Category: Sports

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Golf Sports Women

Women’s golf excels at Nittany Lion Inv.

Katherine Harris
Writer

The women’s golf team performed strongly at the Nittany Lion Invitational last weekend, getting better each day with scores of 326, 316, and 311 in the three rounds for a 16th place finish out of a very competitive field.

“The team got off to a rough start this weekend, but we progressively got better as the tournament went on. We are a very young team and still have a lot to learn,” Bridget Wilcox ’14 said. “I was happy to have another consistent tournament but I still have room to improve and will be working hard this week and next to gear up for the MAC Preview.”

The Bison started off the three day tournament with a team score of 326 last Friday. The format for the tournament had six girls play and the top four scores count on each day. Wilcox and Meghan Garanich ’16 led the team with a 79 and an 80, respectively. The counted scores for the day were rounded out by Lauren Bernard ’14 with an 83 and Lexi Klein ’15 with an 84.

Saturday went well for the Orange and Blue as the team improved their overall score, moving them into 15th place in the tournament. Kasha Scott ’14 led the team on the day with one of only seven sub-par rounds out of 103 players with her 1-under-par 71. Anchoring the rest of the team’s scores were Wilcox with her second straight 79, Bernard with an 81 and Jen Lee ’16 with an 85.

“I was very excited with the way I played on Saturday; it was really fun to be hitting the ball well, but I need to work on my consistency. I’m excited to see what our next tournament in Ohio holds for us, as I think the team has the potential of going really low,” Scott said.

The Bison finished out the tournament strong by improving their score again to 311 on Sunday, placing them in 16th place with a total score of 953 for the weekend. Bernard finished her tournament strong with a 73 and Wilcox stayed consistent with a 78. Garanich and Lee rounded out the scores for the team with an 80 and 81, respectively.

The team will now prepare for their next tournament, the MAC Preview, on Oct. 15 and 16 in Ohio.

Categories
Sports Volleyball Women

Volleyball drops to Army and Holy Cross in PL play

Katherine Harris
Writer

The women’s volleyball team had a tough weekend, dropping matches to both Army and Holy Cross on Sept. 28 and 29, respectively.

“This weekend started off great. We really put up a fight against Army and in the second set against them we had them against the ropes,” Morgan Mientus ’14 said. “We could’ve taken the set, but overall our performance against them was strong.”

The Bison started out strong at West Point, but ended up losing in three sets to a talented Army squad that is 3-1 in conference play. Many individuals stepped up in the match, including Mientus and Leylin Marroquin ’14 on defense with 12 and 10 digs, respectively.

On offense, senior captains Kebah Edoho ’13 and Kat Tauscher ’13 led the way, with Edoho putting up nine kills and two blocks, and Tauscher posting an impressive 30 assists. Claire Healy ’16 and Jessica Serrato ’14 also had strong contributions, with Healy adding two blocks and seven kills and Serrato adding eight kills.

“While there were definitely glimpses of us showing a lot of heart and improvement, we were overall frustrated by our performance. But our captains, Kat [Tauscher] and Kebah [Edoho], have done an amazing job this week with keeping us motivated and playing for each other, something we’ve lost touch of recently,” Katie Price ’16 said.

The Orange and Blue then made their way to Worcester, Mass. on Saturday afternoon to face Holy Cross. While the team rallied to win the third set, they were not able to defeat the Crusaders in the final, losing 3-1 overall. Tauscher stepped up again, this time recording a double-double with a season-high 41 assists, as well as 10 digs.

First-year teammates also performed strongly on the day. Healy led the Orange and Blue in kills and digs, with 14 and 18, respectively, to post her third double-double of the season. Price also posted a career high 15 digs on the day.

“Our main goal is to win a Patriot League Championship, and in preparation for the rest of the season, we are reassessing why we play the game and why we love it so much,” Mientus said. “From now on we are playing for our amazing seniors and leaving it all on the court like we have nothing to lose.”

This weekend, the Bison will travel to California to take on CSU Bakersfield on Oct. 7, and then face off against Pepperdine on Oct. 8 in Malibu, Calif.

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Sports

Bison Athlete of the Week: Elena Vidrascu ’14

 

Chloe Chou | The Bucknellian

Alex Wagner
Sports Editor

Player Profile

Elena Vidrascu ’14

Rochester, N.Y.

Neuroscience

 

Career stats

Singles record: 35-29

Doubles record: 34-33

Total: 69-62

Win percentage: 0.527

 

Elena Vidrascu ’14 defended her home courts last weekend in the Bison Invitational, as she won the Flight A singles championship and the doubles backdraw with partner Maria Cioffi ’16. The singles victory marks her first title of the season.

