Category: Men

Categories
Baseball Featured Men Sports

Baseball splits Navy rematch

By Andrew Arnao

Writer

The baseball team went 2-3 over the past week, splitting a four-game series at home against Navy over the weekend while falling on the road to Towson on Tuesday. The Bison are now 16-18 for the season.

Game one on Saturday started off as a pitcher’s duel, with both Dan Weigel ’14 and Navy’s Ben Nelson firing blanks until Navy broke through with a run in the fourth. The Bison brought it to 2-1 in the sixth on a two-RBI hit by third baseman David Duffett ’12. Navy tied the game to force extra innings, but Duffett hit a walk-off single in the 10thto give the Bison a 3-2 win.

Game two ended as a tough loss for the Bison. Despite taking a 2-1 lead into the seventh, the Orange and the Blue were unable to hold on as Navy scored two runs to win by a final of 3-2. Pitcher Bryson Hough ’15 went eight strong innings, giving up only three runs on eight hits, while left-fielder Colby Vanderbeck ’14 and designated hitter Matt Lamore ’12 each contributed one RBI. Game three on Sunday also resulted in a frustrating 3-2 loss for the Bison, as the Bison took a 2-0 lead into the sixth when Navy finally got to pitcher Ryan Ebner ’12 for three runs.

“When our starters give us quality pitching performances, we should expect to sweep the series,” outfielder Matt Busch ’13 said. “Pitching alone, however, does not win ball games. Our offense struggled in all but the last game and we were only able to put up a few runs in the first three games.”

The Bison offense was finally let loose in game four, pounding Navy for 10 runs in an eventual 10-3 victory. Pitcher Dan Goldstein ’13 recorded the win while five Bison recorded multi-hit games. The Bison had their best inning in the fourth, when nine men were sent to the plate and pinch-hitter Scott Reed ’12 hit a three-run homer.

“Our starting pitching did a great job of keeping us in the games,” assistant coach Jim Gulden said. “All the games were well pitched games by both teams. Our bats came alive in the fourth game to split the series, which we needed to stay ahead of them in the league.”

The offense continued to rake against Towson, scoring eight runs thanks in part to a grand slam by Busch, but it wasn’t enough as the Bison fell 10-8. Each team tied the score five times before Towson went ahead for good in the bottom of the seventh. Busch and center fielder Bob Donato ’12 each had two hits and multiple RBIs for the Orange and the Blue.

“Against Towson, we played well offensively and struggled on the hill,” Busch said. “The positive thing we can take from this is that we have solid pitching and an explosive offense. The trick is getting both aspects to work at the same time.”

The Bison will be at home this weekend for a four-game series against division–rival Lehigh, starting at noon on Saturday.

“This weekend is a huge weekend for us [because] we are a game ahead of Lehigh in the league and need to stay ahead of them,” Gulden said. “The keys to this weekend are to get good quality starts from our pitchers, timely hitting from our offense and play mistake-free baseball. If we play the way we are capable [of], we are a tough team to beat.”

 

Categories
Lacrosse Men Sports

Men’s lax splits pair of games

By Reed Dempsey

Writer

The men’s lacrosse team saw its eight-game win streak come to an end after a tightly contested 6-5 double overtime loss to Patriot League rival Army last Saturday. The Orange and Blue were able to rebound from the loss with an 8-3 win against the University of Pennsylvania on Tuesday night.

The Orange and Blue hosted the Black Knights this past Saturday in what would become an instant classic. Going into the matchup, the Bison had faced Army five times over the past three seasons holding a 3-2 advantage, with each game being decided by two goals or less.

Three minutes into the game, the Black Knights opened the day’s scoring with a unassisted tally. The Bison held Army scoreless over the next 15 minutes as David Dickson ’15 found Todd Heritage ’14 to tie the game and Tom Black ’14 took a feed from Ryan Joseph ’15 to give the Bison their first lead of the day.

Just a minute and a half later, the Black Knights responded with a goal of their own to tie the game at two. The Bison had a chance to take back the lead with a man-up opportunity at the three-minute mark in the second quarter, but were unable to capitalize, leaving the score tied heading into halftime.

After play resumed in the second half, Billy Eisenreich ’12 found the back of the net for an unassisted goal with 12:30 remaining in the third quarter. The Bison defense held Army scoreless for another 15-minute stretch before the Black Knights tied the game at three. Heritage broke the tie a minute later with his 32nd goal of the season.

Army scored twice early in the fourth quarter to take its first lead since the opening minutes of the game and had several chances to extend its lead to two, but goalie Kyle Feeney ’13 was there each time for the save.

The Bison gained possession with just over two minutes left in regulation and advanced the ball into their offensive zone. After a wide shot by Dickson, Heritage was pushed from behind as he chased down the ball, giving the Bison a 30-second man-up opportunity. After a bit of trickery following the restart, Eisenreich found a wide open Chase Bailey ’13 on the crease to tie the game at five. The Orange and Blue had a shot with 23 seconds left, but a save by the Army goaltender sent the game to overtime.

