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Men Sports Track & Field Women

Webster, Joseph set new records

Eric Brod

Senior Writer

Competing on their home track, the Bison men’s and women’s track and field teams had strong performances at the Bison Outdoor Classic last weekend at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. Both teams had several athletes place in the top 10.

On the men’s side, Luke Webster ’13 led the charge on April 13 in the field events. Webster broke his own program record in the discus with a throw of 172-1. In total, the Orange and Blue had four throwers place in the top 10 in the discus.

“One of the biggest factors in how everyone threw this week was the weather,” Webster said. “The warmer weather finally allowed for some good, consistent outdoor training which is pretty essential to a strictly outdoor event like discus.”

In the hammer throw, Leonard Joseph ’13 also set a program record, finishing first with a throw of 209-11 feet and was the only competitor to break the 200-foot mark in the event. Webster also finished fourth in the shot put with a throw of 52-4 3/4.

On the track, John Dugan ’15 finished fifth in the steeplechase in 9:13.34. Ray Holmes ’14 continued his strong outdoor season, finishing first in the triple jump with a distance of 48-11 3/4. Also on the track, Justin Hicks ’13 won the 100 m race in 10.74 seconds and finished fourth in the 200 m race in 21.42 seconds. Christian Lupica ’15 took second in the 200 m in 21.26 seconds. In the mid-distance events, Alex Jagelsky ’15 finished second in the 800 m race in 1:52.16.

On the women’s side, both the track and field athletes had strong performances. Erin Norris ’15 finished eighth in the javelin with a throw of 131-11 feet. Also shining in the field events was Abby Monaghan ’13, who finished fourth in the discus with a throw of 150-1.

Continuing on the strong performance, Emily Ando ’14 kept the Orange and Blue rolling, finishing in a tie for third in the pole vault, clearing a height of 11-8 1/2. On the track, Sasha Hornock ’13 finished sixth in the 100 m race in 12.49 seconds. In the 400 m race, Jennifer Zymet ’14 finished sixth in 56.56 seconds.

“Because of the stagger, it is initially difficult to determine how in reach you are of your competition,” Zymet said. “So your first 200 needs to be quick, because it’s too difficult to make up ground on your competitors if you start out behind.”

The teams will return to action Saturday when they host the Bucknell Team Challenge at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium, starting at 9:30 a.m.

“As for our upcoming meet, there is going to be some good teams, such as Penn State, so we are looking to compete well,” Zymet said. “Coach [Kevin] Donner always says that when we compete well with good teams, our times and marks will show it.”

Categories
Lacrosse Sports Women

Women’s lacrosse wins three

Ajan Caneda

Copy Editor

It was a Senior Day to remember for the women’s lacrosse team as it came away with a hard-fought 10-9 victory against Holy Cross on April 13, earning its first Patriot League win since 2009. The Bison then concluded a solid week by defeating Saint Francis (Pa.) 9-7 on April 16 to earn their third straight victory. Seniors Ryan Wenk, Madison Hurwitz and Adrienne Wendling were honored before the Holy Cross match.

“I’m most proud about leaving this team and program on a better position for the future than what I came into. With so many great girls returning and such great coaches, the future of the program is very bright,” Hurwitz said.

After Holy Cross scored the game’s first two goals in the opening minutes, the Bison responded with four straight goals, including two from Wendling. Caroline O’Neill ’15 made a crucial save, leading to the team’s first possession. Wenk capitalized and dished an assist to Wendling for the Bison’s first goal of the match. Wenk’s tally at the end of the first half gave the Bison the 5-4 edge at halftime.

“Every play was about being as scrappy as possible and leaving it out on the field. Our connections on attack were flawless; I felt as though I heard Wenk to Wendling, Wendling to Wenk numerous times over the loud speaker,” Wendling said.

Holy Cross regained the advantage in the second half, posting two goals. Hurwitz was the catalyst for the offense, assisting Katelyn Miller ’14 and Cori Thielemann ’15 for two more tallies to steal the lead back. The duo of Wenk and Wendling concluded a 3-0 run for the Bison, as Wendling found Wenk for her second goal.

“As a senior unit, we were able to execute what each of us do best. Madison had numerous assists, Ryan was accurate in her shots and I was able to play solid D and maintain composure on attack,” Wendling said.

Holy Cross evened the score at eight with 12:35 remaining in the game. Hurwitz posted her only goal at the 11:05 mark, and Wenk dished the ball to Thielemann, who scored her second goal of the game, to gain a two-goal advantage for the Bison. After the Crusaders made it a one-goal game, the Bison came up huge defensively, as Miller made two critical defensive plays to seal the victory.

“Beating Holy Cross and our celebration on the field after just shows how much of a team we are–from the last girl on the bench to each and every starter–everyone wanted and played a part in that game,” Wendling said.

