Category: Sports

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Sports Tennis Women

Women’s tennis falls in semifinals

By Lindsay Regruto

Senior Writer

The women’s tennis team defeated Lehigh in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament last weekend before falling in the semifinals to Navy. The Bison followed its semifinal loss with a 6-3 win over Bloomsburg. 

“It was a challenging season in terms of injuries and such. We have a very young, talented squad,” head coach Rebecca Helt said. “Everyone worked hard to improve their fitness, their level of play on court and their mental toughness.”

Against Lehigh, the Bison were able to pull off an outstanding 4-0 win on Friday to advance to the semifinals. Dumitrita Iepuras ’12 and Elizabeth Morgan ’14 took a decisive 8-4 win at the No. 3 doubles position, while Elena Vidrascu ’14 and Daria Tuzhikova ’13 followed with an 8-6 win at the No. 1 position. Lydia Colvin ’15 and Courtney Casey ’12 were tied 6-6 when the doubles point was given to the Bison.

“Despite the score, the match against Lehigh was not easy, and therefore, it was a well-deserved win,” Iepuras said. “Even though I did not get to finish my match, I was proud of my teammates who helped us move forward into the semifinals.”

In singles play, both Colvin and Casey played strong matches, claiming a pair of wins at the No. 3 and No. 5 spots respectively. Tuzhikova defeated her opponent 6-2, 6-1 at the No. 4 singles spot to seal the win for the Bison. Iepuras, Vidrascu and Christie Schneider ’15 were all still playing when the Orange and Blue claimed the victory.

The following day, Casey and Colvin battled it out at the No. 2 doubles spot, earning an 8-6 win, while Vidrascu and Tuzhikova lost a close back-and-forth match at the No. 1 spot 9-7. The Bison tried to battle back in the singles matches but couldn’t overcome Navy’s momentum. The Mids knocked out the Orange and Blue 4-0 to advance to the finals.

“During the most challenging times of our season, these women pushed each other yet supported each other. It’s about the entire process, the work, the sacrifice, the communication, the effort and the personal growth that each athlete experiences that really represents a team,” Helt said. “I’m proud of each and every student-athlete on this team and I hope they feel that same sense of pride.”

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Lacrosse Sports Women

Women’s lacrosse ends season with split

By Ajan Caneda
Writer

Behind a four-goal performance from Madison Hurwitz ’13, the women’s lacrosse team pulled off a 21-9 victory at home last Tuesday against Howard as it closed out the season with a 5-12 overall record. Arriana Sajjad ’15 ended the regular season with 38 goals and 51 points, both first-year records.

After some slow starts this season, the Bison were motivated to pull ahead early. Five different players scored the first five goals for the Orange and Blue. Hurwitz, off assists from Katelyn Miller ’14 and Molly Ford ’14, then nailed two straight goals that gave the Bison a 7-2 lead. The active passing kept Howard out of reach, as Lindsey Ferro ’14 had two straight assists that led to goals from Emily Kookogey ’15 and Sajjad. The Bison were ahead 11-4 at halftime.

The offense continued to dominate as it went on to score five more goals in the first 12 minutes of the second half, including one from Carly Downs ’15, her first of the season. Howard answered with two goals of its own to pull back within 10. But the Orange and Blue would end all hopes of a comeback with goals from Downs and Blair McDonald ’15. Claire Doyle ’15 scored her first career goal at the 0:28 remaining mark, while Sajjad ended the game with another goal.

Sajjad, Miller and Kookegey each finished with hat tricks, and four players had three assists each. But it was not all offense, as the Bison also forced 25 turnovers.

Last Saturday, a 7-0 Colgate run made all the difference, as the Orange and Blue fell to the Raiders 15-8 at home, preventing them from picking up what would have been their first conference win. Sajjad and Miller both posted half tricks in the loss.

Miller opened the game with a goal for the Bison, but Colgate went on a 4-0 run after that initial goal. Sajjad scored two goals within two minutes that cut the deficit to 4-3. Colgate then showcased its streaky offense by nailing four unanswered goals to end the half.

“Colgate is a very polished team. Many of the players are very experienced and have been selected to the All-League team in the past and this season as well,” head coach Randall Goldsborough said. “We did give the ball up many times on the attacking end in the first half with many of those turnovers leading to fast break goals for them.”

The run continued with three straight Colgate goals to start the second half. The Raiders kept the Bison from making a run of their own, holding them to two goals in the first 27 minutes of the half. The offense came too late for the Orange and Blue, who scored four of the last five goals in the game.

