Category: Sports

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Sports Water Polo Women

Water polo drops two on road

 

Raffi Berberian | The Bucknellian Mackenzie Ferry '14 takes a shot this past weekend for the women's water polo team. She scored one goal in the Bison's close loss to Harvard.
Raffi Berberian | The Bucknellian
Mackenzie Ferry ’14 takes a shot this past weekend for the women’s water polo team. She scored one goal in the Bison’s close loss to Harvard.

Billy Tyler

Assistant Sports Editor

The women’s water polo team faced two tough opponents this past weekend in the team’s final matches before Spring Break. Despite their strong efforts, the Bison were unable to come away with a victory in either match, losing 13-9 to Harvard on March 2 and 11-3 to George Washington on March 3.

Against Harvard, the Bison came out strong in a back and forth battle. After a thrilling first half, the score was tied 5-5 with neither team seeming to have the advantage. As the second half began, Harvard took the advantage and rode an 8-4 second half to the victory. The Bison still saw several great performances from key players. In goal, Rena Heim ’14 had 10 saves, which is her fourth double-digit save game of the season. The nine goals scored by the Orange and Blue came from seven different players, with Stephanie Ovalle ’14 and Krystle Morgan ’13 leading the offense with two goals apiece. Julianne Valdes ’14, Mackenzie Ferry ’14, Tara Murao ’13, Hannah Sunday ’16 and Barbara Peterson ’15 also scored individual goals against Harvard.

After the tough loss, the Bison looked to record a win against conference foe George Washington and repeat their solid, balanced team effort from the day before. Unfortunately, this did not happen as George Washington had an early 4-2 lead after the first quarter and were able to maintain it until the end of the match. After the two goals in the first quarter, the Bison were unable to score again until they managed their third and final goal in the fourth quarter, while George Washington’s offense took off with seven more goals to put the match out of reach.

With these losses, the Bison drop to 3-4 on the season, with a 1-2 CWPA Southern Division Record. The team will now prepare for its 11-game Spring Break trip to California, which will begin at the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunner Invitational.

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Club/Intramural Men's Squash Sports

Men’s squash places third in division at Nationals

*I trust that Andrew knows all this info, but just a heads up, none of us could find this information anywhere.

Andrew Arnao

Sports Editor

The men’s squash team participated in the CSA Nationals tournament last weekend and defended its No. 3 seed in the Conroy division, defeating Johns Hopkins 6-3 and Georgetown 5-4 while falling to Stanford 9-0. As a result of their efforts, the Orange and the Blue improved their national ranking to No. 27 overall.

The Bison kicked off the weekend as the No. 3 seed in the Conroy division, the fourth of seven divisions in the tournament. The Bison started off the quarterfinals by defeating No. 4 seed Johns Hopkins, and advanced to face No. 2 Stanford in the semi-finals. Though the Bison did not record any wins against Stanford, their subsequent victory over Georgetown resulted in the Bison achieving third place in the Conroy division, successfully defending their seeding.

Top performers for the Bison included Hayden Radovich ’15, Mike Gagnier ’16, Henry Gadsden ’15 and Rod Maier ’14, who each won matches against Johns Hopkins and Georgetown.

The Bison’s national ranking for club squash teams improved to No. 2, behind No. 1 Stanford. The Orange and the Blue also improved their overall national ranking to No. 27, an improvement from No. 34 last season.

The men’s squash team will look to build on its recent success in the coming months as they host several more tournaments in their brand new playing facilities, including the Patriot League Championships in January 2014.

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Beyond the Bison Sports

Beyond the Bison: Sports News Across the Nation

 

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons Roy Halladay fires from the mound. A resurgent year from Halladay could do wonders for an aging Phillies team.
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Roy Halladay fires from the mound. A resurgent year from Halladay could do wonders for an aging Phillies team.

 

Julian Dorey

Writer

“All Due Respect”

One of the looming questions heading into the 2013 MLB season is the future of Phillies pitcher, Roy Halladay. For five years or so, Halladay was considered the best pitcher in all of baseball. He had a nasty cutter, an over-powering fastball and a changeup that fooled the likes of Manny Ramirez and Miguel Cabrera every time.