Against Saint Francis, the Orange and Blue carried a slight 5-4 lead into the half. The Bison scored three straight goals in the second half to open up their largest lead of the game. Kerri Althouse ’14 clinched the match after forcing a turnover that resulted in a goal for Miller. Wenk and Miller each finished with hat tricks, while Hurwitz dished four assists to pace the Bison offense. The team also held strong defensively, forcing 16 Saint Francis turnovers.

The Bison conclude their regular season Saturday when they face Marist in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. at 4 p.m.

Categories
Sports Water Polo Women

Water polo splits last regular season games

Billy Tyler

Assistant Sports Editor

After a long hiatus, the women’s water polo team swam back into action last weekend and finished off its regular season on the road against Mercyhurst and Princeton. The Bison topped Mercyhurst 14-6 on April 6, but fell in their regular season finale to No. 12 Princeton 14-5 on April 7. The Orange and the Blue concluded their regular season with a record of 5-15 overall and 2-3 in CWPA Southern Division play.

Against Mercyhurst, the Bison jumped out to an early 3-1 lead in the first quarter, and continued to pile on goals in the second quarter to gain an 8-2 advantage by halftime. Though Mercyhurst’s offense picked up in the second half, the Orange and the Blue allowed no more than two goals during any quarter, largely in part to goalie Rena Heim ’14 and her 10 saves. Leading the offense for the Bison were Taylor Barnett ’15 and Hannah Sunday ’16 with four goals each, while Barbara Peterson ’15 also found the back of the cage twice.

The Bison found a more challenging opponent in Princeton, the eighth nationally-ranked team the Orange and Blue have faced in the past month. The Bison were able to grab a 4-1 lead over Princeton in the first quarter, and went into halftime with the score tied 5-5. The Bison offense would be held scoreless for the remainder of the match, while Princeton went on a 9-0 scoring streak to put the match out of reach. Leading the Bison offense this time was Julianne Valdes ’14, with two goals and one assist, while Heim recorded 10 saves for the second straight game.

Next up for the Bison will be the Southern Championships, where they will once again face top-seeded Princeton. The Bison will travel to Brown University for this rematch on Saturday at 10 a.m.

Categories
Sports Tennis Women

Women’s tennis beats Colgate

Emily Evancho

Writer

The women’s tennis team fell to Towson 6-1 on April 4, with Elena Vidrascu ’14 and Maria Cioffi ’16 recording the Bison’s only two victories. The Bison were able to bounce back from this loss with a 4-3 win over Colgate on April 6, their first Patriot League victory of the season.

In doubles against Towson, Cioffi and Vidrascu secured the only doubles triumph for the Bison with an 8-4 win. The Orange and Blue’s other doubles teams were not as successful.  The team of Jen Bush ’15 and Lydia Colvin ’15 swung into a defeat of 8-4, while Sam Madnick ’16 and Stephanie Pino ’16 were also overpowered by their Towson counterparts (8-3).

The Bison had the same turnout in singles matches. Cioffi came close to pulling in a victory for the Orange and Blue, but couldn’t maintain her lead in the super tie-breaker, finishing the match with a 10-5 defeat. Vidrascu brought the team its only victory with a 6-1, 7-6 triumph, helping to prevent a shutout by Towson.

The Orange and Blue refused to be fazed by the loss and came back strong in the next match against Colgate. The doubles teams of Cioffi/Vidrascu and Bush/Elizabeth Morgan ’14 pulled in the doubles points with dual victories while Cioffi and Vidrascu both clinched victories in their singles matches. Pino raked in a two-set tiebreaker and came away with a 6-4, 7-6 victory, clinching the win for the Orange and Blue.

The women’s tennis team will return home this weekend for its next two matches. The Bison will host Army Saturday at noon and Lafayette on April 14 at 10 a.m.

Categories
Softball Sports Women

Softball opens series against Colgate with shutout win

Thomas Walter

Senior Writer

The Bison travelled to Hamilton, N.Y. on April 6-7 to play four games against Patriot League rival Colgate. A fantastic effort from pitcher Amanda Fazio ’16 gave the Orange and the Blue a 7-0 victory in game one, marking the first win against the Raiders since the 2010 Patriot League Championships. The Bison could not match their success in game two as they fell 3-2 in extra innings. The Bison also lost both games of the doubleheader on April 7 by final scores of 4-2 and 8-5.

Fazio dominated game one, and recorded her second straight start without allowing any earned runs. Colie Escobar ’15 got the Bison on the board with a two-run homer in the second, and Fazio never let the lead slip away. Also adding RBI’s for the Bison were Cassie Greenhawk ’13, Cydnee Sanders ’15 and Erin Cox ’15. The Bison also got off to a quick start in game two thanks to an RBI double by Sanders, but the Raiders responded with two solo home runs. Though Courtney Conover ’14 tied up the game with an RBI single in the fifth, Fazio gave up a lone run in 3.2 innings of relief to give the game to the Raiders.