“We have the talent. We just need to continue to build our confidence, and that is what we will be focusing on in the fall,” Goldsborough said.

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Lacrosse Men Sports

Men’s lax falls in final seconds

By Reed Dempsey
Writer

With just two seconds remaining in Friday’s game at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium, Colgate broke a 10-10 tie to send the men’s lacrosse team its second straight league loss.

Bison attackman Chase Bailey ’13 opened the day’s scoring off a pass from Nick Gantsoudes ’12 three and a half minutes in. Just a few minutes later, the Raiders’ Peter Baum scored to tie the game at one.

For the rest of the first half, the Orange and Blue kept their defensemen fresh and limited possessions for Colgate’s nationally top-ranked offense. The Bison exploded for five straight goals before Colgate scored just before the half, cutting the lead to 6-2.

“The whole team played near perfect in the first half,” Kyle Feeney ’13 said. “The offense controlled the ball for most of it, limiting Colgate’s possessions and making it easier on the defense.”

The team struggled in the third quarter as Colgate added four goals to tie the game, three of which came in a span of just 70 seconds. The Raiders took their first lead of the day on another Baum goal early in the fourth quarter and quickly followed with a man-up goal to extend their lead to two.

“I think we were far too comfortable with our lead and we had a few too many turnovers,” said David Dickson ’15, who scored his 14th goal of the season in the second quarter. “We needed to stay poised and limit Colgate’s possessions but unfortunately we were unable to do so.”

After relinquishing their lead, the Bison fought back with goals by Todd Heritage ’14, Bailey and Peter Burke ’14, but shortly thereafter, the Raiders gained possessions and scored back-to-back goals to go up 10-9.

With 2:25 left in the game, Burke tied the game with his second straight goal. On the ensuing faceoff, the Raiders were called for an illegal cross check giving the Bison a minute of extra-man offense and a chance to regain the lead. During this time however, Colgate held the ball in its offensive zone, running down the clock in an effort to get the last shot.

With eight seconds left the Raiders got a shot off but Feeney deflected it off the pipe and out of play. Colgate got possession and with just two seconds left, Baum beat Feeney for his third goal of the game and 51st of the season.

With the loss, the Bison will enter the Patriot League tournament as the fourth seed, creating a rematch tonight against the Raiders in Hamilton, N.Y. According to Feeney and Dickson, the Orange and Blue head into this game with the knowledge that they are good enough to beat any opponent. It will just take 60 minutes of solid lacrosse to make that a reality.

 

Categories
Basketball Sports Women

Roussel named head women’s basketball coach

By Thomas Walter

It was an emotional season for the women’s basketball team. After making it to the semifinals of the Patriot League Tournament behind the sensational play of Patriot League All-Rookie Team guard Shelby Romine ’14, the expectations coming into this year were high. But after starting off 2-15, the longest tenured coach in the history of the program, Kathy Fedorjaka, announced her resignation.

The Bison’s struggles continued throughout the rest of the season as the team got knocked out in the first round of Patriot League Tournament. But now, hopefully that struggle will be over as a new era of Orange and Blue basketball begins with a new head coach, Aaron Roussell.

Rousell is the product of a comprehensive national search that has taken place over the last several months. Rousell has been the head women’s coach at the University of Chicago for the past eight years, where he earned the most victories in the program’s history with 161-50, including 52-5 over the last two seasons.

“I could not be more excited about the opportunity to lead the women’s basketball program at Bucknell University,” Roussell said. “From both a basketball and an academic standpoint, I believe Bucknell is the ideal fit for me. I am extremely thankful to the University of Chicago, because it has prepared me perfectly for a program like Bucknell and the Patriot League as a whole, which places academics in the highest regard. To be frank, there is no way I would have left Chicago unless it was for a place that shared my values on what the student-athlete experience should be all about.”

With the majority of the 2011-2012 team returning, Rousell will look to continue his coaching success when the women hit the courts next winter.

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Club/Intramural Men's Volleyball Sports

Club volleyball surprises at nationals

By Andrew Lichtenauer

Senior Writer

 

The men’s club volleyball team finished off an impressive 2012 season tying for ninth-place  at the National Collegiate Club Volleyball Division II National Championships. The Bison began the season with the simple hope of rebuilding and developing a competitive squad. As the season progressed, the Orange and Blue realized their competitive potential and became a force to be reckoned with in the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Volleyball Conference (MACVC). I recently spoke with Shane Kiefer ’14, president of the men’s club volleyball team. The following is the conversation we had about the team’s success at Nationals this year:

Q: What were the team’s expectations going in to the season?

