Author: Rob Duffy

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Second-half collapse ruins home debut

By Greg Stevenson

Senior Writer

The Dartmouth Big Green routed the Orange and Blue football team 43-20 in the home opener at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium on Saturday. The Bison led 20-9 at halftime but the Big Green put up 34 unanswered points in the second half to seal the win. The loss leaves the Bison (0-3) without a win in 2010.

“We always speak to our team about how the game is actually two games,” Head Coach Joe Susan said. “The first half and second half wind up being two separate entities. [Dartmouth] scored right before the end of the first half, received in the second half and drove down the field to score. Momentum shifted and we did not answer.”

Despite the lopsided victory, the Orange and Blue turned in their best offensive performance of the year, doubling their scoring output for the season. Rookies Brandon Wesley ’14 and Victor Walker ’14 provided the offensive punch for the Bison in the first half. Quarterback Wesley threw for over 200 yards and two touchdowns, while receiver Walker recorded over 100 yards receiving, including two big receptions to set up scores.

The Orange and Blue opened the scoring early in the first quarter, driving 60 yards in 12 plays, to set up a field goal by kicker Drew Orth ’12. Orth is the leading scorer for the Bison this season.

The Orange and Blue got the ball back three minutes later after an interception by Derrick Palmer ’14. The Bison capitalized on the Dartmouth mistake, as Wesley found Travis Friend ’14 for a two-yard touchdown, increasing the lead to 10-0.

It took Dartmouth over 22 minutes and 13 Bison points to find the end zone, cutting the Orange and Blue lead to 13-6 with less than seven minutes remaining in the first half. The Bison answered 40 seconds later as Wesley connected with Terna Ityokumbul ’13 for a six-yard touchdown, giving the Orange and Blue a two touchdown advantage.

Dartmouth cut the halftime lead to 11 with a field goal late in the first half, was enough of a momentum shift to get the Big Green going.

“In some ways, a young team with an 11-point lead at halftime might think it is going to be easy,” Susan said. “Thirty minutes is a long time in this game. We, as a staff, kept emphasizing that during halftime.”

The second half was a nightmare for the Bison, as Dartmouth recorded 310 total yards of offense and 34 points while the Orange and Blue scored no points. Dartmouth’s Nick Schwieger carried the offensive load, registering 273 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns, including the score that gave the Big Green the lead for good.

The Bison are looking forward to a much-needed bye week this weekend. With an explosive Cornell team next on the schedule, the Orange and Blue will be spending the open weekend preparing for their remaining games.

“The bye week will be very important for us to concentrate on fundamentals,” Susan said. “We will also try some new things offensively and defensively.”

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Water polo takes fourth at ECAC tourney

By Chris McCree

Contributing Writer

The top-seeded men’s water polo team lost two out of three games last weekend at the ECAC Championships at Harvard University but managed to finish in the top five for the seventh year in a row. The Bison claimed fourth place in a tough 12-team field consisting of schools from along the East Coast.

The Orange and Blue opened the tournament with a 21-3 victory over George Washington that featured four-goal performances by Jack Else ’14, Richie Hayden ’11 and Trevor Reitz ’14. The Bison eclipsed the 20-goal mark for the third time this season, and Hayden became the ninth player in school history to reach 200 goals for his career.

The Orange and Blue experienced an offensive stall after their first game as they managed only 13 goals combined in their final two games against Brown and Princeton. The Bison fell to Brown 11-7 during their semifinal matchup on Saturday after having beat Brown a week earlier at the Bucknell Invitational. Howie Kalter ’11 scored four goals. The Bison trailed the Bears the entire game but managed to cut the deficit to one through three periods, but were outscored by the Bears 3-0 in the fourth.

Bison offense struggled during their third-place game against second-seeded Princeton. Sean Coghlan ’11 scored twice and was the team’s only multiple-goal scorer in the 9-6 loss. On paper, this game was the Bison’s toughest matchup as Princeton came into the tournament ranked 17th in the nation. The Orange and Blue played tight in the first half, but the defense could not keep up with the Tigers late in the game.

Inconsistent play on defense has troubled the team all season. The Bison have surrendered nine goals or more seven times this season.

“We need to improve our team defense so that we can hold teams to under seven goals,” Hayden said.  The Bison are 5-0 in games where they have held teams to under seven goals.

After going 1-2 this weekend in Boston, the Bison are 7-4 and are about to enter a crucial part of their season. This weekend the Orange and Blue travel south to Maryland and Washington, D.C. to play three games against league rivals Johns Hopkins, Navy and George Washington. The Bison have yet to play Johns Hopkins or Navy this season but are 1-0 against George Washington.

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Women’s XC wins tri-meet

By Eric Brod

Senior Writer

The women’s cross country team earned its second consecutive victory to open the season, and the men’s team finished second when the Bison traveled to western Pennsylvania on Saturday for a tri-meet at Duquesne University against Duquesne and Pittsburgh.