Over his 15-year career, Halladay has a record of 199-100, a cumulative ERA of 3.31 and 2,066 strikeouts. Considering that he played on many bad Toronto Blue Jays teams for 12 seasons, not to mention in the American League East, the toughest division in baseball, those numbers are hard to believe. But then again, this is why experts considered him to be the best.

I am purposely mentioning “considered” in the past tense because of Halladay’s unfortunate 2012 season. After injuring his shoulder in the end of May, Halladay did not return to action until July and by his standards was largely ineffective for the final two-and-a-half months upon returning. His 4.49 ERA in 25 games started last season was by far the worst output he produced since the very beginning of his career.

At age 35, many fans and analysts alike have fairly brought into question whether or not the 6-foot-6-inch power pitcher has dominant velocity anymore. They question if his body is starting to break down, as it does for many other MLB players of a similar age. Halladay’s Phillies are an aging bunch on the back end of what has been a great run over the past six years, and 2013 may just be their last realistic chance to make a hard push for one more title behind Phillies greats like Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Carlos Ruiz.

In order for that to happen, Halladay must be his old self. It is critical that he enters the season healthy and ready to set the tone that he’s back to being the same old “Doc” (as he is affectionately known) Halladay. With perennial Cy Young contenders Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels joining him in the rotation, a dominant year from Halladay could mean a boatload of Phillies wins coming from this loaded pitching staff.

Halladay’s progress is off to a good start in spring training where he made his first exhibition start this past Sunday against the reigning AL Champion Detroit Tigers. In two innings of work, Halladay worked his way through the Tigers’ batters with just 22 pitches and had solid velocity on the fastball that had everyone so worried at the end of last season.

New Tiger and long-time AL All-Star Torii Hunter called Halladay’s stuff “filthy” and added that “If [Halladay] gets better from here, it’s scary.” That’s some quality praise for a guy who is looking to put a subpar year behind him.

Spring training games are just underway and the regular season opener is still a month away, but if Halladay can continue to progress, stay healthy and show the old life he had on his fastball not so long ago, then look out. Because the Phillies will be giving the NL all they can handle.

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Men Sports Swimming & Diving Swimming & Diving Women

Swimming comes in 2nd, 3rd

Edward Louie | The Bucknellian Jennifer Brennan '14 performs the backstroke at the Patriot League Championships. The women's swim & dive team finished 2nd in the competition.
Edward Louie | The Bucknellian
Jennifer Brennan ’14 performs the backstroke at the Patriot League Championships. The women’s swim & dive team finished 2nd in the competition.

Thomas Walter

Senior Writer

The Orange and the Blue swimming and diving teams had solid finishes in the Patriot League Championship this past weekend, with the women securing second place behind Navy and the men finishing third behind Navy and Army. The women secured four individual titles on Saturday and a strong performance from Mike Nicholson ’14 helped each team into the rankings.

On Feb. 21, Kelly Pontecorvo ’14 broke the school record in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:50.26 seconds. The 400 medley relay consisting of Emma Levendoski ’16, Alanna Nawrocki ’16, Lauren Perry ’15 and Emily Wright ’14 also broke the school record by almost a full second, with 3:45.83. 

The Orange and the Blue won three more gold medals on Feb. 22. Tara Boyle ’15 won gold in the one-meter dive, Levendoski took home another gold in the 100-meter back and Perry took a gold in the 200-meter free. By the end of day two, the Bison trailed Navy by 113 points and Colgate by 24 points.

Day three on Feb. 23 saw Pontecorvo, Levendoski and Perry all win their third gold medals of the weekend. In addition, Katie Hetherington ’15 won her first gold medal and was named Female Diver of the Meet. 

Nicholson has rewritten many of the Bison record books already and continued to do so last weekend. On day one, the two-time All-Patriot League selection broke his own school record in the 200-yard individual medley, going on to finish in third in the event with a time of 1:48.81. Nicholson, along with Matt Hadley ’14, Trevor Reitz ’14 and Christian Treat ’13 finished third in the 400 medley relay.

