Category: Men

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Men Soccer Sports

Men’s soccer fights for a draw

Chris McCree
Sports Editor

The men’s soccer team earned a 1-1 tie at Holy Cross last weekend, moving the team into a tie for fourth place in the Patriot League at 1-1-2. Josh Plump ’13 scored the Bison’s lone goal midway through the first half, but the team was not able to pull ahead despite outshooting the Crusaders 21-9.

“Even though we were really aiming for three points and the win Saturday, tying Holy Cross on the road was not the worst outcome,” Plump said. “The past few games we have come out flat in the first half, which has been a problem for us. We put together a decent second half, but could not find the back of the net.”

The Orange and Blue got off to a slow start, recording just four shots in the first half to the Crusaders’ five. Twenty-three minutes into the contest, Holy Cross’ Luke Melody took a corner kick out of the air and headed it into the back of the net to give the Crusaders the lead.

“It has been a constant weakness in the past couple of games; we start games very slowly. I believe we have conceded almost all of our goals in the first half,” Chris Thorsheim ’16 said. “Our strength has been our ability to respond and dominate the second halves of games.”

The Holy Cross lead was short-lived as Plump quickly knotted the game just four minutes later. On the play, Plump beat three defenders across the top of the box and fired a strike into the back of the net.

Going into the half at one goal apiece, the Orange and Blue came out in the second with a heightened aggression and dominated the half. The team outshot the Crusaders 11-1, but could not manage to get the go-ahead goal. In the closing minutes of the game, Thorsheim fired a very promising strike, but it bounced off of the goalpost, allowing the Crusaders to conserve the tie through the end of regulation.

In overtime, the Bison continued their offensive dominance and outshot their opponents 6-3. The team generated two solid scoring chances from Brendan Burgdorf ’13 and Jesse Klug ’16, but both were kept out by the Crusaders defense.

“We are a fit team capable of outscoring opponents with ease, except we have not been finishing our chances,” Thorsheim said. “In our past couple of games, we have outshot and created many chances. It’s putting these shots on goal that has been difficult for us.”

The tie represented the second straight for the Bison in Patriot League play after earning the same result against Navy on Oct. 6. The team has three league contests remaining on the schedule before the Patriot League tournament begins in early November. The first of these match-ups will occur tomorrow when the team hosts Army at 7 p.m.

“The Patriot League is still up for grabs,” Thorsheim said. “The next couple of games will be extremely important for us. These Patriot League challenges ahead will dictate whether we have the ability and the desire to become a championship team.”

Categories
Men Sports Water Polo

Men’s water polo shines in close games

Estie Pyper | The Bucknellian
Attacker Julian Colina ’14 takes a shot on net. The Bison players made their shots count when it mattered most, especially in the last-second win against Princeton.

Scott Padula

Staff Writer

The men’s water polo team went 3-1 last weekend in a string of games when it hosted CWPA rivals Johns Hopkins, Navy, George Washington and No. 16 Princeton. The Bison are now 5-1 at home on the season.

On Oct. 13, the Orange and Blue began their home stint by defeating Johns Hopkins in overtime 12-10. The match was back and forth throughout, most notably marked by Matt Napleton ’13, who recorded 16 saves. In the field, the Orange and Blue had five different Bison tallying a pair of goals, with a total of seven Bison registering a point. Notable performances came from Jack Else ’14, who drew five ejections, and Brian Barron ’13, who won all six swim-offs, including two extremely important ones in overtime.

The second game against No. 14 Navy was Senior Night for the Orange and Blue. Led by senior captains Napleton and Barron, the Bison fought hard but fell to the Midshipmen 17-11. The contest was close for the majority of play, with the Orange and Blue only trailing by one entering the fourth quarter. In the fourth, the Midshipmen outscored the Bison 6-1 in the final eight minutes of play. Despite the losing effort, the seniors saved some of their best performances of the weekend for this game. Barron found the back of the net eight times, recorded an assist and won two of his four sprints. Barron’s eight goal tally was the most by a Bison since 2000. In goal, Napleton stopped 11 shots in 32 minutes of action, and  additionally registered an assist in the game.