The Bison led early in games three and four, but both leads slipped away as Colgate came back to win each game. Escobar led the offense on April 7 by going 2-2 with another home run and a double, while Cox, Sanders and Mary Horton ’13 all recorded multi-hit games. The two losses moved the Bison’s record to 2-6 in the Patriot League, and 9-24 overall.

“So far our record hasn’t shown what we all would like to see, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t improving. Every game this year, I can see how much better we are than last year,” Escobar said. “We have the talent, we just need to regain the confidence and we are slowly making that progress. This weekend against Colgate showed us we have the potential to win any Patriot League game. As long as we continue to stay focused and keep playing our hardest, we will be successful.”

The Bison will look to earn some much-needed wins and leap up in the Patriot League standings as they host the Lafayette Leopards this weekend in another four-game series.  The first pitch will be thrown Saturday at noon.

Categories
Men Sports Track & Field Women

Track teams finish 2nd, 8th

Eric Brod

Senior Writer

The Bison men’s and women’s track and field teams continued their strong spring seasons with an impressive showing at the Colonial Relays last weekend in Williamsburg, Va. The men’s team finished second while the women’s team came away with an eighth place finish.

The Bison men finished the Colonial Relays with a team total of 113 points, while first-place Rutgers won with 128. The top performers for the Orange and Blue were the members of the 4×100 meter relay, who finished in first place in 41.53 seconds. Also shining for the Bison was Christian Lupica ’15, who finished first among collegiate competitors in the 100-meter hurdles in 14.25 seconds, which set a career best and broke the program record previously set in 2012.

“Breaking a school record is always fun,” Lupica said. “They aren’t usually the main goal, but through trying to run fast and [achieve] competitive times, they become secondary goals that help to motivate me and are exciting to surpass.”

In the field, Luke Webster ’13 finished second in the discus with a throw of 160-2 feet, while teammate Leonard Joseph ’13 finished in sixth with a throw of 148-3 feet. In the triple jump, Ray Holmes ’14 finished second with a jump of 49-4 1/4.

For the women, many individuals and relays shined en route to an eighth place finish for the Orange and Blue. The team finished with 53 points, while winner Rutgers finished with 104. The 4×200 meter relay team of Jennifer Zymet ’14, Sasha Hornock ’13, Jess Bridle ’16 and Kim Nagotko ’15 finished in 1:41.35 minutes, which set a new program record en route to a third place finish.

“The race strategy for a 4×200 is just to have all four people run their fastest in the same race, which is hard to do,” Hornock said. “Additionally, having three smooth handoffs can make a substantial difference in the relay time.”

The distance medley relay also put up a strong performance, finishing third in 11:57.32 minutes. In the field, Abby Monaghan ’13 finished fourth in the discus with a throw of 138-3 feet, and Alexandra Romanelli ’13 finished seventh in the triple jump with a jump of 36-4 1/4.

The Bison will host their first home meet of the season this weekend at the Bison Outdoor Classic, which is scheduled to take place from April 13-14 at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium.

Categories
Lacrosse Sports Women

Women’s lax defeats St. Bonaventure 17-9

 

Heather Oros | The Bucknellian No. 4 Madison Hurwitz '13 drives to the goal. The Bison split games this past weekend, losing 13-8 to Lafayette then rebounding in their next match with a 17-9 win over St. Bonaventure.
Heather Oros | The Bucknellian
No. 4 Madison Hurwitz ’13 drives to the goal. The Bison split games this past weekend, losing 13-8 to Lafayette then rebounding in their next match with a 17-9 win over St. Bonaventure.

Ajan Caneda

Copy Editor

The women’s lacrosse team began its week with a 13-8 home loss against Lafayette on April 6, but bounced back behind a career-high seven-goal performance by Madison Hurwitz ’13 to defeat St. Bonaventure 17-9 on April 9.

Sam Rickels ’16 posted the first goal of the game against the Leopards off of a free position shot. Lafayette traded goals with the Orange and Blue in the early minutes, as Cori Thielemann ’15 evened the score at three apiece. Unfortunately for the Bison, the Leopards closed the half on a 4-0 run.

Ryan Wenk ’13 ended the Bison scoring drought with a tally at the 20:07 mark followed by an Adrienne Wendling ’13 goal two minutes later off an assist from Wenk. But that would be as close as the Bison would get, as the Leopards scored three unanswered goals to make it a seven-goal deficit for the Bison, and put the game out of reach.

Despite the loss, Caroline Collins ’15 had a solid game with three caused turnovers, two ground balls and two draw controls.

