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Men Sports Track & Field Women

Track opens spring season

Andrew Arnao

Sports Editor

The men’s and women’s track and field teams opened their season in Baltimore, Md. on March 30. Half the squad participated in the UMBC Invitational, where the Bison recorded 11 wins, while the other half partook in the Maryland Invitational, where Luke Webster ’13 broke the school record in the discus.

Eight men recorded wins at the UMBC Invitational. Christian Lupica ’15 took home two gold medals after victories in the 110-meter high hurdles and the 400-meter hurdles, while Ryan Johnson ’16 and Chris Oesterlin ’14 rounded out the individual running events with wins in the 800 meters and 1,500 meters, respectively.

A relay team of Kamal Riley ’14, Lupica, Jacob Eaton Hall ’14 and Justin Hicks ’13 won the gold in the 4×100 meter. Also recording first-place finishes for the Bison were Daniel Markwalter ’13 in the pole vault and Ray Holmes ’14 in the triple jump.

Webster’s record-breaking discus toss of 170-10 was also good enough for second place, beating his previous best mark by several feet.

The women’s team recorded six total wins across both Invitationals. At the UMBC Invitational, Jennifer Zymet ’14 took the gold in the 400 meters, while Chrissy Haney ’16 was victorious in the 400-meter hurdles. In the long distance events, Beth Braunegg ’14 won the 800 meters and Kylie Pearse ’15 won the 3,000 meter steeplechase.

In field events, Emily Ando ’14 finished first in the pole vault, with four other Bison also finishing in the top five spots. At the Maryland Invitational, Abby Monaghan ’13 rounded out the list of victorious Bison with a first place finish in the discus.

The men’s and women’s track and field teams will return to action this weekend at the Colonial Relays in Williamsburg, Va.

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Lacrosse Men Sports

Men’s lax beats Holy Cross, improves to 9-2

 

Jackson Place '14 moves forward on defense. Place caused three turnovers to help the Bison defeat Holy Cross.
Jackson Place ’14 moves forward on defense. Place caused three turnovers to help the Bison defeat Holy Cross.

Reed Dempsey

Senior Writer

Following a tough loss to Penn State, the No. 6/7 Bison had a strong rebound, scoring 11 goals in the first half to cruise past Holy Cross 16-9.

After being held to just three goals against a solid Penn State team, the Orange and Blue looked to come out strong against the visiting Crusaders.

“We wanted to make sure that we came out more fired up than Holy Cross,” Brock Ghelfi ’16 said.

The Bison looked like they were fired up as Ghelfi and Todd Heritage ’14 each scored in the opening five minutes to give the Bison an early two-goal lead. Holy Cross responded with a goal of its own at the 9:05 mark, only to then allow four straight tallies by the Orange and Blue, including a second goal for both Heritage and Ghelfi.

Just before the end of the first quarter, the Crusaders were able to get back on the board and close the Bison lead to 6-2.

The Orange and Blue continued their domination in the second quarter, holding Holy Cross scoreless, as the offense went to work, adding five more goals. According to Ghelfi, the team was executing their game plan perfectly.

“We can attribute the success of our first half to the intensity and mental focus that we brought from the first whistle,” Ghelfi said.

With a nine-goal lead heading into the second half, the Bison game plan was to run out the clock with long possessions on offense. The visiting Crusaders scored two goals in quick succession at the outset of the second half, but the Orange and Blue responded with a pair of their own by Chase Bailey ’13 and Thomas Flibotte ’16, bringing the score to 13-4.

Although Holy Cross added three additional goals over the final minutes of the third half, compared to just one from the Bison, the Orange and Blue lead was safe at seven goals.

The Crusaders would score twice in the final quarter, but two insurance goals by Sean Doyle ’16 helped seal the victory.

Doyle and Heritage led the Bison offense with four goals apiece, as Ghelfi and Bailey each added three of their own. David Dickson ’15 and Peter Burke ’14 combined for eight assists.

