Author: Alex Wagner

Categories
Men Sports Water Polo

Water polo wins four

Scott Padula
Staff Writer

This past weekend, the men’s water polo team hosted the Bison Invitational, winning both of its tournament games. The Bison started the tournament by defeating MIT 18-12, then used the momentum to edge out a close win over Harvard 10-8, pushing their record to 6-8 on the season. The Bison also won exhibition games against Toronto and the Naval Academy’s “B” team 15-8 and 12-7, respectively.

The Bison kicked off the Invitational by defeating MIT 18-12, marking the first Orange and Blue victory in the last six games. The Bison came out ready to play against the Engineers, scoring five of the game’s first six goals and never looking back. The Orange and Blue matched their offensive production in the first quarter with five more goals in the second and third quarters. On the whole, the Bison never trailed in the match. Jack Else ’14 and Stefan Aleksic ’16 led the Bison scoring with four goals apiece. Mike Kimble ’14, Julian Colina ’14, Alex Nowlin ’14 and Nick Hale ’16 also chipped in with multi-goal performances. In the high scoring affair, Nowlin led the team with seven total points, adding five assists to the two goals he scored. In goal, Matt Napleton ’13 stopped seven shots in 32 minutes of play.

“Playing at home was great as always. We have the best fans in the league and Bucknell is the hardest place for opponents to come in and play at. We’re looking forward to playing at home in a couple weeks in front of some really rowdy crowds,” Napleton said.

In the team’s second official game of the tournament, the Orange and Blue won a nail-biter against Harvard 10-8. The Bison jumped out to an early lead, thanks in part to the Orange and Blue outscoring the Crimson 4-1 in the second quarter. Despite a four goal second half deficit, Harvard responded in the third, scoring three quick goals and cutting the Bison lead to one. In the fourth, the Crimson were the first to find the back of the net, tying the game at eight with 5:45 to play. The Orange and Blue responded with Hale scoring a go-ahead goal. Only slightly over a minute later, Kimble added to the Bison victory with another goal.

The most notable Bison performance came from Napleton who, in 32 minutes of action, recorded a career-high 21 saves in goal, beating his previous high of 16. Additionally, Napleton became the first Bison since career saves record-holder David Kennedy ’02 to record 20 saves in a game. Nowlin and Hale led the Orange and Blue on the offensive end, registering a team-high four points each, both from two goals and two assists. Kimble also made a strong contribution with three goals.

“While we won all four games, no one on the team was proud of the final result. We have a lot to work on in order to be able to run our defense against better teams. It’s all going to come down to everyone on the team being on the exact same page and listening to what our coaches are telling us,” Nowlin said.

The Orange and Blue will head to Princeton tomorrow for a league game before coming home to host four more league games against Johns Hopkins, Navy, George Washington and Princeton on Oct. 13 and 14.

Categories
Sports Tennis Women

Women’s tennis picks up more wins

Andrew Arnao
Senior Writer

The Bison women’s tennis team participated in both the St. Joseph’s Invitational and the Bloomsburg Fall Classic last weekend. The Orange and the Blue picked up 12 wins at St. Joe’s and 10 wins at Bloomsburg.

“The other schools there presented us with some pretty tough competition, and we all were able to rise up to the challenge,” Jen Bush ’15 said. “As a team, we’ve been working hard to add more variety to our game in matches, and I think our efforts paid off in the tournament this weekend.”

Doubles partners Maria Cioffi ’16 and Elena Vidrascu ’14 advanced to the semifinals after victories over St. Joseph’s and Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, they were unable to beat Carmen Lai and Dorothy Safron of Delaware in the semifinal. In the singles matches, Cioffi and Bush also advanced to the semifinals, but fell to Aurora Davis of St. Joseph’s (6-7, 6-2, 10-2) and Camila Diaz of Saint Francis (6-3, 6-4), respectively.

“The St. Joseph’s Invitational was a great experience for the six players that went because there were so many more schools that participated than usual, and strong teams,” Vidrascu said. “Although as individual players we didn’t get any titles, it was definitely something we all needed in order to see the different levels of competition that we will be facing in the spring.”