To kick off action on Oct. 14, the Orange and Blue defeated George Washington 13-8. The Bison outscored the Colonials 4-1 in the second quarter, giving them a three goal lead into the half. Alex Nowlin ’14 led the offense for the Bison, netting five goals and tallying two assists. Joining him with multi-point performances were three other Bison: Barron, Else and Stefan Aleksic ’16. Else also matched his career-high for ejections drawn in a game with six. In goal, Napleton made an impressive 15 saves.

In the final game of the weekend, the Orange and Blue defeated No. 16 Princeton 10-9. The Bison led in the first quarter 3-0 and took a 5-2 tie into the intermission. In the third quarter, the Bison held the three goal lead by matching Princeton’s three scores with three of their own. With 49 seconds left to play in the fourth quarter, Princeton tied the score at 9-9 with a buzzer-beating shot. The Bison responded when Else drew a five-meter penalty shot with 36 seconds left to play. Barron found the back of the net, giving the Orange and Blue an eventual win. Barron scoured four goals and registered an assist. Else and Kimble were also invaluable to the Bison, with four and three ejections drawn, respectively. In the cage, Napleton recorded 13 saves.

Next up for the Bison will be the Santa Clara Rodeo in Santa Clara, Calif. on Oct. 19-21.

Categories
Cross Country Cross Country Men Sports Women

Cross country divides forces

 

Edward Louie | The Bucknellian
Bison runners forge a path at the front of the pack. Pre-Nationals proved to be a tougher test for the Orange and Blue than the Gettysburg Invitational.

Billy Tyler
Contributing Writer

The men’s and women’s cross country teams divided their squads last weekend to compete at both Pre-Nationals in Louisville, Ky. and the Gettysburg Invitational in Gettysburg, Pa. The divided teams produced varying results at two premier events with extremely competitive fields.

Pre-Nationals, featuring a strong national caliber field, presented a tough test for the Orange and Blue. The men’s team goal to finish in the top half of the competitive field was hindered by some bad luck, in the form of several falls early in the race to key runners, including Glen Williams ’15 and D.J. Krystek ’13. John Dugan ’15 managed to finish the eight-kilometer course strongly coming in 146th place with a time of 24:48.3. He was followed by Michael McGowan ’15 in 177th (25:05.1), Charles Seigneur ’13 in 188th (25:08.4), Andrew Garcia-Garrison ’15 in 190th (25:10.1) and Tyler Erhard ’14 in 243rd (25:54.7).

“[The falls] really cost our team quite a bit,” head coach Kevin Donner said.

Donner is still confident his team gained valuable experience from the event and will bounce back to perform well at the Patriot League Championships.

The women’s team had similar results in the event, which featured a fast and aggressive field. The quick pace left several members of the Bison struggling to sustain the tempo in the last bit of the six-kilometer race. Leading the way for the Bison was Caroline Tolli ’13, who finished 13th overall with a time of 21:47.

Both teams fared better at the Gettysburg Invitational. The men’s team had a second place finish out a field of 35 teams. The team also had two members finish in the top 20 in of the eight-kilometer race, with Andrew Kuchta ’16 (26:02) and David Strauss ’14 (26:09) taking ninth and 18th place, respectively. The Bison finished the event with a total of 70 points, second only to Lock Haven with 50 points.

The women’s team had an equally strong result at the event, taking the third place spot in a field of 36 schools. Just as with the men’s team, the women’s team was led by members finishing in the top 20, with Becky Snelson ’15 (23:13) taking 17th place and Emily Waksmunski ’14 (23:18) taking 19th place.

“Overall, everyone ran really well this weekend, and I think it was a good confidence booster to have this as our last meet before Leagues,” Snelson said.