The Orange and Blue will travel to West Point, N.Y. Saturday for a game against Army.

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Baseball Men Sports

Baseball suffers four tough losses

 

Matt Busch '13 follows through with his swing. The Bison were 1-3 against Patriot League rival Holy Cross.
Matt Busch ’13 follows through with his swing. The Bison were 1-3 against Patriot League rival Holy Cross.

Katherine Harris

Senior Writer

The baseball team had a rough week, finishing with a 1-3 record in four games at Holy Cross this past weekend, as well as losing to Saint Joseph’s at home on April 3.

The Bison began Patriot League play in Worcester, M.A. with a win in the first game of a doubleheader. Rob Krentzman ’15 got on the board with his first home run of the season, while Corey Furman ’14 and Travis Clark ’13 both went 4-7 to contribute to the 6-3 win for the Orange and Blue. The team could not keep the momentum going to finish out the second game of the day, ending with a 5-4 loss. Dan Weigel ’14 had a strong performance on the mound with eight strikeouts over 7.2 innings for the Bison, but it was not enough with offensive struggles in the late innings.

The Orange and Blue had similar misfortunes as they finished out their series with Holy Cross with a doubleheader on March 31, falling 5-4 and 9-3 on the day. Furman performed strongly in both games, finishing 4-9, while Clark and Anthony Gingerelli ’15 both contributed key hits to the Bison offense. Dan Goldstein ’13 had a strong performance on the mound in the first game for the Bison, pitching all six innings and striking out seven batters.

The Orange and Blue regrouped to face off against Saint Joseph’s at home, but fell short of victory with a final score of 4-2. Carter Bumgardner ’13 drove in both runs for the Bison with a pair of RBI doubles, while Xavier Hammond ’15 and the rest of the bullpen had impressive performances on the day, but it was not enough to overcome Saint Joseph’s strong offense.

The baseball team will continue Patriot League play with a four-game series at Navy this weekend.

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Men Sports Tennis

Men’s tennis secures close win

Lauren Boone

Senior Writer

The Orange and Blue defeated the Saint Joseph’s Hawks 4-3 on April 2 in Philadelphia. Kelly Morque ’13 came out on top in his three-set singles match to clinch the overall win for the Bison.

The Bison swept the Hawks in doubles play. At No. 1 doubles, Aidan Lynch ’14 and Evan Zimmer ’13 won their match 8-6. The No. 2 doubles team, Nick Bybel ’16 and Josh Katten ’13, won their match 8-5. Octavio Canibe ’15 and Morque won their doubles match 8-6 in the No. 3 position.

The Bison carried the momentum from doubles play into singles play. First to finish was Zimmer, winning at the No. 3 position 6-3, 6-0. Bybel won his match 6-1, 6-1 at the No. 1 position to push the Bison out to a 2-0 lead in the singles play.

However, the Orange and Blue dropped three points to the Hawks at the No. 4, 5 and 6 positions, but Morque’s victory at the No. 2 singles position with a close score of 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 won the overall match for the Bison.

[Insert quote from Morque ’13]

With this victory, the Bison maintained a perfect 18-0 overall record against the Hawks.  The Orange and Blue also preserved a four-game winning streak against non-conference opponents. Their overall record is 10-5.

The Bison will be back in action this weekend against rival Colgate in Hamilton, N.Y., on Saturday at 2 p.m, followed by a meeting with Binghamton in Vestal, N.Y., on April 7 at 11 a.m.

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Basketball Men Sports

Coach Paulsen signs five-year contract

Eric Brod

Senior Writer

The man who has guided the men’s basketball program to three straight Patriot League regular season championships and two league tournament championships in the last three years is returning to Lewisburg for at least five more years. On March 28, men’s basketball head coach Dave Paulsen signed a five-year contract extension that runs through the 2017-18 season. Paulsen was named head coach on May 20, 2008. Before becoming head coach of the Bison, Paulsen compiled a 170-53 record at his alma mater Williams College, leading them to the Division III national championship in 2003.

