Author: cdm016

By Chris McCree

Sports Editor

In rainy and humid conditions, the women’s cross country team began their season on a high note during the Bison Open at the West Fields. The Bison amassed 17 top-20 finishes in a field consisting of runners from Bloomsburg, Susquehanna and Juniata. Alysha Hooper ’12 collected a second-place finish with a time of 17:37.

“The team got off to a great start this weekend,” said Caroline Tolli ’13. “We are a pretty healthy team right now so we had a lot of girls racing and we definitely saw our depth this weekend.”

Although the best time of the day came from Bloomsburg’s Victoria Davis, the Orange and Blue clearly dominated the race. The Bison placed runners in spots two through eight and had six runners finish under 18 minutes. The senior runners led the charge for the Orange and Blue with Emily Liggett ’12 claiming third place, just behind Hooper, with a time of 17:37 and Stephanie Fulmer ’12 finishing 10 seconds behind her in fourth.

“I think this race revealed one of the strengths of this year’s team, and that’s depth. It was a great feeling to have orange Bucknell jerseys all around me. I had teammates who I could pull and teammates who could pull me,” said Hooper.

In her first race as a Bison, Madeline Dulac ’15 finished first among the first-year runners with an 11th place finish and a time of 18:20. The Orange and Blue will have to look to these new faces this season to give the team the edge it needs. Nonetheless, having a strong group of returning runners will certainly benefit the team all season.

“My expectations for the team are to continue improving and to win the Patriot League Championships at the end of October,” said Fulmer. “We have such a great amount of depth this year, and with each meet the finishers could be any type of order. I feel that this is an example of a great team and one that will have the ability to last through the long cross country season.”

Next up for the Orange and Blue is a dual meet against Duquesne and University of Pittsburgh in two weeks. It will prove to be a good test for the Bison before the Paul Short Invitational at the end of the month where they will race fellow Patriot League teams for the first time.

“I’m really looking forward to how this race translates over to each of the bigger races, where it’s easier to get lost in the crowd,” said Hooper. “Even more so, I’m excited to see how this team will rise to the challenges that we’ll face throughout the entire season.”

By Ajan Caneda

Contributing Writer

The men’s cross country season started on a positive note at the Bison Open last Saturday against runners from Bloomsburg, Susquehanna and Juniata. Sixty-five runners competed at the humid West Fields and captain David Brown ’12 finished first overall with a time of 14:51. Fellow captain Dan Dillon ’12  finished second in the meet with a time of 14:54.

“Today was a pretty good day for our team, but we definitely have a lot of room for improvement,” said Dillon. “We’re shooting for a top-three finish at Leagues this year, and we have some good competition in the Patriot League.”

Thirteen Bison men finished in the top 20 and D.J. Krystek ’13, John Dugan ’15 and Eric Balaban ’14 all cracked the top 10 with finishes of third, sixth and seventh, respectively.

“Our front racers had good races and I think we are on our way to a successful season as long as we are able to stay healthy and train as hard as we have been,” said Brian Charland ’13.

This season, the Bison men expect to improve on a sixth-place finish from last season in the Patriot League Championships. With a healthy squad of returning runners and a group of new first-years, coach Kevin Donner will have an opportunity to do just this.

“We’ve been training hard all summer and want to continue the momentum into the rest of the season,” said Dugan.

The first-years will  need to step up this season, but they definitely got off to a good start on Saturday. Andrew Kirna ’15 and Michael McGowan ’15 each had top-10 finishes and will certainly use this race as a launching point for the rest of the season.

The Bison men travel to Pittsburgh to take on Duquesne for their next meet on Sept. 17.

By Scott Padula

Staff Writer

The Orange and Blue started their 2011 campaign with four wins this weekend at Annapolis. The Bison opened the tournament by defeating Gannon 21-6 and Lindenwood 17-1 and then, in the most highly-anticipated game of the weekend, upsetting No. 11 St. Francis 16-10. The win snapped a 22-game losing streak to the Terriers. First-year coach John McBride follows John Zeigler as the first coach to begin his tenure with two consecutive victories. Zeigler last did so in 1992.