A: In terms of our expectations this year, we really didn’t expect to do as well as we did, mainly just because we basically didn’t have a competitive team the past few years. This was the first year in a while that we were able to pay our dues to join the MAC Conference, and after we did that, I was able to start scheduling matches as well as enter us in tournaments. I think a lot of us were just happy that we were actually taking the necessary steps to becoming competitive again.

Q: How often was the team able to hold team practices this season?

A: It was difficult to get practice time this season with varsity sports and intramurals often taking precedence over athletic space, but we usually practiced two times per week on average. Most of the time, it was a late time slot such as 9-11 p.m. If we didn’t have a tournament or match on the weekends, we would usually practice Saturday afternoons as well.

Q: What would you say was the team’s best win of the season?

A: It’s difficult to attribute a specific match as being our best win of the season, but I would have to say that our match against No. 21 Missouri S&T on the second day at Nationals was our best win. We came into the match knowing that if we lost, the highest place we could take at Nationals was 25th, but if we won we couldn’t finish lower than 24th in the nation. It was basically a make or break match for our season, and we came out and got crushed in the first set 25-13 and were down 15-7 in the second set. We ended up making an amazing comeback to win that set, and later finished by winning the final set tiebreak 15-11. We all agreed after the match that it was the best we had ever played, and at the end of the tournament, we had some evidence of that, as Missouri S&T finished by winning the Consolation bracket. In our next match against the No. 6 team in the nation (Adrian U.), we came out and dominated against a great team so I think that the confidence we got from that comeback played a big part in that.

Q: What does a ninth-place finish at Nationals mean for the men’s club volleyball team?

A: We were extremely pleased with our ninth-place finish at Nationals, and I think that our strong finish this year will carry right over into our season next year, since we only lose one senior from the Nationals squad to graduation. We’re already looking forward to making a return trip to Nationals again next year, and I think that our ninth-place finish in the nation this year gave us the confidence that we needed to believe in our abilities and continue making progress as a team.

Q: What do you think the future has in store for the men’s club volleyball team?

A: We definitely believe that we can have an even better season next year and even in years to come after that, as we have a very young team and I have already talked with multiple incoming freshmen who are looking to come in and make a difference next year. Overall, we’re just grateful for the support that we’ve seen from alumni and we’re definitely ready to continue making strides towards leaving a lasting legacy and tradition here on campus after we’re gone. And who knows, maybe bringing home a National Championship is in our future.

Categories
Beyond the Bison Sports

Beyond the Bison: Inconsistent rulings irritate hockey fans

By Winnie Warner
Arts & Life Layout Editor

It’s NHL playoff season and it has started rough. Rough for heartbroken fans, rough for the losing teams, and especially rough for the players at the mercy of the string of dirty hits and scrums that have defined the first round of playoffs.  In the 28 post-season games that were completed by Wednesday night, there were 1,006 penalty minutes, seven injuries caused by dirty plays and eight suspensions. 

At the center of these controversies is the series between longstanding rivals the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins, whose Game Three resulted in 158 penalty minutes caused by a multitude of scrums, fights, and “chippy” plays.  While Game Three stood out for its more-than-usual rowdiness, it wasn’t that far from the norm of recent Flyers-Penguins games.  The next-to-last regular season match between the two concluded with an end-of-game brawl in which the coaches were climbing over their benches to yell at each other.

Games like these have created the need for the NHL to step in to try and take control of the situation by issuing fines and suspensions. Dirty plays and suspensions are nothing new to the game, but recent years have seen a rise in disputes over hits with intent to injure, such as knee-to-knee hits and “headshots.”

At the helm of this decision process is Brendan Shanahan, the NHL’s Vice President of Hockey and Business Development and lead disciplinarian. Shanahan assesses plays in question based upon the extent of the victim’s injury, whether the play appeared intentional, and whether the player in question possesses a history of similar plays.  Now, Shanahan is garnering some flack from fans who feel that the decision processes is flawed and uneven.  Their main rallying point is one of the most controversial plays in the playoffs so far.  In Game One of the Nashville Predators and Detroit Red Wings series, Predators captain Shea Weber checked veteran Red Wing Henrik Zetterberg into the boards and then proceeded to grab Zetterberg’s head and slam it into the glass, all of which occurred within the last seconds of the game.  Zetterberg fell to the ice immediately, but with the protection of his helmet he sustained no injury.  For this, Weber was only fined $2,500.