Many of these reserves provided solid results and several were able to earn spots on the travel roster for the team’s next event, the Patriot League Championships, which will take place on Oct. 27 in Hamilton, N.Y.

Categories
Men Sports Tennis Tennis Women

Tennis duos shine

 

Chloe Chou | The Bucknellian
Maria Cioffi ’16 extends to reach the ball. She had a strong weekend for the Bison individually and in her double play with Elenca Vidrascu ’14

Alex Wagner

Sports Editor

Men’s tennis teammates Chris Tortora ’14 and Jonathan DeFrancesch ’15 and women’s tennis teammates Maria Cioffi ’16 and Elena Vidrascu ’14 saw success in doubles and singles play in the Lehigh Invitational last weekend.

Tortora and DeFrancesch together accounted for seven of the team’s 15 wins over the weekend after each went 2-0 in singles play as well as combining for a 3-0 doubles record, including a highly-contested 9-7 win over Lehigh.

“This was the second tournament that Johnny [DeFrancesch] and I have played together in, and we keep making strides in improvement,” Tortora said. “Johnny is an energetic player and that really helped me get my blood flowing. We beat our opponents more so because of our high levels of intensity than anything else.”

Evan Zimmer ’13 also had a good weekend as his 1-1 singles record and 2-1 doubles record with partner Josh Katten ’13 moved him up three spots to fourth place on the Bison’s all-time win list. He is now 119-63 in his career with the Orange and Blue.

“This weekend went very well for not only me, but the team as a whole,” Tortora said.  “We got to match up our lineup versus some quality opponents and we fared very well. I was able to be effective with my serve and I stayed mentally tough throughout all of my matches.”

On the women’s side, Cioffi and Vidrascu had similar success as a duo and as singles. They went 2-1 in doubles after two tight 9-8 wins against Lehigh opponents. They are now 10-3 together on the season. Cioffi also went 2-0 in singles with defeats of Delaware and Lehigh.

Although Vidrascu was unable to get a win in singles, her doubles success moved her up to a tie for 18th place on the Bison’s career wins list, as her record is now 38-35.

Jen Bush ’15, Christie Schneider ’15 and Stephanie Pino ’16 were also able to contribute to the Orange and Blue’s success as they each earned a singles victory against Lehigh.

The men’s team will be back in action from Oct. 18-22 as Zimmer, Katten and Kelly Morque ’13 head to Charlottesville, Va. for the ITA Regional Championships. The women’s team will not be competing until the start of dual play on Feb. 2.

Categories
Football Men Sports

Football drops another close contest: Bison unable to convert on final drive

Eric Brod
Senior writer

The Bison have been led by their defense so far this season, but the offense once again failed to deliver as the Orange and Blue dropped their third straight contest, a 15-10 decision at the hands of Cornell. The Bison are now 1-3 on the season. While the Bison were able to move inside the Big Red 15-yard line in the final minute, the offense was unable to cross the goal line for the go-ahead score.

After the defense forced Cornell to punt after a three and out, the Bison returned the punt near midfield with 3:20 left to play in the game, trailing 15-10. After three straight Brandon Wesley ’14 completions brought the Orange and Blue to the Cornell 28-yard line, Tyler Smith ’13 converted on a 4th-and-1 on the ensuing series to keep the Bison comeback drive alive. Unfortunately, the Bison were unable to convert a first down on the next series, sealing their fate.

“Our offense must do a better job of sustaining drives and converting possessions,” Head coach Joe Susan said. “As a team, we will keep working to put ourselves in position to make more explosive plays.”

The defense, led by a career-high 12 tackles from linebacker Evan Byers ’15, kept Big Red quarterback Jeff Mathews in check, holding him to 27-46 passing for 278 yards, no touchdowns and one interception. Byers attributes many factors to his success this season.

“Just using all of last year as a learning experience and to find out what college football is all about. Coach Pennypacker, the linebackers coach, and also Beau Traber [’13], the other starting linebacker, have helped me a great amount in improving from last year to this year,” Byers said. “Also the defensive line and the secondary have been doing a great job making it easier for me to get tackles and put pressure on the QB.”