In his first five years at the helm for the Orange and Blue, Paulsen has compiled a 99-65 (.604) record. The 99 wins are currently fourth most in program history and his .604 win percentage is second-best all time in program history. In his first five seasons, Paulsen has led the Bison to three regular season league championships, two tournament championships and two NCAA tournament berths, including an 11-seed in this year’s East regional. In 2012, the Bison knocked off the Arizona Wildcats in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). The team’s 28 wins this year set a new Patriot League record.

On top of signing a contract extension, Paulsen was named the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District 13 Co-Coach of the Year. The Orange and Blue finished with a 28-6 overall record, including a 12-2 record in league play en route to their third straight regular season Patriot League Championship, and won the league tournament for the second time in three years. He shared the District 13 award with Harvard’s Tommy Amaker.

With Paulsen part of the Bison’s future, the Sojka Psychos and Bison faithful should be in for more exciting basketball in the years to come.

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Golf Men Sports

Men’s and women’s golf teams finish 12th and 13th

Billy Tyler

Assistant Sports Editor

The men’s golf team competed this past week at Villanova’s Wildcat Invitational, which was held at the White Manor Country Club in Malvern, Pa. A solid final round performance led the Bison to ninth place in the team final standings.

The event began on April 1 with the first two rounds of the tournament. The Bison started off well with scores of 314 and 311 to put them in 10th place. In the final round, the Bison closed out the tournament with a 303, good enough for the third-best team score of the day. This strong round was led by solid performances from Pete Scialabba ’15 and Dan Bernard ’13. Scialabba shot a 1-over-par 72, which Bernard nearly matched, shooting a 73 on the day. Other team members that contributed were Schuyler Stitzer ’14 with a 78, Jon Hartman ’13 with an 80 and Thomas Walter ’14 with an 82.

The next event for the Bison will be at the Lafayette Invitational, hosted at the Northampton Country Club, on April 7-8.

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Men Sports Track & Field Women

Track heads outdoors for start of spring season

Andrew Arnao

Sports Editor

After a brief hiatus, the men’s and women’s track and field teams are getting ready to get back in action as they begin the outdoor portion of their schedule. The preseason so far includes the success of several Bison at the Washington and Lee Carnival last weekend, as well as the Bison receiving high rankings for the upcoming outdoor season.

Three Bison track and field members travelled to Lexington, Va. to participate in the Washington and Lee Carnival. Emma Rice ’15, Michaela Read ’16 and Cody Haupt ’16 performed well at the event, earning top-15 finishes in each of their respective events.

Rice competed in the 100 meter and 200 meter, placing 11th in the 100 meter with a time of 13.20 and placing 13th in the 200 meters with a time of 27.10. Read placed 15th in the pentathlon with a score 3,185 points, while Haupt managed 14th place in the decathlon with a total of 4,787 points.

The Orange and the Blue also fared well in the outdoor preseason polls, with both the men’s and women’s teams earning second place. The men, looking to defend their three consecutive Patriot League titles, scored a 90, closely trailing first-place Navy by two points. The women, winners of three of the last four championships, scored an 89, also trailing first-place Navy by six points. Both the Bison and Navy finished the voting far ahead from the rest of the Patriot League, indicating that the battle for this year’s crown will come down to a close competition between these two teams.

The Bison look to put their right foot forward as they begin their outdoor season this weekend at the UMBC Invitational in Baltimore, Md.

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Lacrosse Men Sports

Men’s lax goes 1-1, achieves highest all-time ranking

 

Ally Boni | The Bucknellian Goalie Kyle Feeney '13 clears the ball in a recent win. The Bison moved up in the national rankings from No. 16 to No. 6 this past week after beating No. 20 Albany and No. 2 Cornell.
Ally Boni | The Bucknellian
Goalie Kyle Feeney ’13 clears the ball in a recent win. The Bison moved up in the national rankings from No. 16 to No. 6 this past week after beating No. 20 Albany and No. 2 Cornell.