On Saturday, she easily defeated Mount St. Mary’s Kelly Conroy 6-3, 6-2 in the second round and moved past Villanova’s Mikelle Mancini by the same score in the semifinal.  The final proved to be much more of a challenge, however, as Vidrascu had to come back after dropping the first set 6-1 to Tori Smyth of Villanova.  She won the second set 6-4 and the super tiebreaker 10-8 to come out on top.

“Being focused and patient is key, as well as the will to battle out a match no matter how many shots need to be hit or the variety of shots that has to be implemented,” Vidrascu said.

Vidrascu also found success on Sunday in the doubles backdraw final when she and partner Cioffi beat teammates Elizabeth Morgan ’14 and Christie Schneider ’15, 8-0.

“You definitely need to have a good relationship with your partner, and I think we connect more and more each time we play. It helps to have some fun on the court to keep things relaxed, and I love her humor. I’m really excited to see how well we can do for the rest of the season,” Vidrascu said.

Categories
Golf Men Sports

Men’s golf strong at Cornell

Alex Wagner

Sports Editor

Despite tough conditions, the men’s golf team had a successful outing over the weekend at the Cornell Invitational, finishing fourth in a 13-team field. Dan Bernard ’13 finished in the top ten for the third time this season.

After opening play with a round of 73, Bernard shot a 75 in the final round, earning him a fourth-place tie in the individual standings. He has been the low player for the Bison in all three competitions so far, after a win at the Bucknell Invitational and a tenth place tie at the Colgate Invitational. 

“Our key to success was our ball striking, since the weather conditions were not ideal. Also, golf is a fickle game in that one day you can be playing well and another badly, so we have to make the most of what we have every round,” Bernard said.

Schuyler Stitzer ’14 was not far behind Bernard’s lead, shooting a 152 total (75-77), earning him a tie for 16th place. Zach Pogust ’15 improved off of his opening round of 78 with 76 in the final round.

“While our team did put together a few good rounds this weekend … we head into every tournament looking to win,” Pogust said. “In order to improve, I think we have to work on keeping the ball in play off the tee and learning to make smart decisions regarding when to fire at pins and when to play towards the middle of the green. Some things that I thought we did well at Cornell that led to our success was our ability to grind out rounds in tough conditions. We were also able to pick up a few strokes on the field by limiting our three putts.”

Both Luke Edelman ’16 (74-81) and Thomas Walter ’14 (78-77) finished with a total of 155. Playing as an individual, Pete Scialabba ’15 shot an 82 on Saturday and 77 on Sunday.

Binghamton was the champion of the tournament, with a 297-296 score.

The Orange and Blue will have a week for practice and recovery before competing in the Binghamton Invitational on Oct. 7 and 8.

Categories
Golf Sports Women

Women’s golf struggles in Michigan

Lauren Boone

Contributing Writer

The women’s golf team traveled to Ann Arbor, Mich. last weekend to compete in the University of Michigan’s Wolverine Invitational, where it struggled in unfavorable weather conditions. In addition, the 54-hole competition was held on one of the toughest courses on which the Bison will compete this year. The lineup consisted of Lauren Bernard ’14, Kasha Scott ’14, Bridget Wilcox ’14, Lexi Klein ’15 and Jen Lee ’16. 

The inclement weather caused the Bison to struggle early on. The Orange and Blue shot 340 in the first round and 328 in the second round. Their team score of 668 left the Bison in 12th place at the end of Saturday’s rounds.

Individually, Wilcox led the Orange and Blue with rounds of 79 and 81. She finished Saturday in 21st place. Scott shot a first round of 88 but was able to lower her score to 80 in the second round. Bernard performed better in her second round as well, improving from 86 to 81. Klein bettered her first round of 87 to a score of 86 in the second round, and Lee improved from 94 to 91.

Michigan finished Saturday in first with a 616 (308-308) over Florida International by one stroke.

In the individual rankings, FIU’s Meghan MacLaren finished in first on Saturday with a total score of 148, followed by Lauren Grogan of Michigan with a total of 149.

After Sunday’s round, the Bison scored a 336 for a final tournament score of 1004, and a 14th place finish. Scott led the Bison on Sunday, after shooting an 80. Wilcox posted an 83, leading to a Bison best 33rd place finish. Bernard shot an 86, followed by Klein with an 87.  Lee closed the tournament with a score of 93.

At the end of competition, Michigan and Florida International tied for first place with total scores of 930.