Following a scoreless first period of overtime, highlighted by stifling defensive play, the Bison took possession of the ball on the opening faceoff of the second overtime, and immediately threw the ball away, allowing for Army to race the ball down the field where a bounce shot found its way past Feeney for the game-winner.

The Bison welcomed the University of Pennsylvania to Lewisburg on Tuesday night looking to avenge Saturday’s loss. Senior attackman Eisenreich tallied three goals to lead the Bison, bringing his total to 28 on the season.

The Orange and Blue scored the first four goals of the game before the Quakers cut the lead to three with four minutes remaining in the second quarter. With just two seconds left in the first half, Eisenreich found the back of the net on an unassisted goal, his second of the day.

Coming off a solid performance on Saturday, the Bison defense was impressive again on Tuesday as they held the Quakers to just 24 shots.

UPenn scored the only goal of the third quarter, but the Bison responded with two goals early in the fourth quarter extending their lead to five. UPenn ended its 20-minute scoreless streak with 2:33 left in the game, bringing the score to 7-3.

Just thirty seconds later, Eisenreich scored his third goal of the game bringing the score to 8-3, where it would remain until the final whistle. With the win, the Bison moved to 9-4 on the season and 3-1 in Patriot League play.

The Orange and Blue face off tomorrow against Lehigh (10-2) in Bethlehem, Pa. for rights to first place in the Patriot League.

Categories
Men Sports Tennis

Men’s tennis defeats rival Colgate

By Cooper Mead
Writer

The men’s tennis team came away with a hard-fought 4-3 victory over Colgate at home on Friday, sending the team to 1-1 in the Patriot League.

The Bison doubles play continued its strong performance from last week, winning the crucial team point. Evan Zimmer ’13 and Josh Katten ’13 won a convincing match (8-4) against Luke Gensburg and Sean Spellberg at the No. 2 spot and improved their winning streak to four matches. At No. 1 doubles, Greg Cohenca ’12 and Aidan Lynch ’14 defeated Alec Goldstein and Parker Lewis in a tight 8-6 match, clinching the doubles point for the Bison.

On the singles front, the Bison were able to grind out victories in three out of six matches to ensure a team victory. Gregory Maxson ’12 won at the No. 6 singles spot against Connor Feuille, 6-1, 6-4. Katten also defeated Spellberg at the No. 4 spot, 6-2, 6-7, 6-2 and Zimmer capped off the day beating Bobby Berkowitz in a tough match with a slew of long rallies, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

“Colgate was a good win for us,” Katten said. “It was a step in the right direction leading into the core of the Patriot League season.”

Following the victory, the Bison fell to a formidable George Mason team at home 4-3 on Saturday. Again, the Bison doubles pairings were extremely effective as they clinched the team point for the Bison. Cohenca and Lynch defeated Jordan Dyke and Chris Borden 8-6 at the No. 1 doubles spot, bringing the pairing to 2-3 in No. 1 matches during the spring season. Katten and Zimmer also continued their great performance, beating Scott Keaton and Joe Wiggins, 8-5. After his win, Zimmer’s individual record for the season improved to an impressive 25-5.

Despite the doubles victory, the Bison struggled in singles. Kelly Morque ’13 took on Keaton at the No. 4 spot and won in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5. Kyle Rosen ’14 recorded the only other singles win for the Bison when he defeated Taylor Sargent, 6-4, 6-3 at the No. 5 spot. Rosen’s victory brings him to 16-12 in singles play this season.

“We were obviously disappointed by the 4-3 loss to George Mason but the win versus Colgate demonstrated that we can be a dangerous team,” Morque said. “Even though we didn’t play our best, we still toughed out a win against a very determined Colgate squad. Matches like the ones we had this weekend will only make us better in the long run.”

The Bison began a three-match road trip yesterday afternoon when they faced Army after press time. They will next take on Lafayette on Sunday and Lehigh on Tuesday before returning home to face Robert Morris at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

 

 

 

Categories
Men Sports Track & Field

Men’s track takes second in Virginia

By Chris McCree
Sports Editor

Entering the weekend as reigning champions, the men’s track and field team claimed second in a field of 27 teams at the Colonial Relays this past weekend in Williamsburg, Va. The Orange and Blue finished behind a talented Michigan squad by 18 points, recording a total of 149 points.

Highlighting the meet for the Orange and Blue was Robert Arent ’12, who broke his own school record in the 110 meter hurdles by .01 seconds. Finishing in a time of 14.31 seconds, Arent claimed second in the race, but was the top collegiate finisher.

Trailing Arent by .16 seconds in the race was Christian Lupica ’15 who claimed seventh for the Orange and Blue, recording a personal-best time of 14.47 seconds.  Lupica also claimed ninth in the 200 meter dash with a time of 21.69 seconds.