At Bloomsburg, Christie Schneider ’15, Sam Madnick ’16 and Claudia Silvers ’15 won in the first round of singles. Silvers also posted a win in the second round. The doubles combination of Schneider and Elizabeth Morgan ’14 also won their first round match against Bloomsburg but fell 8-0 in their second match. Madnick and Kristen Bishof ’15 were the only Bison able to pick up wins on Sunday.

The next scheduled event for the Bison will be the Lehigh Invitational on Oct. 12-14.

Categories
Field Hockey Sports Women

Field Hockey wins PL home opener

Andrew Arnao
Senior Writer

The field hockey team dominated its Patriot League home opener against the Colgate Raiders with a 7-0 blowout last Saturday, but suffered a 4-3 defeat from Rutgers in an away game on Sunday. Bolstered by her two goals and strong defense this weekend, midfielder Kayla Sullivan ’16 won the Patriot League Rookie of the Week award.

“It was exciting to come off the field with another shutout this season, especially against a league rival,” forward Kiersten Sydnor ’16 said. “We were able to execute on our attacking half by finding the ball in the circle and getting it into the goal. We also did exceptionally well with our execution on our corners.”

The Bison (6-6) got on the board early against Colgate, scoring two goals in the first 10 minutes behind shots from forwards Rachel Misko ’14 and Leigh Hillman ’14. Hillman added another goal to give the Orange and the Blue a 3-0 lead at halftime. Second-half goals from midfielder Kelly Stefanowicz ’13, Sydnor and Sullivan allowed the Bison to put the game out of reach for their opponents.

Against Rutgers, the Bison fell behind 2-0 after failing to score in the first half. In the opening minutes of the second half, Hillman and Sullivan each scored, making it 2-2. The Scarlet Knights scored again to go ahead, but a clutch goal from defender Tayler Siegrist ’13 with less than two minutes remaining tied the score at 3-3, forcing overtime.

Rutgers then scored less than two minutes into overtime, marking the first Bison overtime loss this year. The defeat snapped a streak of seven consecutive overtime victories which started back in September 2010.

“We had a slow first half, down 2-0 at half time, but at the start of the second half we came out strong,” Sydnor said. “We scored within two minutes of the half and you could see the tempo of our game was where we needed to be in order to beat this team. Unfortunately we fell short in overtime, but it definitely shows us that we need to play the whole game like we did in the second half if we want to win next time.”

Next up for the Bison will be a trip to Massachusetts to face off against Patriot League rival Holy Cross tomorrow at 1 p.m., followed by a matchup against Harvard on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Categories
Cross Country Cross Country Men Sports Women

Cross country dominates at St. Francis

Alex Wagner
Sports Editor

In addition to winning the team titles at the Father Bede Invite, the men’s and women’s cross country teams had D.J. Krystek ’13 and Deanna Godby ’16 win their first individual titles for the Orange and Blue. The tournament in Loretto, Pa. over the weekend allowed the Bison to showcase their strong running against Saint Francis and their alumni.

On the men’s side, Krystek finished the seven-kilometer course first with a time of 24:18.1. His first career victory was not an easy one, as teammates John Dugan ’15 and Andrew Garcia-Garrison ’15 each finished less than one second later than Krystek with times of 24:18.4 and 24:18.9, respectively.

The Bison also took the next two top spots, with Michael McGowan ’15 and Charles Seigneur ’13 finishing in fourth (24:19.0) and fifth (24:19.2), respectively. Following them, the next nine finishers were Bison runners.

Behind these strong individual performances, the Bison took the invite’s top spot with 15 points, while Saint Francis finished with 52 points and the Saint Francis Alumni with 74.

For the women, Godby was the first to complete the 5K course, finishing in 19:41.5. Once again, more Bison were close behind, as Caroline Tolli ’13 finished in second with a time of 19:43.0 and Katie Jessee ’15 in third with 19:44.4. That finish marked the third time in the team’s three meets that Tolli and Jessee have finished in the top three.