Reed Dempsey

Staff Writer

The Orange and Blue traveled to Albany, N.Y. on March 23, where they exploded for a season-high 18-goal performance against the No. 20 University of Albany Great Danes in an 18-12 victory. The Bison also fell to No. 16/17 Penn State 11-3 in a home match on March 26.

Early in the first quarter against Albany, the Bison and Great Danes traded a pair of goals before the Bison added two straight to open up a 3-1 lead. Not to be outdone, Albany mounted a three-goal run over the final minutes of the first quarter and into the second, giving them the advantage. The Orange and Blue quickly responded with an equalizer, but red-hot Albany went back-to-back-to-back, increasing its lead to three goals.

In the early minutes of the second half, the teams brought the game to a 9-6 score in favor of the Great Danes, before Ryan Gutowski ’13 won the ensuing faceoff, rushed the ball down the field and scored his first goal of the season. This began an explosive 6-1 run for the Bison, that included two goals by Brock Ghelfi ’16 and single tallies from Thomas Flibotte ’16, David Dickson ’15 and Peter Burke ’14, giving the Orange and Blue a 12-10 advantage.

The Great Danes scored twice in the opening minute of the final period, in what would be their final goals of the game. Over the final 14 minutes, the Bison defense shut down Albany, as the offense opened up for another six-goal run.

The Orange and Blue were led by four-goal performances from Todd Heritage ’14 and Flibotte, in addition to a career-high seven-point effort by Dickson.

Following this decisive win, the Bison received a bump in the polls, moving up ten spots to No. 6/7, an all-time high. The Orange and Blue faced a quick turnaround as the No. 16/17 Penn State Nittany Lions visited Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium.

The two high-powered offenses were overshadowed by strong defensive performances in the first half, as the Bison were only able to capitalize on two extra-man opportunities while the visiting Nittany Lions found the back of the net three times to take a one-goal lead heading into the half.

Several minutes into the third quarter Ghelfi found the back of the net to tie the game at three goals apiece, in what would be the final Bison goal of the game. During the rest of the game, the Orange and Blue were completely shut down by the visiting defense. Heritage linked the offensive drought to Penn State’s style of defense in addition to an inability to execute their normal offensive play.

“We came out and didn’t run our offense exactly how we wanted to. Penn State runs a different defense than most we see during the season,” Heritage said.

At the same time, the opposing offense continued to fire on all cylinders, scoring eight straight goals. Team Captain Kyle Feeney ’13 was obviously disappointed with the team’s performance.

“We came out a little flat … we were in a position we had never been (No. 6 in the nation) and I unfortunately didn’t think we handled it well. We didn’t stay true to who we are as a team,” Feeney said.

Coming off the tough loss, the Bison look to rebound Saturday at 1 p.m. in a Patriot League matchup against Holy Cross at home.

Categories
Baseball Men Sports

Baseball suffers several one-run setbacks, goes 1-4

Thomas Walter

Senior Writer

The baseball team dropped three consecutive one-run games to the Delaware Blue Hens last weekend, with the first two games on the road and the final game at home. The Orange and the Blue lost 13-12 in game one, 4-3 in game two and 5-4 in game three. The Bison also split two home games against Binghamton.

The first Delaware game proved to be a heartbreaker for the Bison. Pitcher Bryson Hough ’15 was lit up for 10 runs in 5.2 innings, and the Orange and the Blue went into the top of the eighth inning facing a 13-2 deficit. In a stunning comeback attempt, the Bison scored two runs in the eighth and then unloaded for eight runs in the ninth, but fell excruciatingly short with the bases loaded and could not complete the rally.