It was a better result against St. Bonaventure, as Katelyn Miller ’14 and Hurwitz accounted for 12 of the Bison’s 17 goals en route to their third victory of the season. The Bison went on a couple of 4-0 runs to lead 9-3 at the half, while holding a 20-5 shot advantage. Miller dished out three assists and scored three goals in the half.

“In our game on Saturday (Lafayette), we struggled with a lot of offensive turnovers due to a lack of focus, but we definitely cleaned that up a lot for St. Bonaventure and it really showed in the score,” Miller said.

The Orange and Blue continued to shine in the second half, adding another eight tallies. Hurwitz, Miller and Rickels were part of another 4-0 run, ending a terrific offensive night for the Bison.

Thielemann, Sophie Kleinert ’14 and Blair McDonald ’15 each scored a goal in the win. Miller’s five goals brought her to the 30-goal mark for the second straight season. Wendling finished with seven ground balls, one away from the program’s single-game record. In addition, Miller recorded a career-best nine points in the victory.

“I was able to get a lot of draws because Sophie [Kleinert] was able to control where the ball was going every time, which made it easy for me to get into a good position on the circle. Offensively, we really worked as a team which made it easy to feed people,” Miller said.

The Bison will host Senior Day against Holy Cross Saturday at 1 p.m. at Graham Field. Hurwitz, Wendling and Wenk will all be recognized before the game.

“I am very proud about leaving the program in better standing for the future than when I joined and am really excited about continuing to end the season very strong both personally and as a team, hopefully getting our first Patriot League win this Saturday,” Hurwitz said.

Categories
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.

Categories
Sports Tennis Women

Women’s tennis falls flat

Emily Evancho

Writer

The women’s tennis team struggled through its first-ever loss at Saint Joseph’s on April 2. Stephanie Pino ’16 recorded the only victory in the 6-1 defeat for the Orange and Blue.

The Bison began the match with three defeats in doubles play. The team of Lydia Colvin ’15 and Pino swung the closest to securing a win, but couldn’t stop an 8-4 loss in the No. 2 doubles position.

The Hawks continued their sweep through singles play, receiving five wins over the Orange and Blue. Colvin showed her spirit and gave her opponent a fighting challenge, but ultimately fell in the No. 3 spot with a 7-5, 6-3 decision. Pino was the only Bison to beat a Hawk in the match, ending her singles play with the final scores of 1-6, 6-1, and 6-3. Pino’s success earned a point for the Orange and Blue, but by that time, the outcome of the match had already been decided.

“The tennis team has had a busy spring season filled with some tough matches against some good teams. Overall, we have played well as a team in some close matches that have not always gone our way, but all the players have shown great team spirit and support for one another. We take it one match at a time as we look forward to our next Patriot League match against Colgate on Saturday,” Pino said.

The women’s tennis team will swing back onto the court tomorrow for its next match against Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y.

Categories
Softball Sports Women

Low offense hurts softball

Thomas Walter

Senior Writer

In a busy week on the diamond, the Orange and Blue lost three of four games to Lehigh over the weekend before splitting a two-game series against La Salle.

The Orange and the Blue split the opening doubleheader against Lehigh on March 29. Tori Robinson ’15 and Kristen Zahn ’15 drove in the Bison’s two runs in the night game as they won 2-1. The Bison lost the first game 6-1 as Lehigh took a commanding lead early by scoring five unanswered runs in the first five innings.

It was a difficult outing for the Bison, as they dropped both games of the doubleheader on March 30. The Bison lost 5-2 in game one, when after assuming a 2-1 lead in the second inning, the Bison offense was shut down while Lehigh rallied to take the lead and score several insurance runs.

The Orange and Blue then fell 3-1 in game two, when pitcher Amanda Fazio ’16 lost the shutout in the seventh inning thanks to a three-run home run by Lehigh. The offense proved to be a problem for the Orange and the Blue, who scored a total of six runs over four games. It was a trend that continued into their series with La Salle.

The Bison were shut out 8-0 in the first game against La Salle, but responded with a 7-0 win against the Explorers in game two. It was a much-needed bit of momentum for the Orange and the Blue as the team finally showed its offensive potential. In the sixth inning, the Bison scored four runs on three hits, thanks to Mary Horton ’13 driving in two runs and Cydnee Sanders ’15 knocked in the third.

“The shutout against Lasalle was a confidence booster and proved to ourselves that we can compete with any team,” Caryn Connors ’14 said. “Going into a Patriot League weekend competition with a win is always uplifting. During our games against Colgate and other Patriot League schools to come, we need to take each game out by out, inning by inning. We can compete with each and every team when we play our game and stay in control.”

The Bison will look to build on their positive offensive momentum as they continue Patriot League play this weekend when they travel to Hamilton, N.Y. to face Colgate.