“The course at Saint Francis is very tough and hilly, so we really emphasized running as a pack during the race. Running with teammates helped us stay focused and maintain our pace through the hard parts of the course,” Tolli said. “The Invite was excellent preparation for our Patriot League championship meet at Colgate, another hilly course.”

Meghan Carroll ’16 (19:55.2) and Beth Braunegg ’14 (19:55.4) rounded out the top finishers for the Bison, coming in fourth and fifth place, respectively.

The Bison, who had 14 of the first 15 runners, finished the invite with 15 points, ahead of Saint Francis’ 50 points.

The Orange and Blue runners will split up for their next competitions on Oct. 13, heading to the Pre-National Invitational in Louisville, Ky. or the Gettysburg Invitational, both of which will be the athletes’ last races before the Patriot League Championships. 

Categories
Golf Sports Women

Women’s golf excels at Nittany Lion Inv.

Katherine Harris
Writer

The women’s golf team performed strongly at the Nittany Lion Invitational last weekend, getting better each day with scores of 326, 316, and 311 in the three rounds for a 16th place finish out of a very competitive field.

“The team got off to a rough start this weekend, but we progressively got better as the tournament went on. We are a very young team and still have a lot to learn,” Bridget Wilcox ’14 said. “I was happy to have another consistent tournament but I still have room to improve and will be working hard this week and next to gear up for the MAC Preview.”

The Bison started off the three day tournament with a team score of 326 last Friday. The format for the tournament had six girls play and the top four scores count on each day. Wilcox and Meghan Garanich ’16 led the team with a 79 and an 80, respectively. The counted scores for the day were rounded out by Lauren Bernard ’14 with an 83 and Lexi Klein ’15 with an 84.

Saturday went well for the Orange and Blue as the team improved their overall score, moving them into 15th place in the tournament. Kasha Scott ’14 led the team on the day with one of only seven sub-par rounds out of 103 players with her 1-under-par 71. Anchoring the rest of the team’s scores were Wilcox with her second straight 79, Bernard with an 81 and Jen Lee ’16 with an 85.

“I was very excited with the way I played on Saturday; it was really fun to be hitting the ball well, but I need to work on my consistency. I’m excited to see what our next tournament in Ohio holds for us, as I think the team has the potential of going really low,” Scott said.

The Bison finished out the tournament strong by improving their score again to 311 on Sunday, placing them in 16th place with a total score of 953 for the weekend. Bernard finished her tournament strong with a 73 and Wilcox stayed consistent with a 78. Garanich and Lee rounded out the scores for the team with an 80 and 81, respectively.

The team will now prepare for their next tournament, the MAC Preview, on Oct. 15 and 16 in Ohio.

Categories
Sports Volleyball Women

Volleyball drops to Army and Holy Cross in PL play

Katherine Harris
Writer

The women’s volleyball team had a tough weekend, dropping matches to both Army and Holy Cross on Sept. 28 and 29, respectively.

“This weekend started off great. We really put up a fight against Army and in the second set against them we had them against the ropes,” Morgan Mientus ’14 said. “We could’ve taken the set, but overall our performance against them was strong.”

The Bison started out strong at West Point, but ended up losing in three sets to a talented Army squad that is 3-1 in conference play. Many individuals stepped up in the match, including Mientus and Leylin Marroquin ’14 on defense with 12 and 10 digs, respectively.

On offense, senior captains Kebah Edoho ’13 and Kat Tauscher ’13 led the way, with Edoho putting up nine kills and two blocks, and Tauscher posting an impressive 30 assists. Claire Healy ’16 and Jessica Serrato ’14 also had strong contributions, with Healy adding two blocks and seven kills and Serrato adding eight kills.

“While there were definitely glimpses of us showing a lot of heart and improvement, we were overall frustrated by our performance. But our captains, Kat [Tauscher] and Kebah [Edoho], have done an amazing job this week with keeping us motivated and playing for each other, something we’ve lost touch of recently,” Katie Price ’16 said.

The Orange and Blue then made their way to Worcester, Mass. on Saturday afternoon to face Holy Cross. While the team rallied to win the third set, they were not able to defeat the Crusaders in the final, losing 3-1 overall. Tauscher stepped up again, this time recording a double-double with a season-high 41 assists, as well as 10 digs.