“The Wolverine Invitational was definitely a test of the team’s mental game and shot accuracy. It was freezing, it rained heavily and the course is probably the hardest we will encounter all year–at one point it even hailed!” Wilcox said. “Even with that said, we did not perform as well as we expected. This tournament was definitely a wake-up call and we will continue to work hard throughout the season to get to where we need to be for the Patriot League Championship in April.”

This weekend, the Bison will play at the Nittany Lion Invitational in State College.

Categories
Men Soccer Sports

Men’s soccer wins Patriot League opener

 

Chloe Chou | The Bucknellian
Jess Klug ’16 attempts to cross the ball. The Bison took a strong first step in Patriot League play with a 1-0 win at Lehigh.

Chris McCree

Sports Editor

The men’s soccer team opened up Patriot League play this past weekend with a 1-0 win at Lehigh and a 1-0 loss to St. Joseph’s. Jesse Klug ’16 scored the lone goal for the Bison in his first career Patriot League game, while Mike Lansing ’16 recorded seven saves for his third shutout of the season.

“It was very important for us to win our first league game and to make sure that our first step was forward,” Lansing said. “The Lehigh game was a scrappy game with lots of physical play and not too much pretty soccer was involved. We didn’t play our game, but we managed to come away with a win.”

Traveling to Bethlehem on Saturday, the Orange and Blue were forced to wait until Sunday to take on the Mountain Hawks after a sudden downpour drenched the field minutes before kickoff. The game quickly turned into a defensive battle as neither side could register a goal in the first half. Then, 10 minutes into the second half, Brendan Burgdorf ’13 centered a ball across the box for Klug who placed it in goal for his second goal of the season.

For the game, the Mountain Hawks managed to outshoot the Bison 18-16, but Lansing and the Bison defense stood strong, extending their goalless streak to 381:07. The program record stands at 559:40 set during the 1983 season.

Against St Joseph’s, the Orange and Blue fell victim to a late goal from the Hawks with less than 10 minutes remaining. The Bison amassed 23 shots for the game, but only managed to put two of them on target. Klug led the team with eight shots and Burgdorf had four.

“The game against St. Joe’s was not a pretty one,” Lansing said. “We went into the game thinking we had nothing to lose and the other team really came to play. Again, we did not play to our potential and St. Joe’s took advantage.”

Before the goal, the Bison managed to extend its shutout streak to 462:06 to earn the second longest streak in program history. The last goal that the team surrendered was against La Salle on Sept. 7.

The Bison will try to remain undefeated in league play tomorrow at American at 1 p.m.

Categories
Men Sports Water Polo

Men’s water polo goes 0-3 on road

 

Scott Padula

Staff Writer

The men’s water polo team kicked off league play this past weekend with a losses to No. 17 Navy, George Washington and Johns Hopkins. The Orange and Blue, under second year coach John McBride, are now 4-8 on the season and 0-3 in conference play.

To start the road trip, the Bison lost 11-6 to No. 17 Navy. The Orange and Blue were unable to stop the overwhelming Navy offense, allowing three goals in each of the first two quarters and being outscored in the first three. Despite the disappointing result, Jack Else ’14 was fantastic for the Bison, drawing a school record-breaking 10 ejections in the loss. Mike Kimble ’14 led the Orange and Blue in scoring, finding the back of the net twice for the team’s only multi-goal performance. In goal, Matt Napleton ’13 stopped seven shots in 32 minutes of play.

In the team’s second game, the Orange and Blue lost a disappointing game to George Washington, 15-12. The Bison looked flat to start the game, getting outscored 9-2 in the first half. The majority of the deficit was the result of the second quarter, in which the Orange and Blue were held scoreless while allowing five goals. Despite outscoring the Colonials 6-1 in the fourth quarter, the Bison were unable to overcome the seven goal deficit in the second half.

Against the Colonials, Else scored a personal best of seven goals and tallied six more ejections. His seven goals were the most scored by a Bison since 2007. Other multi-point performances came from Kimble, Brian Barron ’13 and Stefan Aleksic ’16. Kimble scored three goals and had an assist, while Aleksic had five assists and Barron two. Napleton was strong in goal again, making eight saves in 32 minutes.

To wrap up the trip, the Orange and Blue went to Baltimore to face Johns Hopkins. The Bison jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter, outscoring the Blue Jays 5-3. The Bison had another weak second quarter where they were held scoreless while allowing four goals. In the second half, the Orange and Blue outscored Johns Hopkins 8-7 but were unable to overcome the two goal deficit. The Bison failed to tie the game in the final possession of the contest, leading to a 14-13 loss.

