has paid off as he now leads the team in minutes played and has started every game this season. He has even seen some time on the offensive side of the field, as he has two goals and two assists on the year. Despite his personal success, Costello remains focused on what the team as a whole needs to accomplish.
“Our goal is simple: beat Lafayette and clinch a bid into the Patriot League Tournament,” Costello said. “Once you get into the tournament, all bets are off and each team’s regular season record doesn’t matter. At that point, each game will be a battle of which team can defend well and finish their chances. We hope a win this weekend will give us the momentum needed to win this year’s Patriot League Championship.”
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons LeBron James faces tough competition as he attempts to win another NBA Championship and become the most decorated basketball player ever.
Julian Dorey Writer
This NBA season may be the most important one in LeBron James’ career.
Last year, the King finally got his ring after a tiresome, impactful, controversial, trend-settingnine-year quest. The championship definitely provided him with some peace of mind and some long-lost self-assurance.
What it didn’t do for him is silence his greatest detractors.
James has one ring. Not two, not three, not four or five, but one. His physicality, ridiculous career numbers and three MVP’s to this point in his career do not put him in Michael Jordan’s company because his bling collection has only brought in its first item. At age 27 going on 28, he has plenty of time. After all, Jordan was 28 when he got his first. By the sheer wits of father time, James is right on track.
But once Jordan got one, he followed it up with two more in a row. After leaving the NBA for a short time in the mid-90s following his father’s death, Jordan came back and went on to another three-peat.
The moral of the story? James may need to start ripping off championships like Stephen A. Smith rips off stats from a box score if he ever wants to catch the greatest player to ever pick up a ball.
If James truly intends to hold himself to the standard of being the greatest player to ever play the game, as he told the AP last week, this season could be the most critical one of his entire career. Once James and the Heat can prove to themselves that they have the ability to reel off a couple titles in a row, there’s no telling how much their confidence and aspirations could collectively soar. They would enter next season with a real opportunity to establish a dynasty, and to be one of the greatest teams to ever play together.
Perhaps the Heat can be the NBA’s first true dynasty since the Spurs and Lakers earlier in this century. With Dwyane Wade healthy heading into this season and Chris Bosh finally sure of himself and his role as the third wheel on the team, there’s no telling how much better the Heat can get and how many more rings they can collect.
There’s just one problem: this is not Jordan’s NBA.
When Jordan began his meteoric rise to the top of basketball’s Mount Rushmore, certain things fell into place. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were on the wrong side of 30 and their star-powered teams were shells of what they used to be. Some of Isiah Thomas’ key sidekicks on the infamous “Bad Boys” team in Detroit (Dumars, Laimbeer, Mahorn, Aguirre) were getting old. Great players like Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley and David Robinson did not have the sheer scoring ability that Jordan did, and also did not have the sidekicks he did. In other words, Jordan entered his prime right as the rest of the NBA entered a transitional period that would see the style of the game change. When Jordan already had three titles under his belt, came back to the NBA and began his quest for more, the only real threat to his Bulls were the Utah Jazz who bowed to “his Airness” in the 1997 and 1998 NBA Finals.
To be clear, none of that is to say that Jordan had it easy, or that he doesn’t deserve every one of the accolades he has received as a player. Jordan is arguably the most clutch player of all time and his accomplishments speak for themselves. However, with all of those listed factors in mind, consider what James has to deal with as he begins his mission to collect more trophies.
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City. Kobe, Dwight Howard, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol in Los Angeles. Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and a rising young roster representing the lesser-advertised team in Los Angeles. The Brooklyn Nets and Russian owner Mikhail Prokhorov’s continued willingness to throw money at talent to build a champion. Even a young team in the Philadelphia 76ers has rising talent to possibly make them a force in years to come.
The point?
James has tough company. The NBA has evolved into a league of “super-teams.” Organizations feel that the only way they can compete is if they load up on franchise players. It started with James’ move to South Beach in 2010.
Now, as James enters the most important season of his career, a season that needs to end with another parade in Miami, he has to navigate past talented teams that he, albeit indirectly, created.
He could go down as the greatest of all-time, but he’s going to have to play at unprecedented levels to do so if the biggest measurement stick is Jordan’s six, levels that would eclipse Jordan’s playoff performances throughout the years.
The Bucknellian Archives Josh Butzke ’13 eyes the ball. The Bison successfully defended their home turf against Colgate in front of a large Homecoming crowd.