The women completed the five–kilometer course with 18 points, while Duquesne finished with 40 and Pitt with 84. Stephanie Fulmer ’12 won her second consecutive race in 18:00, closely followed by teammate Sarah Moniz ’11 who finished second in 18:08.

“We had one of our hardest workouts last week,” Moniz said. “The workout last week helped to mentally prepare us all for the fast downhill mile at Schenley Park.”

Alysha Hooper ’12 (fourth overall), Kelly Grosskurth ’12 (fifth overall) and Alaina Chodoff ’11 (sixth overall) rounded out the scoring for the Bison, who placed all their scorers in the top 10.

The men finished second in their meet with 54 points, 36 points below first-place Duquesne, who totaled 18 points. Keith Sansone ’12 led the pack for the Bison, finishing eighth overall on the eight–kilometer course in 25:53.

“After going fast with the lead pack I just tried to hold on as long as possible and it ended up working out,” Sansone said. “The tempo of the race both helped and hurt me, I think. It allowed me to go out and run a fast time but because we went out so fast, at least for my liking, I ran out of steam late in the race and was unable to catch anyone late in the race.”

Chris Sacks ’14 finished ninth in 25:57. Evan Novakowski ’11 (10th overall), Robert Yamnicky ’13 ( 15th overall) and Christopher Boyd ’11 (16th overall), rounded out the top five for the team.

Both teams return to action on Oct. 1 to compete in the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. Sansone knows it will be important for the pack to stay together in such a large race.

“When we go to Paul Short and run on its flat course I really think we can accomplish great things as long as we work as a team instead of just individual runners,” he said.

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Golf wins Bucknell Invite

By Rob Duffy

Managing Editor

The Golf Invitational

The men’s golf team came from behind to win the Bucknell Fall Invitational for the fourth straight year last weekend, defeating Robert Morris by a single stroke.

Robert Morris led by four following the first two rounds of the 54-hole event, posting a 299-285 (584) on Friday compared to the 293-295 (588) of the second-place Bison “orange” team. The Bison’s score rose to 300 in the final round on Saturday, but it was good enough to overcome Robert Morris, which shot 305.

The Bison ended with a team score of 888, compared to Robert Morris’ 889. Fordham came in third with a 894 and Lehigh and Laval were tied for fourth with 896s.

Thirteen teams competed in the field, including an additional Bison “blue” team that came in 11th, shooting 912, but posted the third-best score of the day on Saturday with a 299.

Jon Hartman ’13 of the “blue” team was the top finisher for either Bison team, finishing in second place with 214. After shooting 77 in the first round, Hartman finished with rounds of 68 and 69 to close the tournament. Hartman finished three strokes behind C. G. Mercatoris of Robert Morris, who was the individual champion.

Will Bachman ’12, J. J. Szmadzinski ’13 and Dan Bernard ’13 all led the “orange” team with three-round scores of 221, good for a tie for ninth place. Rounding out the “orange” team were Ben Mattingly ’11, who finished tied for 28th with a 227, and Andrew Wallisch ’11, who finished tied for 34th with a 229.

The remainder of the “blue” team included three first-years making their debuts. Schuyler Stitzer ’14 finished tied for 16th with a 224, while Matt Haller ’14 shot a 231 and Billy Wright ’14 shot a 243.

The Bison men travel to Ithaca, N.Y. this weekend to compete in the Cornell Invitational.

The women’s golf team was off this week and will travel to Madison, Wis. to compete in the Badger Invitational this weekend.

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Men’s soccer winless at Charleston

By Joe Ruby

Contributing Writer

The men’s soccer team suffered a pair of losses this weekend at the Nike/Aaron Olitsky Tournament, losing 4-0 to host College of Charleston  (4-2-1) and 2-1 to Furman (4-2-0). Ross Liberati ’11 scored the sole goal for the Bison and was named to the all-tournament team along with Travis Rand ’11. Wednesday’s scheduled game against Saint Francis (Pa.) was postponed indefinitely.

On Friday night, the Bison fell behind College of Charleston in the 20th minute when Sean De Silva tucked a ball inside the far post for his first goal of the year. Tony Kattreh gave the Cougars a two-goal edge with 1:26 remaining in the first half. Tommy Caso ’12 stopped three of five shots on goal in the first half.

College of Charleston managed another two tallies in the second half, both off Francis Twohig. The first came at 68:24, when Twohig overcame a difficult angle to beat substitute keeper Marc Hartmann ’12. The final score came in the 74th minute when Twohig put a shot past Orman Kimbrough ’14, the third Bison keeper to see action. The goals were Twohig’s third and fourth of the year.

