Author: cdm016

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Sports Track & Field Women

Women’s track comes away with trio of golds

By Katherine Harris

Writer

After winning the indoor Patriot League title in the winter, the women’s track and field team started off its outdoor season strong last Saturday with many impressive performances at the Towson Invitational.

“After the layoff between the indoor and outdoor season, I was very pleased with the result,” head coach Kevin Donner said. “We looked at this first outdoor meet more as a rust-buster and did not worry too much about times and distances.”

Even with the team not as worried about individual times and distances, there were still many shining moments on the day in Towson, Md. The Bison ended the meet with three gold medals, including a time of 48.43 seconds in the 4 x 100 meter relay that missed breaking into the program top-10 list by one hundredth of a second.

Another of the victories for the Orange and the Blue came from Rebecca Misko ’12 with her throw of 41.44 meters in the discus. Her mark was closely contested by teammate Abby Monaghan ’13, whose second-place throw of 41.43 meters just barely missed Misko’s distance.

The Bison continued their success in throwing events as they took the second through fourth spots in the javelin. Tayler Siegrist ’13 led her teammates with a throw of 137’ 8’’, while Sarah Trahan ’12 threw 127’ 5’’ and Erin Norris ’15 came in at 125’ 8’’.

In the pole vault Yanelis Mestre ’15 earned sixth in the school records books with a career best 11’ 1.75’’. Mestre earned the fourth place spot in the meet, while Autumn Schellenberger ’14 grabbed fifth on the day.

The Orange and Blue also had strong performances on the track, with Hana Casalnova ’14 leading the way with her winning time of 4:38.19 in the 1500 meters. Casalnova was also followed in the event by teammates Emily Waksmunski ’14, placing fourth, and Stephanie Fulmer ’12, coming in at fifth.

“I thought that the team performed really well in the meet this weekend,” Beth Braunegg ’14 said. “We are ahead of where we were last year at this time so this is setting us up for a strong showing at the league meet in a few weeks.”

The Bison also had three members place in the 800 meters. Braunegg led the way with her time of 2:16:09, while Caroline Tolli ’13 came in close behind in third at 2:16:70. Rounding out the top five was Emily Liggett ’12, whose 2:18:29 earned her the fifth spot in the race.

“We just wanted to be competitive, which we were,” Donner said. “The times and distances will come as we get into mid-season form by mid-April. Next weekend … will give us a good gauge on where we are at as a team.”

The team will seek to continue to improve its marks this weekend at the Colonial Relays, taking place on Friday and Saturday at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va.

Categories
Men Sports Track & Field

Barr ’12 anchors men with record performance

By Colin Fields

Writer

Tom Barr ’12 continued his dynamite senior season Saturday with yet another track and field program record in the shot put. Although the event was unscored for team play, 10 other Bison were victorious in Towson, Md. this weekend as the Bison opened up their title defense in this yearʼs outdoor season.

Barr, who had already broken the Bison indoor shot put record earlier this year, continued his success by crushing his old outdoor record. Barr broke his previous outdoor best by two feet, launching a toss of 54’ 2.5’’. Barr broke the outdoor record previously held by Timothy “Big Tim” Medlock who threw for 53’ 5’’ in 2009. Barr finished second overall in the event but was not done after the shot put. In his next event, the hammer throw, Barr picked up a victory with a career best mark of 174’-8’’. Barrʼs performance in the hammer throw placed him in the top 10 in program history for yet another event. Barr then finished fifth in the discus, giving him three top-five spots at the Towson Invitational.

“I am happy to beat Timʼs record,” Barr said. “Records are meant to be broken, and as a former Bison Tim left his record as a challenge for someone to beat, and I am glad that I rose to the occasion. I feel confident moving forward into 2012 after my victories this weekend because every time we compete, it is a test of our technique and conditioning.”

Laddie Trees ’15 showed promise in the javelin, joining Barr with a solid performance in throws. Trees won the javelin in his first-ever outdoor meet, tossing a mark 208’ 7’’ and placing seventh on the all-time list. Teammate Stephen Koullias ’13 also performed well, placing fourth in the shot put with a throw of 51’ 11.25’’. His mark was only 2.75 feet shy of Barrʼs record and placed him in sixth overall in Bison history. Luke Webster ’13 kept the train rolling with a win of his own in the discus with a toss of 157’ 9’’.