Barron and Aleksic led the team in scoring with three goals apiece. Else and Kimble also had multi-goal performances with two goals each. In addition, Else recorded seven more ejections, pushing his total to 43 on the season and 148 in his career. Else’s season total is more than three times that of anyone else on the team and his career mark of 148 is now fourth on the Bison’s career ejection total. In the losing effort, Napleton stopped seven shots in 32 minutes of action. Napleton now has 100 saves on the season.

“We came out flat for a couple of the games and our opponents took advantage. The biggest thing we need to fix heading into the Bison Invitational is our attitude and approach to the games. Every time we enter the water, we have to set the tone with physicality and urgency. We’re a talented team and we’re underperforming. It’s time to get angry and do something about it,” co-captain Napleton said.

The Orange and Blue will try to gain momentum this weekend when they host the Bison Invitational on Sept. 29 and 30. The Bison will kick off the invitational against MIT at noon on tomorrow. They will also face the University of Toronto, the Naval Academy’s “B” team and Harvard this weekend.

Categories
Field Hockey Sports Women

Field hockey loses two close games

 

Wilson Hunt | The Bucknellian
Kelly Stefanowicz ’13 moves the ball upfield. The Bison had two very strong showings in their losses.

Andrew Arnao

Senior Writer

The Bison field hockey team fell at home against the No. 17 Michigan Wolverines by a score of 2-0, and also succumbed to a late rally by the Temple Owls in a 5-4 defeat. The Orange and the Blue are now 5-5 in the season.

“We were very happy with the level we are playing, just unhappy with the results,” head coach Jeremy Cook said. “Michigan and Temple beat us last year 5-0 and 4-0, respectively, and this year both games were quite competitive, which we feel shows real progress.”

The Bison defense stifled a tough Michigan offense for 20 minutes before the Wolverines scored their first goal of the game. Despite being behind, the defense continued to repel Michigan, allowing only one more goal in the second half. The Bison offense showed improvement through the second half but were unable to break through in the eventual 2-0 setback.

“Although we lost to Michigan, the game as a whole was a positive one,” midfielder/forward Emily Hitchings ’16 said. “We were able to compete with such a high caliber team. We were able to hold them to only receiving one offensive corner, which was a huge plus.”

Against Temple, the Bison fell behind early in the first half, but battled back and went ahead 3-1 on goals from defender Tayler Siegrist ’13, midfielder Kelly Stefanowicz ’13 and Hitchings. The Owls managed to tie the score in the second half, and despite another goal by Siegrist, Temple scored two more to escape with a 5-4 victory against the Bison.

“The Temple game was a tough loss,” Hitchings said. “We had some dangerous turnovers that affected the outcome of the game. On a positive note, we were able to capitalize in the goal scoring circle, and we scored on three of our penalty corners.”

“The Temple game was very exciting. We ended up going back and forth with them in the second half more than we wanted to, which plays into their strength as a team and exposes a few of our shortcomings,” Cook said.

The Bison will begin Patriot League play with a home game against Colgate tomorrow at 11 a.m. On Sunday, they will head to New Jersey to face Rutgers.

Categories
Football Men Sports

Football falls short against Lafayette

 

Wilson Hunt | The Bucknellian
The Bison line up before the snap. Unfortunately, they were unable to defend their home turf as they fell to Lafayette 20-14 on Saturday.

Eric Brod
Senior Writer

In 2011, the Bison prided themselves on taking care of the football and forcing other teams into mistakes, leading them to have the highest turnover margin in the nation. The Orange and Blue fell victim to such mistakes, turning the ball over three times en route to a 20-14 loss in their home opener Saturday afternoon against Lafayette.

Despite the three turnovers, the Bison showed tremendous fight. Trailing Lafayette 20-7 with 6:44 to play, Brandon Wesley ’14 led the offense on a nine play, 73-yard drive that was capped by Wesley’s 12-yard rushing touchdown that cut the deficit to 20-14. After failing to recover the ensuing onside kick, the Bison were able to force the Leopards to punt, giving the Bison a chance to score the go-ahead touchdown. The offense began the drive at their own 20-yard line, and could not move past midfield as Wesley was unable to connect with receiver Josh Brake ’15 on a 4th-and-21 that sealed the Orange and Blue’s fate.

Throughout the game, the Orange and Blue were uncharacteristically undisciplined, committing eight penalties and three turnovers (two interceptions and one fumble).