The Orange and Blue ended the weekend with a 14-6 win over Cerritos.

“Our team has the ability to score goals and make plays all over the pool,” Alex Nowlin ’14 said. “Much differently than in the past, I believe that this year you will see more players contributing the same amount of points and the other teammates close behind. Opponents will no longer be able to just focus on stopping one or two players because there are no individuals on our team this year. Focus on one starter and the players they forgot about will put on a showcase.”

In the first game of the weekend, 10 different Bison accounted for the 21 goals scored and assisted on 20 of these 21 goals. Nowlin led the charge with four goals and four assists, while Brian Barron ’13 scored four goals and Trevor Reitz ’14 dished out five assists. On the defensive end, the 14 Bison collectively tallied 23 steals.

The Bison also played an exhibition game against Lindenwood on Saturday evening and came away with a 17-1 victory over the club team.

The Bison started the game against St. Francis strong, taking an 8-4 advantage into the intermission and never looked back. The team converted on four of seven six-on-five situations, compared to four of 11 for the Terriers. Matt Napleton ’13 stabilized the defense with a career-high nine saves. Nowlin and Barron added to their impressive weekends, recording eight and seven points respectively.

“Everyone on the team is on the same page with our offense and defense, and it is producing great results,” Spencer Richley ’12 said. “After a tough preseason, we were anxious to start playing games to prove that we are the team to beat this year. I think this past weekend sends a message to other teams that we are a force to be reckoned with, despite losing some high-scoring graduates this past year. We are excited to play more games, continue to improve, and achieve our end goal of winning an Eastern Championship.”

The Orange and the Blue will continue to work towards this goal as they square off against several club teams including the highly touted New York Athletic Club this weekend in the Bison Invitational.

By Thomas Walter

Contributing Writer

The women’s field hockey team fell 2-0 in another difficult showdown with a ranked opponent last Friday when they faced No. 7 Princeton Tigers at home. This is the second ranked opponent the Bison have faced in their first three contests this year. Despite the loss, the Orange and Blue showed definite signs of improvement from last week’s performances.

“These are exactly the types of teams we want to be playing to prepare us for our Patriot League opponents,” forward Mallory Smith ’12 said. “We welcome upper-level competition; it brings out the best in us. It’s also much more satisfying to be victorious over teams of this caliber, whether defeating them outright or just winning the moment–one play within a game.”

The Orange and the Blue certainly showed improvement on the defensive side allowing just nine shots on goal against the Tiger offense. Erica Perrine ’14 made her first career start in goal, and finished the game with three saves. Both Princeton goals resulted from set plays, the first coming off a corner and the second from a penalty stroke.

Throughout the contest, the Bison registered a few close scoring chances as Smith and Maggie Murphy ‘15 came close a few times. Vickie Resh ’14 came closest for the Bison offense when she ripped a shot that was deflected off the post in the second half. Overall, the team ramped up its play late in the game, recording five of their six shots in the second half.

The Bison will continue their tough start to the season tomorrow at 10 a.m. when they travel to Ann Arbor, Mich. to take on Central Michigan, and Sunday at 1 p.m. to play the No. 9 Michigan Wolverines.

By Andrew Arnao

Writer

After opening the season at home with a five-set victory against Fordham on Friday, the women’s volleyball team was defeated by Manhattan and Dartmouth on Saturday to bring its overall record to 1-2. Kristen Titley ’14 was also nominated to the all-tournament team after recording 29 kills.

Due to cancellations caused by Hurricane Irene, the Bison waited more than a week to play their match against Fordham. The Bison fell behind in their first set on Friday, but rallied in a close second set to even the match 1-1. The Orange and Blue’s increasing hitting accuracy allowed them to take the third set, and after faltering in the fourth set, brought all of their energy to win the final set by a score of 15-8. Kat Tauscher ’13 paced the team with 54 assists.