On the track, Ray Holmes ’14 picked up two victories in both the triple jump and the long jump. Robert Arent ’12 and Dave Brown ’12 were also successful in their hurdles events. Arent picked up the victory in the 400 meter hurdles and second in the 110 meter hurdles while Brown grabbed another Orange and Blue victory in the 1500 meter hurdles. Justin Hicks ’13, who was the Outstanding Athlete of the Meet in the Patriot League Indoor Championships, won the 100 meters, and Dustin Horning ’13 won the 800 meters.

The Bison will look to continue their success in the upcoming Colonial Relays April 6-7 at William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.

Categories
Softball Sports Women

Softball drops four of five

By Thomas Walter

Writer

The softball team opened Patriot League play this past weekend by losing four straight at home to Colgate, but rebounded with a split in a doubleheader against La Salle on Wednesday.

The Orange and Blue hit the ball well but left runners stranded in scoring position all weekend long. In the four games against the Raiders, the Bison recorded just four total runs off 15 hits.

“The most important thing for us to turn around is to get our bats moving so we can produce more offensively,” Cassie Greenhawk ’13 said.

On Saturday, the Orange and Blue kept it close in both of the day’s games, falling 4-3 and 2-0. Mary Horton ’13 went one-for-one with an RBI and three walks in game one, while Tori Robinson ’15 recorded the team’s only hit in game two.

Sunday’s games were much more lopsided as the Raiders were able to outscore the Bison 11-1 and 5-0.

“Even though the results weren’t that great, the team definitely took some positives out of this past weekend, the first being that even though there were a lot of runs scored against the team there was solid pitching effort all weekend long,” Courtney Conover ’14 said.

Going forward, the team knows that it must continue this trend of solid pitching if it wishes to succeed late in the season.

“I’d have to say that our pitching staff did a phenomenal job pitching during the Saturday double-header,” Greenhawk said. “They really held their own against Colgate as far as minimizing their opportunities to get runners in scoring position.”

After a disappointing weekend against Colgate, the team took to the field Wednesday against La Salle to get another warm up in before facing off against Lehigh. After dropping the first game 1-0, the Bison responded strongly with a 5-2 victory. Laura Sandford ’13 drove in the winning run in the second game in order for the team to get another win under its belt and get some confidence going into this weekend.

“The La Salle games definitely give us extra confidence going into Lehigh,” Conover said. “I think we let the first game get away from us, but we answered back in the second game and came back to win the game.”

The team travels to Lehigh this weekend to play its second Patriot League series of the season. The series is set to start on 1 p.m. this Saturday.

“The biggest thing we need to get done against Lehigh is hit when we have runners on, especially when they are in scoring position,” Conover said. “We have definitely been leaving too many runners on base and that’s definitely something we want to improve on this weekend.”

 

Categories
Lacrosse Sports Women

Women’s lax remains winless in conference play

By Ajan Caneda

Writer

The women’s lacrosse team was unable to pick up its first conference victory this past weekend, falling to Lafayette 14-11 in Easton, Pa. Lafayette held the Bison scoreless for the final 12:30, allowing the Leopards to hand the Bison their ninth loss of the season.

Midfielder Sophie Kleinart ’14 scored a team-high three goals, while Katelyn Miller ’14, Ryan Wenk ’13 and Lindsey Ferro ’14 had two goals each.

“Our main goal going into the game against Lafayette was to win draw controls and keep possession,” Miller said. “[Ana White], who takes the draw for Lafayette, leads the nation in draw controls, so it was really crucial for us to be aggressive and give it our all right from the whistle.”

The Bison got off to an early 4-1 lead behind two goals from Miller and an unassisted goal by Arriana Sajjad ’15. Neither team could gain a comfortable edge. The Orange and Blue were able to attempt more shots (15-12) in the first period, but the game remained close. Wenk closed out the period with a goal that gave the Bison a 7-6 lead at the half.

“We came out strong from the very beginning by getting a 4-1 lead, but the game kept going back and forth,” Miller said. “Our attack was really hard to stop because we had multiple threats who could score.”

An early goal in the second period knotted the score at 7-7, but the teams continued to trade goals. Emily Kookogey ’15 dished an assist to Ferro, while Wenk nailed her second goal of the game that gave the Orange and Blue a 10-8 lead. It would be short-lived, as the Leopards answered with two goals of their own. Lafayette took their first lead of the game with 13:53 remaining. Ferro evened the score back up off a free position shot, but that would be the last goal for the Bison.