Fans are becoming more and more irked as they watch their teams’ players receive suspensions while others, like Weber don’t. Their annoyance deepens into anger when they see their favorite players injured by such play time and again.

When a game becomes marred by the loss of a favorite player to injury, or loss of respect for a favorite player who intentionally causes injury, it loses a bit of fun in watching the sport. The playoffs are inherently watched by a larger audience than regular season games, and the large amount of dirty play does nothing to dissuade those who only see hockey players as barbaric thugs on skates. NHL, it is your time to act!

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Baseball Men Sports

Athlete of the Week: David Duffett

By Chris McCree
Sports Editor

Player Profile:

David Duffett

Senior

Infielder

Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pa.

Major: Mechanical Engineering

Season Statistics:

Avg: .329

GP-GS: 38-38

H: 50

RBIs: 29

SLG percentage: .454

OB percentage: .378

During a weekend of major playoff implications, David Duffett ’12 propelled the men’s baseball team to a 3-1 series win over Lehigh behind his consistent offensive production over the two days. The senior infielder batted .500 over the four games, notching three RBIs and three runs scored against the Mountain Hawks pitching staff. Starting strong in game one, Duffett was the only Orange and Blue player to record multiple hits and was able to get on base at least twice in each of the four contests. During the series finale, Duffett produced his strongest offensive performance of the weekend, going 3-5 to help the Bison to a one-run victory.

“My coaches and teammates put me in great opportunities to contribute to the team and I was fortunate enough to come through for them,” Duffett said. “We knew we were capable of playing well and we were able to put it all together this weekend against Lehigh. The pitching staff did a great job against their offense and we were able to hit well enough to win the series.”

Duffett emerged as one of the team’s most talented players last season when he took over the starting job as a junior. Last season, Duffett ranked second on the team with a .361 batting average during the regular season and recorded 18 multi-hit games. For the Bison, Duffett’s greatest quality is his durability. As a sophomore, Duffett played in 58 of 60 games and currently leads the team in games played with 38 this season.

This season, Duffett has turned his attention to being a good leader for the younger players on the team.

“My role on the team has changed a lot over the past four years,” he said. As a younger guy I always looked to the seniors to lead the team in the late innings, but now I’m one of the guys trying to help the team down the stretch. I would not have made it to this point in my career without all the support from my coaches and teammates over the years.”

Looking ahead, Duffett and the Bison have two key Patriot League series remaining on the schedule. This weekend, the team will travel to West Point to take on Army and then will close out their season at Lafayette one week later.

 

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Categories
Golf Men Sports

Men’s golf places 8th in VA; 9th at Lafayette

By Alex Wagner

Assistant Sports Editor

The men’s golf team had a consistent outing the past weekend, finishing eighth at the Manor Intercollegiate and in ninth at the Lafayette Invitational.

The first tournament was held at the Manor Resort in Farmville, Va. on Friday and Saturday. Will Bachman ’12 and Schuyler Stitzer ’14 were the top performers for the Orange and Blue, both finishing in a tie at 29th place, with 233 strokes overall.

Pete Scialabba ’15 was not far behind, finishing with just two more strokes and a tie for 36th. Dan Bernard ’13 and Jon Hartman ’13 rounded out the Bison’s finish with 237 strokes each and a tie for 41st place.

Unfortunately, the individual results did not stack up well, and the Bison ended up in eighth place out of 10 teams with a score of 928. Seton Hall finished the event in first with an overall team score of 880. Dylan Jensen of Longwood put in the best individual performance of 209 strokes.

The Lafayette Invitational, played on Sunday and Monday at the Northampton Country Club in Easton Pa., proved to be a more successful outing for the Orange and Blue. They showed their depth by bringing in five new players for the tournament and placing ninth out of 15 teams.

J.J. Szmadzinski ’13 and Patrick Hagerty ’15 led the way for the Bison, finishing in a tie for 23rd place. Szmadzinski’s high finish was due in part to a wonderful second day of play, in which he shot a 73, just one above par. This score was the eighth best for that day out of a pool of 84 players. Hagerty shot consistently well, with a 78 on Sunday and a 77 the day after.

Billy Wright ’14, Zach Pogust ’15 and Thomas Walter ’14 contributed to the strong team effort, finishing with scores of 156, 160 and 161, respectively.

Hofstra University finished in first place at the event, with an overall team score of 600, while Carter Rufe of Lafayette and Jeremy Foran of St. Francis (PA) tied for the top individual spot with 144.

The next action for the Bison will be the Navy Invitational on April 21.