First-year teammates also performed strongly on the day. Healy led the Orange and Blue in kills and digs, with 14 and 18, respectively, to post her third double-double of the season. Price also posted a career high 15 digs on the day.

“Our main goal is to win a Patriot League Championship, and in preparation for the rest of the season, we are reassessing why we play the game and why we love it so much,” Mientus said. “From now on we are playing for our amazing seniors and leaving it all on the court like we have nothing to lose.”

This weekend, the Bison will travel to California to take on CSU Bakersfield on Oct. 7, and then face off against Pepperdine on Oct. 8 in Malibu, Calif.

Categories
Sports

Bison Athlete of the Week: Elena Vidrascu ’14

 

Chloe Chou | The Bucknellian

Alex Wagner
Sports Editor

Player Profile

Elena Vidrascu ’14

Rochester, N.Y.

Neuroscience

 

Career stats

Singles record: 35-29

Doubles record: 34-33

Total: 69-62

Win percentage: 0.527

 

Elena Vidrascu ’14 defended her home courts last weekend in the Bison Invitational, as she won the Flight A singles championship and the doubles backdraw with partner Maria Cioffi ’16. The singles victory marks her first title of the season.

On Saturday, she easily defeated Mount St. Mary’s Kelly Conroy 6-3, 6-2 in the second round and moved past Villanova’s Mikelle Mancini by the same score in the semifinal.  The final proved to be much more of a challenge, however, as Vidrascu had to come back after dropping the first set 6-1 to Tori Smyth of Villanova.  She won the second set 6-4 and the super tiebreaker 10-8 to come out on top.

“Being focused and patient is key, as well as the will to battle out a match no matter how many shots need to be hit or the variety of shots that has to be implemented,” Vidrascu said.

Vidrascu also found success on Sunday in the doubles backdraw final when she and partner Cioffi beat teammates Elizabeth Morgan ’14 and Christie Schneider ’15, 8-0.

“You definitely need to have a good relationship with your partner, and I think we connect more and more each time we play. It helps to have some fun on the court to keep things relaxed, and I love her humor. I’m really excited to see how well we can do for the rest of the season,” Vidrascu said.

Categories
Golf Men Sports

Men’s golf strong at Cornell

Alex Wagner

Sports Editor

Despite tough conditions, the men’s golf team had a successful outing over the weekend at the Cornell Invitational, finishing fourth in a 13-team field. Dan Bernard ’13 finished in the top ten for the third time this season.

After opening play with a round of 73, Bernard shot a 75 in the final round, earning him a fourth-place tie in the individual standings. He has been the low player for the Bison in all three competitions so far, after a win at the Bucknell Invitational and a tenth place tie at the Colgate Invitational. 

“Our key to success was our ball striking, since the weather conditions were not ideal. Also, golf is a fickle game in that one day you can be playing well and another badly, so we have to make the most of what we have every round,” Bernard said.

Schuyler Stitzer ’14 was not far behind Bernard’s lead, shooting a 152 total (75-77), earning him a tie for 16th place. Zach Pogust ’15 improved off of his opening round of 78 with 76 in the final round.

“While our team did put together a few good rounds this weekend … we head into every tournament looking to win,” Pogust said. “In order to improve, I think we have to work on keeping the ball in play off the tee and learning to make smart decisions regarding when to fire at pins and when to play towards the middle of the green. Some things that I thought we did well at Cornell that led to our success was our ability to grind out rounds in tough conditions. We were also able to pick up a few strokes on the field by limiting our three putts.”

Both Luke Edelman ’16 (74-81) and Thomas Walter ’14 (78-77) finished with a total of 155. Playing as an individual, Pete Scialabba ’15 shot an 82 on Saturday and 77 on Sunday.

Binghamton was the champion of the tournament, with a 297-296 score.

The Orange and Blue will have a week for practice and recovery before competing in the Binghamton Invitational on Oct. 7 and 8.