Chris McCree Sports Editor
The men’s soccer team earned a crucial 1-0 win on Oct. 27 over visiting rival Colgate, moving the team into fourth place in the Patriot League standings with one game remaining. Entering the game one place outside of playoff contention, the Orange and Blue received an early goal from Jesse Klug ’16 and held on for the remainder of the contest to improve their league record to 2-2-2.
“The win against Colgate was a big win,” Brendan Burgdorf ’13 said. “It kept our chances of making the Patriot League Tournament alive, which has been our goal all season. Colgate is one of the top teams in the conference, so beating them gives us a lot of confidence that we can compete for the championship.”
Klug’s goal in the first five minutes of play provided an early spark for a Bison squad that has consistently been faced with early deficits throughout the season. Sprung on a breakaway by a Burgdorf header, Klug netted his third goal of the season into the right side of the net, launching an eruption of cheers from a large Senior Day crowd at Emmitt Field.
From that point on, the Orange and Blue defense held strong and allowed the Raiders just six shots throughout the contest. Goalie Mike Lansing ’16 made a key diving save midway through the first half to conserve the Bison lead and the Raiders could not create another legitimate scoring chance from that point on.
“The win was big for a few reasons,” head coach Brendan Nash said. “We had a nice Homecoming crowd, they are the defending champions and we needed to win to stay alive in the Patriot League playoff hunt. The win will help our confidence moving forward.”
Before kickoff, the Orange and Blue program recognized six seniors: Burgdorf, Vinny Cinotti ’13, Collin Costello’13, Jermaine Jarrett ’13, CK Kumah ’13 and Josh Plump ’13. All six players received field time during the match and Burgdorf moved into 10th place all-time on the points list with his assist.
Following the win, the Orange and Blue earned a 2-2 tie at Binghamton on Oct. 30. The team faced an early 2-0 deficit, but rallied in the last 20 minutes of the game to avoid the loss. Cinotti and Mark Kramarchuk ’16 scored the two goals for the Bison, giving the team a much needed boost of confidence heading into this weekend’s decisive match-up against Lafayette.
“There are many different options for the playoffs. However, the easiest thing for us to do is to get a win this weekend and get into the tournament,” Nash said. “Our guys know that once a team qualifies for the playoffs, the title is up for grabs. Yet, we first need to focus on qualifying this weekend.”
Standing in a tie for fourth place with Holy Cross, the Bison are guaranteed a playoff spot with a win tomorrow against Lafayette. The much anticipated game is slated to begin at 4 p.m. in Easton, Pa.
Wilson Hunt | The Bucknellian Brandon Welsey ’14 sprints past Colgate defenders towards the end zone. Despite the quarterback’s impressive performance, the Bison were unable to end their six-game losing streak.
Eric Brod Senior Writer
Despite an impressive offensive performance on Oct. 27, the Bison football team was unable to snap its six-game losing streak, falling to league rival Colgate 47-33. The Orange and Blue are now 1-7 (0-4) on the season. Despite the loss, quarterback Brandon Wesley ’14 set the all time record for career completions with 425.
The offense was once again led by Jeremiah Young ’13, who rushed for 131 yards on the day. Colgate opened up the scoring on quarterback Gavin McCarney’s five yard scamper, which was part of his 18 rush, 121 yard performance.
The Bison were able to close the gap to 7-6 on a pair of Sean Cobelli ’14 field goals. The first score came off a 10-play drive with a 27-yard run by Young and a 22-yarder by Wesley. The second field goal was set up by an interception by safety Matthew Steinbeck ’15, his fourth pick of the season and third in the last two weeks. The defense was unable to stop the Colgate attack as the Raiders scored a touchdown on each of their next six possessions.
“Colgate is one of the better gun-run read teams I have seen. This is option offense without a pitch phase,” head coach Joe Susan said. “Their quarterback and running back do a great job of making the read late and are very hard to tackle as they are both big and physical players.”
The offense was able to keep the team in the game for most of the second half, as they engineered touchdowns on three of their first five possessions. The scores came on a 10-yard run by Young, a 38-yard reception by Josh Brake ’15 and a three-yard run by running back Tyler Smith ’13.
Despite the loss, the offense showed great improvement from previous weeks as they broke the 21-point mark for the first time all season and scored over 30 points for the first time since October of last year. Brake led all receivers with a career-high 87 yards receiving, while Victor Walker ’14 had five catches for 49 yards. Wesley finished the day 22-38 passing for 208 yards.
“Our offense was smart with the ball, as we did not have any turnovers. We did a great job in yardage after initial contact,” Susan said. “We were effective in creating big plays which we call fly by yardage.”
The Bison return to action tomorrow as they host Fordham. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium.
“We will work to use misdirection to exploit their aggressiveness. They play a lot of man to man coverage and we must be effective against that,” Susan said.