In the second game of the tournament, Liberati scored his third goal of the year, assisted by Mayowa Alli ’14, to tie the game at 1-1 in the 67th minute. Alli sent a throw-in to Liberati, who headed it past the goalkeeper at the near post.

Furman scored the deciding goal just four minutes later when Michael Channel netted his second of the game. A defensive miscue gave Channel a breakaway, and the first-year chipped the ball over Caso to put the Paladins up for good.

College of Charleston outshot the Bison 17-14 and Furman outshot them 9-7. The Bison only managed one corner kick to College of Charleston’s six, but had a 6-2 advantage against the Paladins.

The Bison led Saint Francis 1-0 on Wednesday before thunderstorms forced the game to be postponed 22 minutes in. Liberati scored the goal for the Orange and Blue off an assist from Brendan Burgdorf ’13.

The Bison (2-4-0) travel to Washington, D.C. to play American University on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and return home to take on Drexel at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday.

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Volleyball heads into league play

By Cooper Sutton

Contributing Writer

The women’s volleyball team finished its non-league schedule poorly this weekend, losing three matches by a combined score of 9-1 in the Columbia Classic in New York.

The Bison lost their first match of the tournament on Friday against Fairleigh Dickinson. They dropped the remaining two matches on Saturday, losing to Columbia and Fordham. The Bison won one game against Fordham.

“Although we didn’t pull out a win, we still had moments of awesome volleyball—we just weren’t able to string points together,” Heidi Kamp ’11 said.

Ragin Jackson ’11 was named to the All-Tournament Team for the second week in a row. The middle hitter recorded 16 kills and 11 blocks in her three games. Coming into the weekend Jackson had a hitting percentage of .291, high enough to rank fourth in the Patriot League.

The Bison‘s record now stands at 2-10.

The team’s best hope for a win came in the final match of the tournament against 8-7 Fordham. The first set featured 60 hard-fought points, but the Orange and Blue finally came out on top, 31-29. But the Bison failed to capitalize on their momentum. Fordham regrouped and won the next three sets consecutively.

The other two matches were less competitive. Against Columbia, the Bison hit a staggeringly low percentage of .019, after hitting .110 against Fairleigh Dickinson. Columbia out-hit the Bison by over .150 points, and the knights of FDU posted a hitting percentage that was .200 points better.

In the end, this weekend should only help the team, which starts its Patriot League schedule today. The team’s non-league schedule has been unusually tough; this weekend’s opponents had an overall record of 19-17.

Although the Bison have not found success thus far, the team remains optimistic.

“This weekend was another learning experience for the team. Although the results didn’t show it, the team has made strides… We all need to realize the potential and talent we have and start executing our skills in order to be on our way to a Patriot League Championship,” Kat Tauscher ’13 said.

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Tennis teams capture four singles titles

By Joyce Novacek

Contributing Writer

The men’s and women’s tennis teams opened their seasons with impressive appearances at their respective tournaments last weekend. The men earned two singles titles in the Northeast Intercollegiate in Providence, R.I., while the women claimed two titles in the Bucknell Invitational.

For the men’s team, Scott Bernstein ’14 and Kelly Morque ’13 each won their singles draws and finished the weekend undefeated in singles play.

Bernstein defeated Marist’s Jacob Solley in straight sets to earn his first career title in his debut tournament.

After losing the first set in the Indigo Draw 6-3, Morque came from behind to win the second set and clinched his first tournament title by defeating Norman Gelman from Bryant in a 10-6  tiebreak.

“The team’s mentality going into the weekend was to compete hard and have fun,” Morque said. “Obviously it feels great to win the title, but I know at the same time that it’s just the beginning of the season and there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Elena Vidrascu ’14 won the Flight C Singles Draw for the women’s team in her tournament debut. Dumitrita Iepuras ’12 and Courtney Casey ’11 also won their singles back draws. Dara Dwojewski ’11 and Lauren Rottkamp ’11 won a doubles title by default.

Vidrascu finished the weekend undefeated in singles play, going 4-0 in the tournament. She defeated Maddie Bittner of Duquesne two sets in a row to earn her title.

In the Flight A Singles Back Draw, Iepuras ultimately overcame Lauren Clifton of Hofstra in a super tiebreak, defeating Clifton 11-9.

Casey defeated teammate Jennie Ciotti ’13 in straight sets to win the Flight C Singles back draw.

“It was very exciting winning my first title, especially because I wasn’t that confident with my match play coming into the tournament,” Vidrascu said. “I felt as if my level progressed with each match that I played, and towards the end I had a pretty good rhythm, especially with my serve.”

She also partially attributed her win to the support of her teammates.

“I was tight playing my first match in doubles and singles, but soon after I loosened up. I think it was the atmosphere of the tournament … just being with my teammates helped with keeping things fun and relaxed, not stressful or anything,” she said.

This weekend, the men’s team heads to Connecticut for the UConn Invitational and the women’s team travels to West Point to compete in the Eastern Championships, hosted by Army.