Other top finishers for the Bison were Kamal Riley ’14 and Ray Holmes ’14, who placed second and fourth in the 100 meter sprint and triple jump respectively. After placing fifth in the semi-final heat, Riley jumped up three spots in the finals, securing valuable points for the Bison. Riley capped off his meet by competing in the 4×100 and 4×200 relays, helping the squad to a pair of fourth places finishes.

Mike McGowan ’15 earned the team’s best finish in the distance events by taking second in the 10,000 meter run. McGowan beat his seed time by more than 47 seconds, finishing in 30:22.55.

In the field events, the Bison were able to secure multiple top-10 finishes, including a sweep of the top two spots in the shot put by Quinten Marcott ’13 and Luke Webster ’13. Leonard Joseph ’13, Tom Barr ’12 and Ted Mottola ’13 each placed in the top five of the hammer throw with Joseph leading the group in second place with a 59.19 meter throw.

After opening up their spring season with a pair of away meets, the Orange and Blue have two home meets over the next two weeks. This weekend, the Bison will host the Bison Outdoor Classic starting at 12 p.m. on Friday.

Categories
Featured Men Sports Tennis

The Dominant Duo

Alex Wagner

Assistant Sports Editor

 

The Bison’s top men’s tennis doubles team of Gregg Cohenca ’12 and Evan Zimmer ’13 is currently ranked No. 51 in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. 

The two, who began playing together in the fall of 2011, quickly found that they were able to work together well, helping them climb to a position among the elite doubles teams in the nation.

“We played all the fall tournaments together and have meshed since,” Cohenca said.

A key to their success this year has been their ability to stick to the basics.

“Sticking to our fundamentals and tactics [has] brought us our success thus far. We stay positive for every single point and focus on setting up points to end in our favor. Trying to stay completely relaxed and confident out there has propelled us to beat many teams, such as Penn State,” Zimmer said.

In fact, the Feb. 11 victory over Penn State’s Jason Lee and Russell Bader, who are currently ranked No. 25 in the nation, proved early in the season that Cohenca and Zimmer deserve national recognition.

But the hard work to get to the top began for the two of them long before they started seeing themselves in the national rankings this year. Their career records are a testament to their patient approach. Cohenca is currently ranked fourth for the Bison in terms of all-time doubles victories, with a record of 64-46. Zimmer is not far behind in a tie for 12th with a 48-24 record.

In addition to their constant focus on the fundamentals, the teammates also cite their unity off the court as a strong point of their play.

“Off the court, we are good friends, which helps during those crucial moments in the match,” Zimmer said.

As the season progresses, they hope to continue the short-term thinking that has gotten them to where they are today.

“Our goal on the court this season is to play one point at a time. Once that point is over, win or loss, we move on to the next point,” Cohenca said.

There is little doubt that if Cohenca and Zimmer stick to the principles that they have been employing, they will continue to do great things this season.

 

Categories
Golf Men Sports

Men’s golf battles wind, finishes eighth

By Scott Padula

Staff Writer

In its second tournament in as many weeks, the men’s golf team fought off 30-mile-per-hour winds and frigid temperatures en route to placing eighth out of 44 in the Wildcat Invitational in Malvern, Pa.

On Monday, the first day of action, the Bison battled the elements to shoot a team score of 320 in the first round. Captain Will Bachman ’12 led the Bison with a team-low of 78. Thomas Walter ’14 shot an 80 while Dan Bernard ’13 and Schuyler Stitzer ’14 both shot opening round 81s. Jon Hartman ’13 rounded out the Orange and Blue team with a score of 82 in his spring debut.

The Bison sharpened their game in the second round of the day, shooting a team score of 318. In the afternoon round, Stitzer broke Bachman’s team-low for the tournament by shooting a 76. Through 36 holes, Stitzer led the team with a score of 157. After his impressive 78 in the first round, Bachman followed up with a second-round score of 82. Other notable performances for the Bison came from Hartman and Bernard, who shot 79 and 81 respectively. After the second round of the tournament, the Orange and Blue sat in 11th place.

In the final round of the tournament on Tuesday, the Orange and Blue shot a team score of 307, allowing them to jump three places in the team standings. Hartman carded the best Bison score of the day with a three-over-par 74. Bernard and Stitzer recorded 77s, while Bachman and Walter tallied 79s. Stitzer led the team with four birdies. This final round was the first of the spring where all five Bison registered scores below 80.

“As long as we continue to practice with intensity and work on areas that need improvement, we will be prepared for Patriot Leagues. It is important to remember that golf is a strange sport where what happens one weekend in no way determines what will happen the next. All we can do as players is make the right decisions and continue to improve,” Stitzer said.

The Orange and Blue have a week off before they head to Farmville, Va. where they will compete in the Manor Intercollegiate on April 13 and 14.

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
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.