The women’s soccer team battled hard against Navy on Oct. 27, but was defeated 1-0 in Annapolis, Md. A win or draw would have clinched a Patriot League playoff spot for the Orange and Blue, but one-loss Navy broke the scoreless game and protected the lead from a Bison shooting surge in the second half. Lehigh’s win against Holy Cross eliminated the Bison from playoff contention.
With Navy being undefeated in the Patriot League, the Bison were determined to give the Midshipmen their first loss in conference play. Navy started out aggressively on offense with a 15-5 shot advantage in the first half. Goalie Sandita McDermott ’13 halted Navy’s barrage temporarily, saving seven shots. The game appeared to be 0-0 going into halftime, but Navy scored their first goal in the 43rd minute to take the lead.
“[Our] team kept the shape and formation the same to start the second half but switched to a more offensive minded shape halfway through in hopes to get a goal and tie the game up,” McDermott said.
The Bison were more successful defending Navy in the second half, limiting them to eight shots and zero corner kicks. Courtney Nelson ’15 and Liz Dwornik ’14 combined for nine of the Orange and Blue’s 14 shot attempts in the game. Even with the shot advantage in the second half, Navy’s defense controlled the tempo of the game, as the Bison were unable to find the net. McDermott had 11 saves in the game. Nelson had three shots on goal, while Chelsey Garkowski ’14, Cassie Denger ’15 and Dwornik each had one on target.
“We put three players in the back instead of four [in the second half] which did help us get an increased offensive attack but unfortunately not enough for this particular day,” McDermott said.
The Orange and Blue finished their season 10-9 overall with a 3-4 record in Patriot League play, improving from a 5-10-1 record last year. They also had six shutouts this season, including three straight against Buffalo, St. Bonaventure and UMBC.
Although disappointed from the loss, McDermott is proud of her team’s effort and the strong showing it put together this year. She ends her Bison career second in program history in both shutouts and goals-against average. She also finished third in save percentage, fourth in wins and fifth in saves. Joining McDermott on the graduating stage are Taryn Boucher ’13, Corinne Collins ’13, Meghan Fitzpatrick ’13, Emily Trosch ’13, Jenna Tryon ’13 and Kayla Yee ’13.
“Navy is the first place team, currently, and we played an amazing game against them. Having a 1-0 result is something to be proud of,” McDermott said. “I just couldn’t be happier to have been surrounded by such an amazing group of girls and coaching staff to allow us all do what we love and just play soccer. Having the chance to break school records and now be listed on several of the record lists is amazing and more than anything I ever imagined out of my college career.”
The field hockey team played a close game at Patriot League rival American on Oct. 27, but could not come out with the win, eventually falling 2-1. Forward Kiersten Sydnor ’16 scored the lone goal for the Bison, giving her a fourth Patriot League Rookie of the Week honor.
“This weekend we had a tough loss to American,” Sydnor said. “We didn’t come out on the field ready to win and weren’t able to capitalize on our opportunities inside our attacking 25. We had spurts of aggressiveness but it wasn’t enough to beat American.”
The Bison fell behind early as American scored 13 minutes into the game. The 1-0 deficit held for the rest of the half, but about 11 minutes after play resumed, Sydnor managed to find the back of the net with an assist from midfielder Kelly Stefanowicz ’13 to knot the score at 1-1. American responded quickly, scoring once again a couple minutes later to put themselves up 2-1. Despite outshooting American for the rest of the half, the Bison were unable to equalize the score.
“Although we lost to American, our team made vast improvements in certain areas when comparing our game this year to the games against them last season,” midfielder Vickie Resh ’14 said. “We need to improve on certain things for next weekend that we have identified and are excited to work on this week.”
The Bison and American offenses proved to be very evenly matched, with each side taking a total of nine shots and the Bison leading penalty corners by a four to three total. Though the Bison offense started out slow in the first half, they responded with a typically strong second half to keep the game close.
“This week we will focus on fixing our mistakes so that we can come out ready to win this weekend,” Sydnor said. “After losing on Saturday, I think we will be very determined and motivated to give it our all during the Patriot League Tournament.”
The loss brought an end to regular season, giving the Orange and the Blue a 9-9 record overall and a 3-2 record in the Patriot League. The Bison are now the No. 3 seed for the upcoming Patriot League Tournament, and will play American, the No. 2 seed after their victory, in a semifinals rematch today in Easton, Pa.
“This past week’s game has also shown us that even though we didn’t, we can win and having that loss will hopefully energize us for Friday’s rematch,” Resh said.