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Golf sets records

By Rob Duffy

Managing Editor

The women’s golf team scored a school-record 296 on Sunday to take first place in the Bucknell Invitational. The record-setting final round capped a remarkable weekend for the Bison, who tied the previous record with a 303 in the first round Saturday and nearly again with a 304 in the second round later that day. The team’s total score of 903 beat the previous program record by 40 strokes.

The Bison earned their second tournament win in program history and first since 2006, beating defending champion William and Mary by 19 strokes.

Katie Jurenovich ’11 tied the individual program record with an even-par 70 in the final round. Jurenovich won a four-hole playoff to become tournament champion after her three-round score of 221 tied Jeanne Waters of Rutgers.

Minjoo Lee ’12, who held the individual lead by one stroke at the end of the first day, finished third overall, one stroke behind Jurenovich and Waters.

Lauren Bernard ’14 and Kasha Scott ’14, who finished tied for 15th with 233, and Bridget Wilcox ’14, who finished tied for 31st with 241, also contributed to the victory.

The Bison will next travel to Wisconsin next weekend to compete in the Badger Invitational.

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Bachman ’12 shoots 66, ties record

By Eric Brod

Senior Writer

The men’s golf team finished second last weekend at the Colgate Invitational to open the 2010 season. On day two of the tournament, Will Bachman ’12 tied a program record with a score of six-under-par.

The team finished with a 36-hole total of 616, 10 strokes behind winner Colgate. The Orange and Blue were in second after round one of the tournament. Bachman was the only member of the team to break par in round two.

“I knew I had played pretty poorly the day before so I just forgot about that round and tried to play my best the second round,” Bachman said. “The course was wet, though, which made the greens more accessible.  The greens at Colgate’s course are pretty tricky, so a wetter course was an advantage in that regard because it made it easier to go for more pins.”

Ben Mattingly ’11 followed up his two-over-par 74 on Saturday with an 80 on Sunday, the second-best Bison score of the day. The individual winners of the tournament were Will Delano of Colgate and Kyle Kayturowski of Daemen with a one-under-par 143.

Despite the tough finish, Bachman sees a lot of positives for the team moving forward.

“As for the team, I think it’s always important to remember that we’re playing as a team and not as individuals,” he said. “In that sense it doesn’t matter so much what you shoot but how you do compared to your opponents.  Thinking about it that way takes some of the pressure off the individual player.  We have a lot of team chemistry; all the guys get along great and going to tournaments together is fun.”

The Bison return to action today when they host the Bucknell Invitational at the Bucknell Golf Course.

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Football team still searching for offense

By Greg Stevenson

Senior Writer

The football team dropped to 0-2 for the 2010 season with a 14-3 defeat at Marist on Saturday. Another defensive performance went to waste as the Orange and Blue offense was limited to 159 total yards and just 56 yards on the ground.

“Our run game needs to improve to enable us to be successful as an offense,” Head Coach Joe Susan said. “We will continue to look at personnel to figure out who are our best players.”

For the first 20 minutes of the contest, the Red Foxes and the Bison traded possessions, preserving the scoreless tie. Marist had the best opportunity to produce points, driving 59 yards to the Bison seven-yard line with two minutes left in the first quarter, but could not convert a 24-yard field-goal.

The score remained tied until the nine-minute mark in the second quarter when a turnover by the Orange and Blue led to a Marist touchdown. An interception thrown by Bison quarterback Brandon Wesley ’14 set the Red Foxes deep in Bison territory. Three plays later, Marist quarterback Tommy Reilly found James LaMacchia for a 16-yard touchdown through the air, giving the Red Foxes a seven-point lead.

The score remained unchanged until the final minute of the third quarter. After Reilly was sacked on a fourth-down try by Marist, the Bison turned in a 13-play, 58-yarder that got them deep inside the red zone. Although they had a first-and-goal from the one-yard line, the Orange and Blue had to settle for a field goal by kicker Drew Orth ’12 to cut the Marist advantage to 7-3.

The Red Foxes parlayed the momentum they picked up after stopping the Bison on three straight plays from inside the one-yard line into a touchdown on the next drive. The Marist offense went 73 yards in 12 plays, with running back Ryan Dinnebeil extending the lead to 14-3 with a one-yard touchdown run.

Marist ran out the clock on their final possession, securing the Red Foxes’ first win over the Bison in six tries.

Looking to end their two-game losing streak, the Orange and Blue football squad will return home this weekend to face its Ivy League foe, the Dartmouth Big Green. Kickoff for Dartmouth’s season opener is 1 p.m. on Saturday. The Bison are hoping to reverse their fortunes at home.

“It will be great to play at home,” Susan said. “I have always thought that this is one of the best places to play. I hope that students will come out to support their team. We need to make Mathewson Stadium a home field advantage.”