Category: Featured

By Mike Wolf

Contributing Writer

The women’s volleyball team followed a stellar performance two weeks ago with another impressive win this weekend over Colgate. The team moved to 4-1 in the Patriot league as they defeated the Raiders in five sets.

Rachel Rodriguez ’11 was named Patriot League player of the week and Bison athlete of the week. She posted a career-high 43 assists and 15 digs in the five sets.

“We really came together as a team and collectively focused on executing the game plan. I had a great match on Friday night, but I couldn’t have done it without my team,” Rodriguez said. “Without good passes and hitters who put the ball down, the setter is nothing.”

The team won the first two sets 25-17 and 29-27, but ran into difficulty in the third and fourth sets. The Bison held allowed frustration to impede their game plan in the third and fourth, losing the two sets 23-25 and 18-25 respectively.

Needing to refocus to win the match, the Bison won the fifth set 15-10, getting five of the last seven points off kills.

Three of the final five kills came from Heidi Kamp ’11. Kamp had 22 kills in the five sets and continuously helped to push the offense forward and to keep the momentum going.

“The good news is we woke back up and pulled through at the end of a tough match and walked away proud and victorious,” Kamp said. She also attributed the team’s success to positive team chemistry and a strong trust in one another.

Three other players had double-digit kills and four other players had double-digit digs. The offense was propelled by Kyleigh McAhren ’12 with 15 kills, Katie Baumgarten ’12 with a career-high 13 kills and Ragin Jackson ’13 with 11 kills.  Leylin Marroquin ’14 had 22 digs, Baumgarten had 14 digs, and McAhren and Emily Sawanobori ’12  each had 10 digs.

The Bison face their next challenge this Friday against Army at 7 p.m. and travel to Holy Cross on Saturday for a 4 p.m. game.

By Greg Stevenson

Senior Writer

Although the Bison outgained the Big Red by over 50 yards on offense and recorded four turnovers, the Bison could not translate their dominance into a victory, falling 21-12 to Cornell at home. The defeat moves the Orange and Blue to 0-4 on the season.

After a 65-yard kickoff return that put the Big Red inside the red-zone to start the game, the Bison responded with an interception by Josh Eden ’12 on Cornell’s first play from scrimmage.

The Bison drove all the way down to the Cornell 28-yard line before their drive stalled and turned the ball over on a failed fourth-down attempt.

After Cornell went three-and-out on their second offensive possession of the game, the Orange and Blue drove deep into Big Red territory again, but could not pick up any points, as a field goal attempt by kicker Drew Orth ’12 sailed wide right.

With less than a minute remaining in the first quarter, Cornell opened the scoring for the game. Sparked by a blocked punt, the Big Red ran the ball in from two yards out to take the lead, 7-0.

Starting at their own 40-yard-line, Cornell drove 60 yards in 10 plays, and capped off its drive with a 14-yard touchdown run that pushed the lead to 14-0. The Bison avoided a shutout in the first half, driving inside the Big Red 10-yard-line before settling for a field goal.

In the second half, a 46-yard drive led Orth to record his second made field-goal of the game. Cornell quarterback Jeff Mathews then completed two passes on the third down to keep the drive alive and a 35-yard pass set up Cornell’s third and final touchdown of the game.

Down by 15 with less than five minutes left in the third quarter, the Bison answered Cornell’s scoring drive with a touchdown. Quarterback Brandon Wesley ’14 accounted for a combined 55 yards rushing and passing on the drive, including a 14-yard touchdown scramble. Wesley finished the day with 267 yards through the air and 49 yards on the ground.

Despite his touchdown run, the Bison were unable to convert a two-point conversion that would have brought the deficit to seven. The Orange and Blue threatened only once more, but their drive ended when Wesley threw his only interception of the contest. The Big Red was able to run out the clock, handing the Bison their fourth consecutive loss of the season.

Still searching for their first victory of 2010, the Bison finish up their three game home-stand against Penn this Saturday at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium at 1 p.m.

By Joe Ruby

Writer

The men’s soccer team beat Navy (6-2-1) 2-0 in a league match Saturday night and dropped a 2-1 decision to UMBC (5-3-1) on Tuesday night. Luke Joyner ’12 and Josh Plump ’13 scored against the Midshipmen, and Tommy McCabe ’11 tallied against the Retrievers. Both games were at home.

The Bison had a number of close calls against Navy before Joyner scored his first goal of the year in the 26th minute. Travis Rand ’11 hit a cross into the box from near the half line. Joyner one-timed the ball into the net from close range. The Bison missed on a similar play minutes before.

The Bison struck again to put the game out of reach at the 71:26 mark. Brendan Klebanoff ’12 played the ball through to Plump, who outran a defender, took the ball deep into the box, and scored from a tight angle. Rand earned his second assist of the evening on the play.

Navy had difficulty generating offense, managing only a shot on goal in each half to seven on the game for the Bison. The Bison outshot the Midshipmen 14-7.

Against UMBC, McCabe scored his first goal of the year on a penalty kick that drew the Bison to within one. At the 83:29 mark, a UMBC defender was called for a handball in the zone. Ross Liberati ’11 attempted a penalty kick that was saved, but the UMBC goalkeeper was called for moving forward too early, and McCabe converted on the second chance.

UMBC began the scoring 22:15 into the contest, when Chris Williams hit a shot past Marc Hartmann ’12, who was in goal for the entirety of each of the Bison’s games. The Retrievers scored their second goal in the 55th minute when Pete Caringi cleaned up a loose ball in the box for his sixth tally of the year.

The Bison outshot UMBC 17-6, but only managed to put three of their shots on goal, compared to four for the Retrievers. The Bison held an advantage in corner kicks in both games.

The sole game this week for the Bison (4-6-0, 1-1-0 Patriot League) is against conference rival Holy Cross (3-6-1, 0-2-0) in Worcester, Mass. at 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

By Cooper Sutton

Sports Editor

Both the men’s and women’s teams claimed titles in the Bucknell Invitational this past weekend. Colgate, Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson and George Mason all competed.

Lauren Lucido ’11 won the Flight A singles tournament—possibly the highest achievement attainable over the weekend. She defeated Fairleigh Dickinson’s Elmine Botes in the finals.

“I felt no pressure coming into the final match on Sunday. I had just lost to [Botes] in the tournament at Army the previous weekend, so I had nothing to lose in our rematch,” Lucido said.

Even though she quickly fell behind 2-5 in the first set, she kept her composure and came back, winning the set in a tiebreaker. Lucido stayed hot for the second set, and she won the match 7-6, 6-3.

The men’s team also played well. “I thought the team performed great this weekend. To win three titles was a notable accomplishment,” Flight B singles champion Kelly Morque ’13 said. The other two titles came in Flight C singles from Gregory Maxson ’12 and in Flight B doubles from Gregg Cohenca ’12 and Mark Malloy ’12.

Morque’s victory at the Invitational improves his record this fall to a 10-0.He defeated Ryan Carr of Connecticut in one of the most contentious matches of the season. After the two players split the first two sets at 6-4 apiece, Morque took the 10-point “super tiebreaker” with a score of 13-11 for his second championship of the fall.

In the Flight C championship, Maxson rebounded from a 6-3 loss in the first set to take the second set in a tiebreaker then to win the super tiebreaker 10-8. Cohenca and Malloy also had a tight match, winning 8-6 in their eight game pro-set.

Because this was the last home tournament of the fall, the teams should be able to take this momentum into the upcoming seasons.