Day two saw Nicholson and Treat break more school records, but the Bison still lost ground to Navy. On day three, Nicholson rewrote the history books again as he tied for fourth in the 200 breast, marking three consecutive nights in a row that Nicholson broke school records. Despite his efforts, the Bison were unable to surpass Army for second place.

The Bison will continue their 2012-13 season at the ECAC Championships this weekend at Harvard.

Categories
Lacrosse Sports Women

Women’s lacrosse falls to JHU

Andrew Arnao

Sports Editor

The Bison women’s lacrosse team traveled to Baltimore on Feb. 23 to face off against the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays, its third nationally ranked opponent in a row. The Bison fell to the Blue Jays by a final score of 19-4 and have now suffered three tough losses to start off their season.

“Although the score in Hopkins did not reflect it, I think that our team has made a ton of progress since our first game,” Ryan Wenk ’13 said. “Since our first three opponents were ranked in the top 20 nationally, it has been challenging to run our plays effectively and get good shots off, but with each game we were able to hold on to possession for much longer than in the previous game and play more confidently against the high pressure defenses that we were up against.”

The Blue Jays greeted the Orange and Blue with furious offensive assault to start off the game and shot their way to an 8-0 lead in the first 20 minutes. The Bison managed to get on the board with 9:20 left in the first half on a goal by Emily Becker ’16 and later added another goal on a free position shot by Emily Kookogey ’15, but the Orange and the Blue still faced a 10-point deficit as they headed into halftime down 12-2.

The second half was not much kinder to the Bison, though the defense managed to contain the Blue Jays to only seven goals. Wenk and Madison Hurwitz ’13 added individual goals to close out the scoring for the Orange and Blue. Despite finishing with 12 draw controls, only one less than Johns Hopkins, the Bison were plagued by turnovers, losing the ball 28 times compared to only 19 times for the Blue Jays.

Going forward, Wenk believes that there is reason for the team to be optimistic.

“Our goalie [Caroline O’Neill ’15] has really been holding her own against some of the best teams in the country. Our defense has really come together as well,” Wenk said. “This week in practice we have focused a ton on our offensive plays and moving the ball quickly.”

Hurtwitz also believes the team will soon find success. “I am extremely confident in my teammates and believe wholeheartedly that we will get our first W on the road this weekend in DC,” Hurwitz said. “We are better than we have been in four years as everyone is stepping up, contributing greatly, and playing with passion and heart everyday.”

The Bison will look to apply what they have learned as they continue their road stretch against George Mason and George Washington this weekend.

Categories
Lacrosse Men Sports

Men’s lacrosse defeats Bryant in home opener

Reed Dempsey

Writer

The Bison hosted the Bryant University Bulldogs on Feb. 23 for the 2013 home opener, defeating them 10-8. Strong performances from the defense and face-off men, in addition to a four-point day for Chase Bailey ’13, helped propel the Orange and Blue to their second win of the season.

The visiting Bulldogs opened the day’s scoring, finding the back of the net just a minute-and-a-half into the contest. The Bison responded with a goal from Tom Black ’14 off of a pass from Bailey. Three minutes later, Bailey added his first goal to give the team a 2-1 lead. As the teams jostled for position, Bryant had a response to each of the Bison tallies. The Bulldogs tied the game up at four with 10:12 remaining in the first half.

During the remaining time, the Bison found the back of the net on four occasions. After the first two goals came from all-even play, the Orange and Blue took advantage of a 30-second shot-clock situation when David Dickson ’15 found Bailey for his third goal of the game. Following the tally, the Bulldogs were charged with an unnecessary roughness penalty, giving the Bison another man-up opportunity. Dickson then assisted on a another goal, this time to Todd Heritage ’14, extending the lead to 8-4.

“The offense was possessing the ball so well; we were able to have energy on our side of the field to be focused and fly around to make plays,” defender Jackson Place ’14 said.