The Orange and Blue were outshot 13-9 in the second half, while Lafayette held the draw control advantage in the game (15-12). The Leopards also capitalized on free position, scoring five goals off of seven attempts.

“We need to learn to stay composed when we are up and use the clock to our advantage. We didn’t exploit the man-up situations, which allowed [Lafayette] to come back,” Kleinart said.

The Bison look to get back on track against Holy Cross on Saturday in Worcester, Mass. This is the second match of a four-game road trip for the Orange and Blue.

“We definitely fought the whole way through and learned so much that I’m confident the next time we play them, we will be able to be much more competitive,” Miller said.

Categories
Lacrosse Men Sports

Men’s lax takes down Holy Cross in final seconds

By Reed Dempsey

Writer

 

Holy Cross scored twice in the final five minutes of play to tie the game at nine, but an unassisted score by Peter Burke ’14 with just 22 seconds remaining sealed the eighth win of the season for the men’s lacrosse team this past Saturday in Worcester, Mass, as well as a No. 13 ranking in the national media poll.

Midfielder David Dickson ’15 opened the day’s scoring just a minute and a half into the game as the Bison were able to take advantage of an extra-man opportunity. Two minutes later Dickson fed Todd Heritage ’14 to extend the score to 2-0.

In an effort to slow the nation’s most efficient shooting team, the Crusaders had to limit the time that the Bison had the ball on offense.

“Holy Cross had a week to prepare for this game and they game-planned for us very well,” Dickson said. “They had long possessions on their side of the field which gave our offense limited touches.”

Over the final minutes of the first quarter, the teams traded tallies before the Crusaders cut the deficit to one on a last-second goal. 

The opening eight minutes of the second quarter saw three different Bison find the back of the net, as Chase Bailey ’13, John Scally ’12 and Billy Eisenreich ’12 brought the lead to 6-2. The Crusaders defense then held the Bison scoreless over the next 28 minutes, as their offense slowly chipped away at the lead. With 33 seconds left in the third quarter, the Crusaders tied the game at six on a man-up opportunity.

A penalty on Holy Cross with less than 10 minutes left in the game gave the Bison an opportunity to regain the lead. Eisenreich found Heritage to put the Bison up 7-6. Holy Cross tied the game at seven just 32 seconds later, but the second goals of the day by Dickson and Billy Mattimore ’13 gave a two-goal advantage in favor of the Bison with just under six minutes in regulation.

Holy Cross fought back over the next four minutes to tie the game for the third time. The Crusaders had possession and a chance to take the lead for the first time, but an errant shot gave the Bison possession. The Orange and Blue were able to successfully clear the ball to their offensive side of the field before taking a timeout. Burke was then able to find the back of the net to return the Bison lead to one.

The Crusaders won the ensuing faceoff and raced into the offensive zone for a shot, but Kyle Feeney ’13 was right there for the save, his 13th of the game.

Following the win, the Bison moved up to No. 13 in the national media poll and No. 15 in the coaches poll. They were ranked No. 16 in both polls last week.

After the hard-fought win, the Bison now turn their attention to tomorrow’s game against Army. Army is 4-6, but five of its six losses have come against teams ranked top-20 nationally.

“Although their record may not show it, Army is a very capable team and one that is definitely good enough to end our winning streak,” Dickson said. “We will need to match their intensity and physicality in order to be successful and come out of this game with a victory.”

The game is set to begin at 12 p.m. Saturday at Christy Matthewson-Memorial Stadium and will air on the CBS Sports Network.

 

 

Categories
Baseball Men Sports

Baseball loses two of four, falls to 14-15

Andrew Arnao
Staff Writer

The baseball team opened Patriot League play last weekend with a 1-3 showing at home against Holy Cross. The Orange and the Blue also dominated Lock Haven on Tuesday, but dropped their third contest of the week at Maryland 8-3. After the three games, the Bison now stand at 14-15 on the season.

Both of the games against Holy Cross on Saturday were well pitched by both teams. Game one featured a complete game by Dan Weigel ’14, who allowed one run on six hits over seven innings in a 3-1 victory. The Bison scored all three of their runs in the first inning, on a pair of RBI hits by Travis Clark ’13 and Scott Reed ’12.

Bryson Hough ’15 followed up with a strong pitching performance in game two, giving up two earned runs on seven hits, but the Bison offense was shut down in an eventual 3-1 defeat.