 

Categories
Softball Sports Women

Softball continues to struggle

By Thomas Walter
Writer

The softball team suffered six losses this week at the hands of Army and Saint Francis (Pa.). Playing at home over the weekend, the Orange and Blue lost all four of their games to the Black Knights with the closest contest being a 6-3 loss on April 14. Following the Patriot League series, the Bison were swept once again by Saint Francis, managing to score just one run in the two games.

The Orange and Blue have been swept in six of their last seven series and have lost 23 out of their last 24 games. Deep into the season, the Bison have nearly played themselves out of title contention and need to find a way to get their bats to come alive if they hope to have any chance to make the league tournament.

Against Army, again the Bison had their chances to score but could not convert.  On the second day of the two-day series, the Orange and the Blue left a total of 12 runners on base. 

On April 17, Saint Francis outscored the Orange and the Blue 15–1 over two games. This continues the streak of the Bison getting violently outscored by all the opponents they have faced in the last two months.

Currently, the squad sits at 6-31 with a 0-12 record in the Patriot League.

“We are going to continue giving our all every pitch,” catcher/outfielder Meredith Dickson ’12 said. “We are looking forward  to coming together as a team. Our love for the game will show through.”

The Bison will host Holy Cross this coming weekend before traveling to Lafayette for their final series of the regular season.

Categories
Baseball Featured Men Sports

Coach Gene Depew to retire after 31 seasons

By Eric Brod
Senior Writer

When Gene Depew’s career comes to an end at the conclusion of the 2012 season, his 31st as manager for Bison baseball, he will leave a legacy as the top manager in program history and one of the greatest leaders of the entire sports program. While accumulating numerous personal accolades, Depew has established the Bison as a perennial contender in the Patriot League and one of the most consistent programs in the nation. More than that, he has molded leaders through his teaching of baseball and life.

Depew, a 1971 graduate of the University, has won Patriot League Coach of the year four times (1993, 1996, 2003, 2009) and over his 31 years as manager has racked up 570 wins, by the far the most in program history. What is most impressive is how much the program has improved throughout his career, especially within the past 16 seasons.

During this time, the Orange and Blue have finished in first or second in regular season league play eight times, have recorded 20 wins in 12 of those years and have had three 30-win seasons. Most impressively, the team has won five league tournament titles and captured the regular season title six times in past 16 years.

From 2008 to 2010, he was at the helm of three Patriot League title teams, with the team winning the league tournament in 2008 and 2010 and earning a regular season title in 2009. These three seasons represent arguably the most impressive stretch in program history. In 2010, Depew led the team to its fifth league title during his career as the fourth-seeded Bison defeated both top-seeded Army and two-seed Holy Cross on back to back weekends. During the 2009 campaign, Depew guided the team to a 13-7 record in league play. In 2008, Depew oversaw the most memorable and impressive win in program history when the Orange and Blue defeated No. 4 Florida State in the first round of the NCAA tournament. For Depew, this was also the most memorable moment of his career:

“I can’t choose a [favorite] team, there have been too many great ones. I can choose a game and memory: the Florida State 7-0 win in the NCAA tournament in 2008.”

It was only the fourth time ever that a Patriot League team won a game in the NCAA tournament.

Depew has also overseen great individual players, having coached four Patriot League Pitchers of the year (Mike Tomko, 1996; Mike Anders, 1998; Kevin Miller, 2003; Ryan Ebner, 2011), four Patriot League Players of the year (Kevin Silverman, 1996; Frank Fresconi, 2000; Jason Buursma, 2008; Andrew Brouse, 2010) and two Rookies of the Year (Phil Futrick, 2003; Ben Yoder, 2007). While all the accolades won through his time have meant a lot, Depew says the most rewarding part has been to work with so many different players.

“The opportunity to work with talented, motivated and quality student athletes. So many things have changed over the years, but that has been the constant,” Depew said.

For Bob Donato ’12, Coach Depew has certainly left a mark.

“Throughout the four years I have been with Coach Depew I have learned to always look at the positive side of things,” Donato said. “He wants us to get better every day and put everything we have into it.”

Depew’s presence was felt off the field as well. 

“My favorite memory is the Johnny The Bell Hop card trick that [Depew] does at the airport right before we fly down to Florida for spring break. He has never messed it up in my four years,” Donato said.

While Depew still has to finish this season out, he already has an idea of what he wants his lasting legacy to be on the program.

“I want to be remembered as someone who contributed to a positive Bucknell educational experience for my players.”