Coming out for the second half, the Bison looked to maintain long possessions on offense to keep the defense fresh and run out the clock. Four penalties on the Bulldogs during the third quarter gave the Orange and Blue the opportunity they needed to achieve these goals.

“Our man up was really trying to kill the clock in the third quarter, something Coach Fed[orjaka] likes to do when we have a comfortable lead,” Bailey said.

After the teams traded goals around the five-minute mark, the Bulldogs found the back of the net twice to close out the third quarter and cut the Bison lead to two.

“Almost every game we’ve been a part of in the last three years has been a one goal game…[we] knew we had to keep our composure while still executing the game plan like we had been all day,” Place said.

Black would add another goal in the fourth quarter to reinstate the Orange and Blue lead to three. While the Bulldogs added a tally with 1:29 left, the Bison defense then locked down as goalie Kyle Feeney ’13 stopped three consecutive shots to close out the contest.

The Bison open Patriot League play at home against Navy on Saturday at 1 p.m.

“We are preparing for a very physical battle on Saturday. Any time you play one of the Academies, you have to be able to be prepared for high contact and be ready to play a full 60 minutes. We have to match their intensity and physical play,” head coach Frank Fedorjaka said.

Categories
Baseball Men Sports

Baseball drops series to Duke

Katherine Harris

Senior Writer

The men’s baseball team put up a strong effort as it faced off against Duke last weekend for a three-game series, improving each game even though they did not come out with a victory.

“As a whole, we are obviously disappointed with the losses, yet there are many positives to take away. We were a few plays away from winning games two and three, and against a quality team like Duke, that is somewhat respectable,” pitcher Dan Weigel ’14 said.

The Bison had a rough start to the weekend on Feb. 22 when they faced off against the Blue Devils, ending the game with a 9-0 loss. The only two hits on the day for the Orange and Blue came from Matt Busch ’13 and Luke Lombardi ’14. Bryson Hough ’15 started on the mound and allowed only three hits in over five innings, but his five walks dug a hole the Bison could not overcome.

The Orange and Blue came back strong, pushing Duke before losing 2-0 on a walk-off home run on Feb. 23. Weigel led the Bison on the day, tallying five strikeouts and allowing just two hits and no runs in over eight innings. The team continued to struggle on offense, with second baseman Greg Wasikowski ’15 recording the only hit for the Bison on the day.

The Orange and Blue bounced back on offense on Feb. 24, recording six hits and getting on the board in the 4-1 loss. Center fielder Corey Furman ’14 led the way with two singles on the day, while pitcher Dan Goldstein ’13 had an impressive performance on the mound, recording eight strikeouts in 4.2 innings.

“As we move towards next weekend against Harvard and Virginia we are not looking for mere respectability but rather to win the series,” Weigel said. “We proved this weekend that we can play with ACC schools, now we just need to keep getting better to be able to make that next step of beating them.”

This weekend, the Bison will travel to Charlottesville, Va. to play two games against Virginia and two versus Harvard.

Categories
Sports Tennis Women

Women’s tennis falls to Hofstra

Billy Tyler

Assistant Sports Editor

The women’s tennis team traveled to Quakertown, Pa. to face Hofstra in a close match on Feb. 23. Despite putting up a good fight to recover from a slow start and forcing a sixth singles match, the team was unable to complete the comeback and lost 4-3.

The day did not begin well for the Orange and Blue. They were unable to come up with any points in the day’s doubles matches, losing all three. The Bison then managed to rebound behind strong performances in singles play, including wins by Elena Vidrascu ’14 (6-3, 3-6, 6-4), Maria Cioffi ’16 (6-1, 6-1) and Jen Bush ’15 (6-1, 6-4). The Bison tied up the score at three points apiece following the first five singles matches.

This great comeback forced a sixth singles match to decide the overall match winner. Playing in this match for the Bison was Elizabeth Morgan ’14. Despite a solid performance and good effort, Morgan was unable to secure the victory and fell 6-2, 6-2. This tough loss dropped the team’s season record to 2-4.