“This win meant a lot to us as a team because our seniors have not won their opening game since they came to Bucknell,” Tauscher said.

“Friday night was a great game,” Titley said. “Everyone on our team stepped up in big ways and made contributions to help us win.”

On Saturday, the Bison faced a more formidable challenge against Manhattan. While the team performed well defensively, led by Anne Ellenberger ’12 who had five blocks and four block assists, the offense was unable to match that of the Jaspers, who won the match in three sets.

Against Dartmouth, the offense again struggled, as Dartmouth overcame several early deficits to defeat the Bison in three sets. Jessica Serrato ’14 led the offense with seven kills in the match and 17 kills on the day, while Tauscher had 19 assists and 44 overall in the two matches. Defensively, Emily Sawanobori ’12 had 11 digs.

“I think generally the mentality of the team has not changed. We are all still excited to start the regular season and are happy to hit these road bumps now in preseason when we still have time to improve as a team,” Tauscher said.

The team expects to improve its record this weekend at the Central Connecticut State Blue Devil Invitational.

“The games on Saturday against Manhattan and Dartmouth were definitely learning experiences,” Serrato said. “We know what we need to fix and we’re ready to do it for an even better weekend at Central Connecticut State.”

At this weekend’s invitational, the Orange and Blue will face the Blue Devils, Stony Brook and Saint Peters.

By Greg Stevenson

Senior Writer

After leading his Orange and Blue to a dramatic 27-26 victory over the Duquesne Dukes last Saturday night by taking the offense down the length of the field for the game-winning score with under a minute remaining, it’s pretty safe to assume that quarterback Brandon Wesley ’14 has cemented a legacy in the Bison football program.

The Orange and Blue faced a six-point deficit with 82 yards to cover and only seven minutes left, but a poised Wesley guided his team to the end-zone and a 1-0 start to the 2011 season, both through the air and with his feet. Wesley completed two passes of over ten yards on the drive, including a 27-yarder to Gabe Skwara ’12 and another to Robert Owoyele ’13 on a third-down play.

“I feel that Brandon developed confidence as the game went on,” head coach Joe Susan said. “It is a tribute to the protection and the work of the offensive line and running-backs. We also ran the ball better in the second half, and that had an effect on the Duquesne pass rush.”

Running-back Jeremiah Young ’13 reeled off a 19-yard run to put the Bison in the redzone. The most crucial play of the series came on a pass-interference call on third-and-15, which resulted in a Bison first-and-goal.

Already having tortured the Duquesne secondary with his arm earlier in the drive, Wesley capped off the wild game with a one-yard quarterback sneak on fourth-down to score the tying touchdown. Kicker Alex Eckard ’14 notched the extra point to give his team the one-point advantage, one the Bison would not relinquish.

Early on, Duquesne looked poised to hand the Bison their third consecutive loss in this series. The Dukes raced out to a 16-3 lead with two minutes remaining in the second quarter, but the Orange and Blue stepped up on both sides of the ball to tally two touchdowns before halftime, giving the Bison a 17-16 lead.

“We speak to the team all the time about not worrying about the clock or the scoreboard, to focus on one thing—this play,” Susan said. “The way this team handled the end of the first half and the end of the game is a reflection of them believing this and putting it into play during the game.”

An interception return for a touchdown by Tim Bolte ’12, followed by a touchdown reception by Skwara just 75 seconds later gave the Bison a 17-16 lead heading into the locker room. Duquesne would, however, score just three minutes into the second half and add another field goal in the third quarter, giving them a 26-20 advantage before the dramatic final drive of the game.

Josh Eden ’12 was named Patriot League Special Teams Player of the Week for blocking an extra point on Duquesne’s first touchdown of the contest, the difference in a game decided by just one point.

With an opening victory for the first time in three seasons under their belt, the Bison will host Marist this Saturday at 6 p.m., looking for the same magic that propelled them to victory over Duquesne.