In the two games on Sunday, Holy Cross managed to take early leads and never looked back, winning game three 5-1 and game four 11-7. The Bison offense was limited in the first game, but six Bison had multiple hits in game four, allowing the team to end the series on a positive note offensively. Bob Donato ’12 also had his 21-game hitting streak snapped in game three but is still batting a team-high .421.

“This weekend was not our best weekend but it was a good reality check for what we will need to work on to win Patriots this year,” Clark said. “Our team reminds me a lot of the team we had two years ago when we went to the NCAA regional tournament.”

The offense carried its improvements from game four over to another home game against Lock Haven, where the Orange and Blue came out on top, 10-3. Pitchers Ryan Ebner ’12 and Jack Boehm ’12 did not allow any baserunners through 4.2 innings. Catcher Justin Meier ’14 led the offense with two hits, while three Bison recorded multiple RBIs.

Ending their three-game stretch at Maryland, the Bison were overmatched by a hot Terps offense that knocked up starter Russell Seidell ’12 for seven runs. Through seven innings, the Orange and Blue trailed 8-0, but managed to cut it to five in the top of the eighth. As a team, the Bison recorded six hits in the game with five of them coming from Donato and Gerry Runyan ’12.

The Bison will be back in action this weekend at home against Navy. The first game is at noon on Saturday.

“We have a solid older team again and we’re just a few steps from putting everything together and reaching our potential,” Clark said. “This week we will have a good chance of putting everything together and taking two victories into our weekend series with Navy.”

 

 

Categories
Men Sports Tennis

Men’s tennis falls to Hoyas 6-1 in D.C.

By Cooper Mead

Contributing Writer

The men’s tennis team (5-10) suffered a 6-1 loss against Georgetown (9-6) on Friday in Washington D.C.

Doubles pairing Josh Katten ’13 and Evan Zimmer ’13 battled against Shane Korber and Alex Tropiano and won the match 8-6. This victory pushed the pair to 2-0 this week, while Katten continued his streak during his singles match by defeating Korber at the No. 3 spot. Katten battled and pushed hard to win the match that went into three sets, two of which went to a tiebreaker (3-6, 7-6 (11-9), 10-7).

“Georgetown is a solid team,” Katten said. “We came out firing in doubles but came up just short as a team. In singles I was lucky enough to come through with the win but unfortunately our team did not fair well. Despite the loss, I think we fought hard as a team.”

The Bison singles players struggled throughout the match. Kyle Rosen ’14 in No. 5 singles was the Bison who came the closest to winning another set, but Rosen lost 7-5, 6-2. The rest of the singles field came away winless at the conclusion of the match.

This loss marks the third straight for the Bison, who had won their two prior matches.

“The Georgetown match showed us that everyone needs to step up in every spot if we are to be successful against teams like Army and Navy,” Kelly Morque ’13 said. “A week of hard work and intensity should get us to where we need to be.”

The Bison were originally scheduled to take on Mount St. Mary’s this week, but the match was cancelled due to rain. The Bison will hope to break their tough streak when they host Colgate today at 1 p.m.

 

Categories
Sports Tennis Women

Women’s tennis gets shut out by Georgetown

By Andrew Lichtenauer

Senior Writer

The women’s tennis team fell to Georgetown at the Hoyas’ home court on Friday. The Hoyas beat the Bison in every match, winning the contest 7-0. Georgetown is now 8-5 on the season, while the Orange and Blue have now lost eight straight outings and are 2-11.

Dumitrita Iepuras ’12 and Daria Tuzhikova ’13 competed hard in each of their singles matches, but both players ended up with losses. Tuzhikova put up a fight against Madeline Jaeger but eventually lost 6-2, 6-1, while Iepuras lost her singles match against senior Lauren Greco 6-1, 6-1.

The Bison played well in the No. 2 doubles matches with Courtney Casey ’12 and Lydia Colvin ’15, taking four games against Tina Tehrani and Victoria Sekely. Tehrani and Sekely were victorious in the end, winning 8-4. 

The Bison competed against Towson yesterday after press time. They will return home this weekend to take on Colgate at 1 p.m. this afternoon and George Mason at 11 a.m. tomorrow.

 

Categories
Sports Water Polo Women

Bison Athlete of the Week: Hallie Kennen ’12

By Chris McCree

Sports Editor

 

Player Profile:

Hallie Kennan ’12

Position: Driver

Hometown: Palo Alto, Calif.