In the second game, the Bison entered the eighth inning with a 2-2 tie, but Delaware scored two in the bottom of the inning to take the lead. The Orange and the Blue got one back in the ninth, but once again were stopped short by one run.

Game three seemed like the Bison would finally reverse their bad fortune. Trailing 4-2 going into the bottom of the ninth, the Bison rallied for two runs thanks to RBI hits by Corey Furman ’14 and Carter Bumgardner ’13 to knot the score 4-4. After trading zeros in the 10th, the Bison once again fell behind on a wild pitch, and this time could not tie it up as they suffered their final loss to Delaware.

Furman hit in all three games and was able to extend his current team-leading six-game hitting streak. Bumgardner also performed well, going 7-13 in the three games with the Blue Hens. Bumgardner scored a pair of runs in game one, and had a clutch RBI in game three to complete a two-run rally and send the final game in this series to extra innings.

Things began to get a little better as the Orange and Blue won the first game versus Binghamton 3-1. Behind strong pitching from Andrew Andreychik ’16 and RBIs from Robb Scott ’13, Rob Krentzman ’15 and Brett Ashley ’14, the Bison were able to break their seven-game losing streak.

In game two, the Bison again came back from a deficit as they erased a three-run Binghamton lead in the sixth inning, only to cough up the lead in the seventh and drop another one-run game.

The Orange and Blue will head into Patriot League play this weekend on the road against Holy Cross.

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Men Sports Tennis

Men’s tennis records multiple wins thanks to Bybel, Zimmer

Lauren Boone

Staff Writer

The men’s tennis team faced three tough competitors this past week, with two road matchups last weekend against George Mason and Navy and a home match against Mount St. Mary’s on March 27. After the matches, the Orange and Blue improved their overall season record to 8-5 with a 4-3 victory over George Mason, a 5-2 loss to Navy and a 5-2 win over Mount St. Mary’s.

The Bison clinched the win over George Mason on March 22 thanks to the doubles team of Octavio Canibe ’15 and Aidan Lynch ’14. They pulled out a 9-7 win, claiming the doubles point that won the overall match.

The meeting began with singles matches, with Evan Zimmer ’13, Josh Katten ’13 and Nick Bybel ’16 all claiming victories for the Bison. At first, the Bison led the singles matches with three points to the Patriots’ sole point, but George Mason managed to gather a couple of points to tie up the score leading into the doubles play.

The Patriots kept the momentum leading into doubles. On the No. 2 court, they defeated Kelly Morque ’13 and Zimmer 8-3. But the Bison were able to claim the last two doubles matches to win the overall match. At No. 1 doubles, Bybel and Katten won with a score of 8-6. Finally, the Orange and Blue claimed the winning point at No. 3 doubles (9-7).

“George Mason was a pretty crazy match. We played in 40 degree weather and we’re in a battle with the wind as much as we were our opponents. Although it came down to the doubles point, this was an exciting win for our team. Getting a win under the unusual circumstances in a true battle is great and helps motivate our team. It was exciting being the last match on with everything coming down to Octavio [Canibe] and I winning or losing. I’m glad we came out on top,” Lynch said.

Unfortunately, the Bison were not able to the take the momentum from the George Mason win into their first Patriot League match of the season against Navy. Bybel recorded a singles victory and partnered with Katten for an 8-6 doubles victory. Kyle Rosen ’14 recorded the only other singles win with a score of 6-2, 6-3. Bybel’s singles win against Navy tied him for most singles victories this season on the team, but it was not enough as the Bison remained winless in 37 tries against Navy.

Against Mount St. Mary’s, Zimmer proved to be the hero by securing the match-winning point with victories in both singles and doubles, with Lynch as his partner. Bybel and Katten also won their doubles match, while Bybel, Canibe and Morque recorded singles wins.

The next game for the men’s tennis team will be on the road against Saint Joseph’s on April 2.