Categories
Golf Sports Women

Women’s golf struggles in Michigan

Lauren Boone

Contributing Writer

The women’s golf team traveled to Ann Arbor, Mich. last weekend to compete in the University of Michigan’s Wolverine Invitational, where it struggled in unfavorable weather conditions. In addition, the 54-hole competition was held on one of the toughest courses on which the Bison will compete this year. The lineup consisted of Lauren Bernard ’14, Kasha Scott ’14, Bridget Wilcox ’14, Lexi Klein ’15 and Jen Lee ’16. 

The inclement weather caused the Bison to struggle early on. The Orange and Blue shot 340 in the first round and 328 in the second round. Their team score of 668 left the Bison in 12th place at the end of Saturday’s rounds.

Individually, Wilcox led the Orange and Blue with rounds of 79 and 81. She finished Saturday in 21st place. Scott shot a first round of 88 but was able to lower her score to 80 in the second round. Bernard performed better in her second round as well, improving from 86 to 81. Klein bettered her first round of 87 to a score of 86 in the second round, and Lee improved from 94 to 91.

Michigan finished Saturday in first with a 616 (308-308) over Florida International by one stroke.

In the individual rankings, FIU’s Meghan MacLaren finished in first on Saturday with a total score of 148, followed by Lauren Grogan of Michigan with a total of 149.

After Sunday’s round, the Bison scored a 336 for a final tournament score of 1004, and a 14th place finish. Scott led the Bison on Sunday, after shooting an 80. Wilcox posted an 83, leading to a Bison best 33rd place finish. Bernard shot an 86, followed by Klein with an 87.  Lee closed the tournament with a score of 93.

At the end of competition, Michigan and Florida International tied for first place with total scores of 930.

“The Wolverine Invitational was definitely a test of the team’s mental game and shot accuracy. It was freezing, it rained heavily and the course is probably the hardest we will encounter all year–at one point it even hailed!” Wilcox said. “Even with that said, we did not perform as well as we expected. This tournament was definitely a wake-up call and we will continue to work hard throughout the season to get to where we need to be for the Patriot League Championship in April.”

This weekend, the Bison will play at the Nittany Lion Invitational in State College.

Categories
Men Soccer Sports

Men’s soccer wins Patriot League opener

 

Chloe Chou | The Bucknellian
Jess Klug ’16 attempts to cross the ball. The Bison took a strong first step in Patriot League play with a 1-0 win at Lehigh.

Chris McCree

Sports Editor

The men’s soccer team opened up Patriot League play this past weekend with a 1-0 win at Lehigh and a 1-0 loss to St. Joseph’s. Jesse Klug ’16 scored the lone goal for the Bison in his first career Patriot League game, while Mike Lansing ’16 recorded seven saves for his third shutout of the season.

“It was very important for us to win our first league game and to make sure that our first step was forward,” Lansing said. “The Lehigh game was a scrappy game with lots of physical play and not too much pretty soccer was involved. We didn’t play our game, but we managed to come away with a win.”

Traveling to Bethlehem on Saturday, the Orange and Blue were forced to wait until Sunday to take on the Mountain Hawks after a sudden downpour drenched the field minutes before kickoff. The game quickly turned into a defensive battle as neither side could register a goal in the first half. Then, 10 minutes into the second half, Brendan Burgdorf ’13 centered a ball across the box for Klug who placed it in goal for his second goal of the season.

For the game, the Mountain Hawks managed to outshoot the Bison 18-16, but Lansing and the Bison defense stood strong, extending their goalless streak to 381:07. The program record stands at 559:40 set during the 1983 season.

Against St Joseph’s, the Orange and Blue fell victim to a late goal from the Hawks with less than 10 minutes remaining. The Bison amassed 23 shots for the game, but only managed to put two of them on target. Klug led the team with eight shots and Burgdorf had four.

“The game against St. Joe’s was not a pretty one,” Lansing said. “We went into the game thinking we had nothing to lose and the other team really came to play. Again, we did not play to our potential and St. Joe’s took advantage.”

Before the goal, the Bison managed to extend its shutout streak to 462:06 to earn the second longest streak in program history. The last goal that the team surrendered was against La Salle on Sept. 7.

The Bison will try to remain undefeated in league play tomorrow at American at 1 p.m.