Major: Environmental Studies

 

Statistics:

Games: 2

Goals: 5

Assists: 5

Steals: 2

Field Blocks: 1

Heading into last weekend riding a rough 10-game losing streak, the women’s water polo team came away with two big wins over Mercyhurst and Grove City thanks in large part to the strong play of Hallie Kennan ’12. Kennan recorded a total of 10 points over the two games, leading the Orange and Blue with three goals and four assists in the first game. The senior then added two more goals and an assist later in the nightcap against Grove City. Kennan’s seven-point performance against the Lakers tied a person career-high for Kennan and is the best individual performance of the season for the team.

Through the team’s 30 games this season, Kennan has certainly been the Orange and Blue’s most productive offensive weapon. Sitting nine points above the team’s second-highest points earner, Kennan has recorded 42 goals and 43 assists so far this season, making her just 20 points shy of the 300 mark for her career. On the defensive side, Kennan has made her presence felt, recording a team-high of 40 steals as well as nine field blocks.

Since beginning her collegiate career in 2009, Kennan has played a critical part in the team’s successes. During her sophomore year, Kennan emerged as the team’s top scorer with 58 goals in 27 games and earned Second Team All-CWPA Southern Division honors. Last season, Kennan once again led the team with 55 goals and was recognized for her demonstrated leadership and loyalty to the team by earning the team’s Allyson Gillespie Award. With one month remaining in her Orange and Blue career, Kennan will look to carry the team to a strong finish.

The Bison will take on Michigan and GW next weekend in College Park, Md., before hosting the Southern Championships on April 14 to 15.

Categories
Basketball Men Sports

Q & A Mike Muscala ’13

By Greg Stevenson

Senior Writer

After finishing the 2011-2012 season with a regular-season Patriot League title and despite coming just five points away from advancing to the NCAA Tournament, the men’s basketball team took its talents west over spring break for its first-ever berth in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT).

The first round of the tournament was highlighted by the Bison’s 65-54 upset victory over top-seeded Arizona. Leading the way was Lou Henson All-American Mike Muscala ’13, who recorded 20 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots in 33 minutes of play. Even in their narrow defeat in the second round of the NIT on March 18 versus Nevada, Muscala kept the Bison close with another double-double, his record-tying 16th of the season.

The Bucknellian caught up with last season’s Patriot League Most Outstanding Player to discuss his experience in the postseason.

The Bucknellian: What was the experience like playing in the NIT?
Mike Muscala: It was fun. We spent our spring break playing basketball in Arizona and Nevada, two places I had never been before.

Bucknellian: What was it like going against a Pacific-12 team with such a rich basketball history, like Arizona?
MM: Seeing all the great players’ names that had played at Arizona on banners and plaques throughout their arena was cool. They have been an elite level program for many, many years.

Bucknellian: Going into the Arizona game as the eighth seed, playing against the top seed, what did you feel like your chances were?

MM: I wasn’t worried about the seeding. Men’s college basketball is changing a lot in this aspect. I think that for the most part, any team that reaches the postseason is a quality team. I knew we would have a great chance to win if we came out aggressive and poised.

Bucknellian: Did you feel like people were counting you out in the game, and if so, how did that make you feel?

MM: There are always going to be people that count you out in big games, so that didn’t affect me. I try my best to just stay focused on what the team needs from me, and use whatever negativity or doubt or whatever it may be that I do encounter as motivation.

Bucknellian: When you fouled out late against Arizona with the game still on the line, what was going through your head knowing you had to watch the rest of the game from the bench?

MM: Fouling out towards the end of the game like that was really tough for me.  But Bryson [Johnson ’13] hit a huge shot and I think we ended the game on like a 9-0 run after I fouled out, so maybe it was a good thing!
Bucknellian: What was it like winning a post-season game and advancing to the second round of the NIT?

MM: It was a good win for our team. Arizona was the first high-major team that we had beaten since I got to campus. It was also special that so many fans and supporters were able to watch it since it was on national television.

Bucknellian: Against both Arizona and Nevada, you seemed to dominate the paint. What did it mean for you to play that well?
MM: I knew that for us to have a chance against teams like that I had to be aggressive and draw attention in the paint. That opened it up for a lot of good looks from our outstanding shooters on the perimeter.

With the experience of winning a tournament game under his belt, Muscala will head into his final season in a Bison uniform looking to build on the success from this year’s NIT run. Four starters and three key reserves from this year’s squad return to the court next season for what could be another banner year for the Orange and Blue.