“The challenge the Marist game brings is a challenge I confront the team with all the time—can we get rid of the feeling from the last game as quickly as possible and focus on a new game plan in all three phases of the game? The biggest opponent we face is ourselves. The most important game of the year is this one,” said Susan.

By Eric Brod

Senior Writer

The Bison men’s soccer team rebounded with two impressive victories at home this week over La Salle and Saint Francis (Pa.) after a tough loss to Binghamton this past weekend.

On Sunday, the Orange and Blue captured their second victory of the season with an exhilarating 2-1 overtime win over the visiting LaSalle Explorers. The victory came when Mayowa Alli ’14 netted his second goal of the game, just 48 seconds into overtime.

Although the Bison took 16 of the game’s first 17 shots, they fell behind on a LaSalle goal with 2:27 left in the first half. The Explorers’ lead was short-lived because with less than 30 seconds remaining in the half, the Orange and Blue responded with a goal on a spectacular diving header from Alli.

Neither team was able to break the tie in the following half, forcing the Bison into overtime for the first time in their young season. The extra session didn’t last long as Alli netted his second goal, a header off a corner kick, which hit the back corner to give the team its second win of the season.

Last Thursday, the Bison erupted for three first-half goals en route to a 4-1 victory over Saint Francis. The Orange and Blue completely dominated play in the first half, outshooting their opponent 12-2. Alli scored first, 11:17 into the game, off a diving assist by Nader Sawtarie ’12. The Bison’s second goal came when Ryan Sappington ’12 scored off a pass from Luke Joyner ’12.

Making his collegiate debut, Pat Plourde ’15 scored the third goal of the first half with 1:58 left. After Saint Francis got on the scoreboard early in the second half to cut the deficit to two goals, the Bison added one more goal in the 80th minute to finish their highest scoring contest since a 5-1 victory over St. Peters in Oct. 2009.

Even with the success of the week, Alli feels the team still has its best games ahead of it. “I think defensively we were more organized, with the exception of the the goal we let in. But there are still things we need to work on to get to the level of play we know we are capable of,” the defender said.

The team returns to action next weekend when it travels to South Bend, Ind. to face No. 18 Indiana in the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament.

By Rob Duffy

Senior Editor

Right now, the NCAA is a mess.

Recently, the NCAA announced that 12 current football players from the University of Miami were found to have accepted improper benefits from a former booster. Eight players were suspended in the first fallout from accusations that 72 Miami football and men’s basketball players received vast benefits between 2002 and 2010.

The Miami scandal was not an isolated incident. Earlier this summer, Ohio State’s football team vacated its 2010 Big Ten Championship after players were revealed to have received improper benefits from a tattoo shop. In February, Connecticut men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun was suspended for three games for the 2011-12 season for recruiting violations. Last year, the USC football and men’s basketball programs received major sanctions when it was revealed that Reggie Bush and O. J. Mayo had accepted gifts from agents.

The problems are widespread, engulfing many of the country’s most prestigious programs, and the whole system seems to be spinning out of control. Many commentators are questioning the mandate that college athletes be amateurs, suggesting that athletes should receive a share of the revenue that their teams bring in. The best college athletes can reach superstar status, so it is not surprising that many want to take advantage of the benefits that their status offers them—even if these benefits fall outside the rules.

The solution, however, is not to start paying athletes. After all, athletes already get paid: free tuition only seems like an inconsequential amount of money to players who have completely lost track of the point of going to college. Paying players would do nothing to diminish the influence of boosters, since athletes would surely not be content with whatever salaries their schools paid them if they could get extra benefits on the side. Furthermore, a non-amateur system would quickly deteriorate into a battle over which school has the most money, making the lack of parity among college teams even worse than it already is. As a fan of college sports, decreased parity is not something I want to see.

The only way to really deter offenders is to make an example out of someone. Right now, punishments are lax. Both Ohio State and Connecticut were allowed to play in the postseason last year despite their violations, and the Huskies went on to win a national championship. Teams may vacate wins after the fact, but doing so has little meaning. You can’t ever erase the experience of winning a championship. Even postseason bans like USC’s are over in a year or two, limiting how consequential they can truly be.