Coming into play, the Cornell offense was averaging 36 points per game, while Mathews had thrown seven touchdowns in his previous two games.

“The most important part is [Byers’] work ethic, on and off the field. He is a high motor player. This is consistent with how he trains and how he prepares for a game,” Susan said. “I am sure Evan will continue to develop into one of the better linebackers in the league.”

The defense also received a huge contribution from safety Ryan Morgan ’14, who had eight tackles and one interception. Traber also contributed eight tackles.

The Orange and Blue took an early lead on a two-yard run by running back Jeremiah Young ’13, his first score of the year. The play was set up by a 63-yard run by Charles Thompson ’14. Cornell responded with the game’s next 15 points. The Bison next scored on a 29-yard field goal by Sean Cobelli ’14 with 5:14 remaining in the game.

Wesley had a solid day passing, going 19-29 for 135 yards. Victor Walker ’14 proved to be the go to man again, catching eight passes for 57 yards. Smith returned to rush for 44 yards on 12 carries. The Bison were once again plagued by penalties, committing six for 75 yards. Cornell outgained the Bison on offense 361-286.

The Bison will return tomorrow against Patriot League rival Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.

“We need to capitalize on all the chances we get this weekend and when the time comes to make those plays, we need to make them,” Byers said. “The defense needs to create more turnovers so that we can win the turnover battle and allow our offense to have the ball more.”

Susan knows the offense must generate sustained drives early to ignite the squad as it looks to earn its second win of the season.

“We have to continue to work to improve our ability to put points on the board. Smith will be closer to 100 percent, and with the combination of Tyler, Young and Thompson, we must be a better run team,” Susan said.

Categories
Men Sports Tennis

Men’s tennis racks up wins at home

Chris McCree
Sports Editor

The men’s tennis team posted 17 wins over two days at the Bucknell Invitational this past weekend, going 8-1 on the first day and 9-4 on day two. The Orange and Blue had their most success in doubles, winning eight of nine matches with the only loss occurring in a head-to-head match featuring two Bison duos. Octavio Canibe ’15 and Kelly Morque ’13 will face Josh Katten ’13 and Evan Zimmer ’13 in the doubles championship later in the week.

“What stood out to me this weekend is how versatile we are in certain areas,” Katten said. “For one, we have some very strong doubles players; it just takes the right combinations to produce wins. I was also very impressed with our team’s resiliency. This was our fourth straight weekend of matches, and we were able to fight through some of the weariness that comes with playing many matches.”

In singles, the Bison dominated in the first round but could not find the same level of success during the quarterfinals. Zimmer and Canibe pulled out tiebreak wins in the Flight A singles on day one, but lost in the next round. Both of Zimmer’s matches were decided in tiebreakers.

In Flight B singles, the Orange and Blue had more success as Chris Tortora ’14 and Jonathan DeFrancesch ’15 each won two matches to advance to the finals. Both players won in straight sets on day one but needed a tiebreak set in the semifinals to overcome opponents from Duquesne.

“As a whole, our team’s performance was promising, but as always there is much room for improvement,” Katten said. “Unfortunately, at the moment we are dealing with quite a few injuries, so while we had some solid individual performances, as a whole we are missing some important pieces.”

With two all-Bison finals, the Orange and Blue will increase their title tally to four for the fall season. The team has two tournaments remaining on the season and then will start up its spring campaign in February.

“The fall matches are often a good indicator of how we will perform in the spring,” Katten said. “However, this year we have a tough fall schedule which may induce some losses but in the long run will strengthen our team. I think as a unit we have high expectations for our spring slate, but we need to be mindful that it is a process and the league champion is often the team that grows the most throughout the year.”

The Bison will return to action next weekend from Oct. 12-14 at the Lehigh Invitational in Bethlehem, Pa.