The next matches for the women’s tennis team will be on March 11-14 in Humacao, Puerto Rico where the Bison will take on LIU Brooklyn, Old Dominion and Minnesota State.

Categories
Men Sports Tennis

Men’s tennis finishes weekend with 1-1 series split

Emily Evancho

Writer

The men’s tennis team had a split outcome of matches this past weekend with a 6-1 victory over Hofstra and a 7-0 defeat at the hands of nationally-ranked Princeton University.

“It was a good weekend for us. We got out ahead of Hofstra and never looked back. We are starting to put things together piece by piece and it is exciting to see. Princeton is a tough costumer but helped us realize some important things to work on. Overall it was a successful weekend,” Aidan Lynch ’14 said.

In the match against Hofstra, the Bison cleanly collected victories in the three doubles matches. Kelly Morque ’13 and Evan Zimmer ’13 lost one game to Hofstra, but roped in an 8-1 victory. The team of Nick Bybel ’16 and Josh Katten ’13 also succeeded with an 8-2 win, followed closely by Octavio Canibe ’15 and Lynch with an 8-6 victory. The Orange and Blue settled their triumph over Hofstra with five victories in singles, wrapping up the Bison’s victory with Katten’s 6-4, 6-1 win.

The Bison couldn’t secure the same success at Princeton on Feb. 24, even though the three doubles matches came close to being in the Bison’s favor. The Orange and Blue struggled the most in singles matches. The closest match was played by Kyle Rosen ’14 in the No. 6 position and was ended in a 10-5 tie breaker that went Princeton’s way.

“Although on paper the Princeton match wasn’t a successful outing for us, there were definitely positives we can build on and use to our advantage once Patriot League matches start,” Morque said.

The Bison will play again on March 11 and 12 with their next two matches in Puerto Rico against Puerto Rico-Mayaguez and Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras.

Categories
Softball Sports Women

Softball finishes difficult weekend

Lauren Boone

Staff Writer

The softball team was defeated 13-2 by Stony Brook and also fell 7-0 to Longwood at the Longwood Spring Classic on Saturday, Feb. 23. The Orange and Blue also suffered two losses on Sunday’s double-header, falling 4-3 to Stony Brook and 9-1 to Longwood. The losses dropped the Bison’s season record to 1-7.

Nine third-inning runs doomed the Bison in game one, as Stony Brook jumped out to an early 9-0 lead. Cydnee Sanders ’15 got the Bison on the board with an RBI single in the bottom of the third, and Alex Wells ’15 drew a bases loaded walk in the fourth, but that would be all the Bison would get.

The third inning was problematic once again for the Orange and the Blue in game two, as Longwood scored four runs to put themselves ahead of the Bison 5-0. Though the Bison had several opportunities to score in the third and fifth innings, they were unable to capitalize in the eventual shutout.

The Bison held a close game against Stony Brook, forcing the game into extra innings before the Seawolves claimed victory on Feb. 24. Stony Brook led the Bison 3-0 after three innings, but the Orange and the Blue obtained their three runs via Sanders scoring on a wild pitch, and then a Mariah Midyette ’16 home run to bring home Cassie Greenhawk ’13. Midyette’s home run was the first of the season for the Bison, and it ultimately pushed the game into extra innings.

Thanks to the international tiebreaker rule, the Orange and Blue began the top of the eight with Amanda Fazio ’16 on second base. Fazio managed to progress to third on a ground out, but she was ultimately thrown out at home plate after a bunt. The Seawolves took advantage of their opportunity and scored a run to win the game. Their second base runner came home on a single and a sacrifice fly.

The Bison concluded the Longwood Spring Classic with a game against the host Lancers. Longwood hit a two-run homer in the first inning, giving them an early lead. Longwood then continued to score at least two runs in three of the six innings played, turning the game into a blowout loss for the Orange and Blue.

“We had a great outing this week, it’s just a matter of stringing together individual performances as a unit to secure more wins. The pitchers, particularly the freshmen, pitched their hearts out,” Cheyanna Young ’16 said. 

The Bison will be back in action this weekend at the Colonial Classic in Washington, D.C.