For egregious violations, the NCAA needs to start using the death penalty. Ending a program for a year is the best way to get everyone’s attention and demonstrate that cheating will not be tolerated. In addition to eliminating a year’s worth of revenue, the death penalty causes a mass exodus of players and forces a program to be rebuilt from scratch. The penalty is harsh—some storied programs will likely get destroyed, such as the SMU football team’s more than 20 year bowl appearance drought after receiving the death penalty in 1987—but it’s a fitting punishment for flagrant and repeated defiance of the rules. Only through such drastic measures can the NCAA hope to clean itself up.

Meanwhile, these scandals should help us Bison fans better appreciate our own sports programs. We may not be competing for Bowl Series (or even the Football Championship Subdivision) Championships, and we may have gotten destroyed by Connecticut in the men’s basketball tournament, but at least we have integrity. Our student-athletes are actually genuine students in real majors on their way to real careers, and we should take pride in that. When we do occasionally do well—like when we beat Kansas in basketball, when we beat Florida State in baseball, or when we took eventual-national-champion Virginia to overtime in men’s lacrosse last spring—our integrity makes our accomplishments even more special.

By Chris McCree

Sports Editor

Although we all grew up playing a variety of sports, Little League baseball seems to play a part in every guy’s childhood. We can all remember the days of putting on those oversized uniforms and trying to hit a homerun every single time we stepped up to the plate, but these simple experiences pale in comparison to those of the 11-13-year-olds taking part in the Little League World Series just minutes away in Williamsport, Pa. For these kids, Little League baseball has taken on a whole new meaning. It is not purely about having a good time – it has become a grueling and sometimes relentless pursuit of winning.

Started in 1947 as a local tournament involving teams from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the Little League World Series has quickly evolved into the largest youth sports program in the world with nearly 180,000 teams from across the globe taking part. For the first decade of play, the tournament consisted solely of teams from the United States, but expanded its field internationally in the 1960s and has since crowned an international champion 30 times.

Currently, the field is divided into two brackets, one national and one international, where the winners of each bracket eventually meet in a single-elimination championship game. Each team hoping to participate must undergo a series of qualification rounds and with only 16 teams gaining entry each year, qualification is, in itself, quite an accomplishment. If a team is able to get past the various local, state and regional qualifying series, they must then win four more Series games for a chance at the title. 

In recent years, the tournament has achieved astonishing levels of popularity, especially in the United States, with attendance to this year’s championship game reaching just under 10,000 fans. What’s more, broadcasts of each game are aired regularly on ESPN, which raises questions about how the added pressure and attention affects these kids. For the most part, these concerns remain untouched with so many people claiming that the tournament purely presents these kids with a “once in a lifetime” opportunity to enjoy some time in the spotlight. Yet, with thousands of teams participating at all levels, the competition is fierce, and the added pressure to succeed is huge. 

Ultimately, there is a fine line between great and harmful entertainment, and the Little League World Series is currently teetering on the edge. For now, not much needs to be changed, but with ratings reaching new highs each year, we can only imagine how far ESPN may go.

By Chris McCree

Player Profile:

Luke Joyner #5

Senior

Midfielder

Hometown: Garland, Texas

Major: History and Economics

Stats:

Minutes : 79

Shots: 3

Shots on goal: 2

Goals: 1

In a grueling 3-1 loss to Binghamton at home last Friday night, Joyner netted his first goal of the year to tie the game 1-1 in the middle of the first half. Despite the loss, the Orange and Blue managed to tally 17 shots in the game, but had difficulty finding the net. During his 79 minutes of play, Joyner had two of the team’s three shots on goal.

Joyner returns this year after starting 20 of the team’s 21 games last season. As a junior, Joyner played center midfield and was an important piece of the team’s championship run. By the end of the season, he had recorded three goals and three assists and was fifth on the team in total points. With a goal in his first game, he is on his way to surpassing these numbers and leading the team to another successful season.