Categories
Men Soccer Sports

Men’s soccer held scoreless at American

Chris McCree
Sports Editor

The men’s soccer team recorded its first league loss this weekend at American in a tight defensive contest ending in a 1-0 loss for the Orange and Blue. The Bison out shot the Eagles 13-4, but a 44th minute scramble between goalie Mike Lansing ’16 and American’s Dale McDonald resulted in the game’s lone goal.

“The difference between winning and losing a Patriot League game is so small,” head coach Brendan Nash said. “We made the one necessary play to win at Lehigh, and American made the one necessary play this past weekend. It can be frustrating to have a game decided on just one play, but that is what makes the Patriot League so special.”

Holding the Eagles to just two shots for the majority of the first half, the Orange and Blue surrendered its only goal off of a long pass resulting in a mad dash between Lansing and McDonald. Arriving just before Lansing could get his hands on the ball, McDonald was able to poke it by, giving the Eagles the lead right before halftime.

In the second half, the Bison continued to pressure the Eagles defense, recording seven of its 13 shots and earning four corner kicks. Despite their efforts, the Bison could not find the back of the net and saw their regular season losing-streak against American increase to four years.

“I am really not sure there is much to improve upon from this past weekend,” Nash said. “We executed our game plan and held AU to just four shots on their home field.”

For the game, Brendan Burgdorf ’13 and CK Kumah ’13 led the Bison with four and three shots, respectively. The Orange and Blue’s best attempt came off of a breakaway from Burgdorf, but his shot sailed just over the crossbar. The Bison also had three shots denied by the posts and five stopped by the American goalkeeper.

“We just have to make sure we do not let the loss affect us mentally,” Nash said. “There is still a lot of PL soccer yet to play, and we have not even played a home league match yet. So the student-athletes just need to keep working hard to improve and I believe things will work out in the long term.”

The team will host Navy this weekend at Emmitt Field tomorrow at 2 p.m.

Categories
Men Sports Swimming & Diving Swimming & Diving Women

Swimming opens season

Lauren Boone
Contributing Writer

The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams began their season against UMBC in Baltimore last weekend with the men winning eight races and the women winning seven.  The meet was not scored, so as to give the teams a chance to experience competition early in the season.

For the women, Emma Levendoski ’16 led her team with the most wins in her first collegiate competition. She took first in the 50, 100 and 200 backstroke, while Kelly Pontecorvo ’14 won the 500 and 1,000 freestyle. To round out the first place finishes for the Bison, Lauren Perry ’15 won the 200 freestyle and Elizabeth Porcellio ’13 won the 200 individual medley (IM). Additionally, Perry was the runner-up in the 50 freestyle, while Porcellio finished second in the 100 and 400 IM.

“Overall, the meet was a success and a good start to the season. It was a low stress meet so it was really just a good way for me, as a freshman, to see how the team works in a meet situation. Everyone swam as well as they expected to and we all had a great time,” Levendoski said.

On the men’s side, Cameron James ’16 proved himself with a trifecta of victories, winning the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle heats. Mike Nicholson ’14 won the 200 and 400 IM races, while Trevor Reitz ’14 won the 50 butterfly. Ben Seketa ’15 won the 200 breaststroke and Christian Treat ’13 won the 100 breaststroke.

“I think the meet this past weekend was a great first step in our season. We wanted to start off well as a team, and I feel we did just that,” James said. “This was my first competition as a member of the men’s swimming team, so I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to prove myself. However, it is still early in our season, which means we have a lot of work ahead of us as a team. Our goal is to get better every week, and we began looking forward to our next contest at the conclusion of Saturday’s competition.”

Additionally, Brian Phillips ’16 placed second in the 1,000 freestyle, JT Nangle ’16 finished second in the 50 backstroke and third in the 100 backstroke and Wes Marberry ’16 took third in the 200 backstroke.

The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will be back in action in two weeks when they travel to Storrs, Conn. to take on UConn on Oct. 20.

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
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.