“Our offense is built on the run setting up the pass. We need to be better at staying on schedule in early downs to maintain a run-pass conflict,” Head coach Joe Susan said. “Our turnovers are something we must eliminate in order to have a chance as a team. We also need to create turnovers by our defense and special teams. We practice ball security and ball disruption every day. This will change.”

Even in the loss, the defense once again showed why they are one of the top units in the league. The defense, led by a team high 10 tackles from safety Ryan Morgan ’14, held the Leopards to just 11 yards rushing on 31 carries. The team as a whole registered 13 tackles for loss, led by three and a half from safety Lee Marvel ’15. Defensive back Donald Quarles ’13, had a career day with five passes deflected.

“I am impressed by how our defense has stopped the run. We are ranked fourth in the FCS in rushing defense and 28th overall,” Susan said.

Wesley had an up and down day, going 18-33 passing for 239 yards with two touchdowns (one rushing) and two interceptions. He also tied a career high 76 yards rushing.

After trailing 17-7 at halftime, the Bison outgained the Leopards on offense 223-128.

The Orange and Blue will look to rebound tomorrow night at 6 p.m. as they welcome Cornell to Lewisburg.

“Cornell is an offense based on the production of their passing game. Their QB like ours is a three year starter and one of the better QBs we will see this year,” Susan said. “One of the best ways to defend a team like this is our offense moving the ball more effectively and not putting our defense in compromised field position.”

Categories
Men Sports Tennis

Men’s tennis sizees up competition

Cooper Mead

Writer

The Bison traveled to Philadelphia for the Saint Joseph’s Invitational this past weekend, getting off to an explosive start by winning nine of their first 11 matches on day one. Five of those matches were in singles play and two of them were against fellow Patriot League contenders.

Evan Zimmer ’13 defeated Jose Sierra from Saint Joseph’s by a score of 6-4, 6-4 in Flight 1 singles action. Nick Bybel ’16 defeated Thomas O’Brien of Villanova 6-3, 6-3. Bybel and Zimmer also competed in a doubles bout against Lafayette’s Brandon Goldstein and James Oliver, winning 8-1. The duo proceeded through to the quarterfinals and defeated Max Montague and Andreas Urrea of Saint Joseph’s by a score of 8-3.

Partners Josh Katten ’13 and Kelly Morque ’13 also had significant doubles wins as they defeated Army’s Rashad Shelton and Ben Davies by a score of 8-6 and then defeated Hofstra’s Ari Richman and Adrien Bailly by a score of 8-5. Other victories on day one included Katten’s defeat of Kristian Broaddus 6-3, 6-0, and Aidan Lynch ’14 and Jonathan DeFrancesch ’15 also won their singles bouts.

On the second day of the invitational, the Bison emerged with a .500 record on the day. Singles action was highly contested, with three matches going into super tiebreaks.  Zimmer defeated Mark Miller of Villanova 3-6, 6-3, 10-5, but he later lost in the quarterfinals to Skyler Davis of Drexel 6-4, 6-4. Similarly, Octavio Canibe ’15 defeated Max Montague of Saint Joseph’s 3-6, 6-0, 10-5, but fell to Army’s Roman Cacha 6-1, 1-6, 10-4 in his second super tiebreaker of the day in the quarterfinals.

Katten and Lynch tallied victories in the second round against Patriot League opponents, with Lynch beating Army’s Ron Verano 6-2, 6-1 and Katten defeating Chris Matturri of Lafayette 6-4, 6-0. Morque also won his consolation singles match 7-5, 6-4 against Hofstra’s Antonio Pena.

The final day of the Saint Joseph’s Invitational was a struggle for the Bison. Morque and Katten lost to Alex Veronis and Jose Sierra from Saint Joseph’s 9-7 in the quarterfinals. Bybel and Zimmer also failed to defeat Alex Holland and Henry Jang-Milsten from Army, losing 8-3. Despite the doubles struggles, Morque won the Flight 2 singles consolation draw  by defeating Pierre Brondeau of Saint Joseph’s winning the first set 6-2, dropping the second in a tiebreaker, and winning in a super tiebreaker 10-6. He then proceeded to defeat Joseph LaBate from La Salle 6-2, 6-4.

“It was a really up and down weekend for us. We had some solid individual performances across the board, but we never really gained momentum throughout the weekend,” Morque said.

“This was a very good tournament, aside from the injuries,” Lynch said. “Everyone got a lot of matches, which is always important early on in the year. We saw some very good things and hopefully will continue to get better this weekend.”

The Bison will attempt to improve on the week’s performance as they get ready for their last home matches of the fall in the Bucknell Invitational this weekend.