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Bison Athlete of the Week

By Cooper Sutton

Sports Editor

Mike Nicholson ’14

Biography:

Class: First-year

Events: IM, Breaststroke, Butterfly

Hometown: Chappaqua, N.Y.

Major: Undeclared

Stats:

400 IM: 3:52.09 (1st)

200 IM: 1:49.75 (3rd)

200 fly: 1:51.56 (7th)

Total points: 48

In the first Patriot League Championships of his career, Mike Nicholson ’14 broke two school records in the 400 and 200-meter individual medleys.

By coming in first in the 400 IM, he became the first Bison first-year to win a championship event since 2007. “Winning the 400 IM was probably the biggest thrill of my life,” Nicholson said.

With an impressive 48 points, Nicholson not only led his team, but also led all non-Midshipmen swimmers in the meet. Nicholson’s performance is no surprise to Bison fans since he has been performing at this level all year.

Even with such success, he remains humble. “I attribute all of my success to my teammates and coaches who have pushed me throughout the year,” Nicholson said.

Nicholson will look to continue his dazzling rookie season next weekend at the ECAC Championships.

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Sports

Women’s golf finishes 26th in S.C.

By Thomas Walter

Contributing Writer

The women’s golf team traveled to Kiawah Island, S.C. this past weekend to compete in the three-day Edwin Watts/Kiawah Island Intercollegiate for its first tournament of the spring season. The Bison shot a three-day total of 959 to finish 26th out of 33 teams. Katie Jurenovich ’11 led the Orange and the Blue as she tied for 46th with a three-day individual total of 231.

After finding success this past fall season, the Bison looked to continue their momentum into the spring season. They began their season with a challenge in this tournament that included some of the best teams in women’s golf such as the University of Miami and the University of Nebraska.

“We have a young team so it was very important for us to just remain confident and remind ourselves to just do the best we can because we haven’t been able to practice on grass like most of the other teams have.” Jurenovich said.  “I think we still have a lot of mental work to do for the rest of the season in just believing in ourselves and that we can make every shot.”

Out of the five players that traveled to Kiawah, three were first-years. Lauren Bernard ’14, Kasha Scott ’14 and Bridget Wilcox ’14 joined Jurenovich and Minjoo Lee ’12. Wilcox led the first-years, finishing with a three-day total of 242.

One of the most promising things from the trip down south was that after opening with a 331 on Sunday, the Bison rebounded Monday and Tuesday with scores of 313 and 315, respectively.

Lee said that she feels as though there might have been some rust on the first day of competition.

“We all have been practicing really hard,” Lee said. “The scores at Kiawah may not have necessarily reflected the hard work but the conditions were extremely hard.”

The women will look to continue their improvement when they play again on March 14-15 at the Jackrabbit Invitational in Primm, Nev.

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Basketball clinches regular season title

By Greg Stevenson

Senior Writer

Already with 19 wins and double-digit conference victories on the year to their credit, all the Bison had left to do to complete a thrilling regular season was beat the Colgate Raiders Sunday afternoon on the road and secure the Patriot League regular season title and home court throughout the conference tournament.

Leading the way to that crucial victory was the Bison bench, who added 31 points and 26 rebounds to overcome a tough Raider squad, 77-69.

“It feels great to win the regular season because it was one of our goals that we set in the beginning of the year,” Cameron Ayers ’14 said . “Home court advantage is a big key going into the postseason, but we have to go out and play our game because any team in this league can beat us on any given night.”

The “go out and play” mentality was exactly what the Orange and Blue took out onto the court against the Raiders. Trailing by as many as 10 points in the first half, the Bison did not panic, quickly fighting back in the second half to take the lead and come away with the victory.

Five Bison scored in double figures, including both Ayers and G.W. Boon ’11 off the bench. Once again, the Orange and Blue made their free throws, converting 15 of 17 from the line. The Bison still rank in the top five in the nation in free-throw percentage, at fourth behind Wisconsin, Harvard, and Colorado with a 78.8 percent mark.

The Orange and Blue followed up the league championship-clinching victory with another impressive win at home, cruising past the Lehigh Mountain Hawks, 72-55 Wednesday night. In the first nine minutes of play, the Mountain Hawks jumped to a 26-18 advantage. But the Bison defense clamped down on C.J. McCollum, the leading scorer in the Patriot League, and the rest of the Lehigh offense, allowing just 29 points for the rest of the contest.

“Lehigh is a very dangerous team as they are so explosive offensively,” Enoch Andoh ’12 said . “We know that they put up their best shot but we tuned in defensively to slow them down in transition, keep them off the offensive class and collectively contain McCollum.”

On both ends of the floor, the Bison rode a balanced offense and defense to victory. A near triple-double (13 points, nine rebounds and six assists) by Bryan Cohen ’12 and the quick hands (five steals) of Darryl Shazier ’11 kept the Mountain Hawks from making any legitimate comeback in the second half.

“Lehigh posed an up-tempo style of play and we had to stop them in transition, number one,” Ayers said . “Secondly, they have the best scorer in the league [McCollum] who can dictate an entire game, so my team and I had to be locked in defensively every second he was in the game.”

As the regular season comes to a close, the Army Black Knights will come to Sojka Pavilion Saturday afternoon to face the top-seeded Bison. For the Orange and Blue, the game means a lot. The Bison will be honoring their three seniors, Shazier, Boon and Stephen Tyree, for their four years of service to the team. But it also means avenging a 20-point loss to the Black Knights one month ago, their only conference loss to date. A Bison victory would also mean that Army would automatically receive the eight-seed in the conference tournament and a match-up with the Orange and Blue again on Wednesday night in the Patriot League quarterfinals.

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Sports

Women’s basketball wins one, loses one

By Eric Weiss

Senior Writer

The women’s basketball team defeated Colgate at home Saturday 79-64 but fell to Lehigh 72-39 on the road Wednesday.

Cosima Higham ’11 answered the bell on Senior Night for the Bison as she netted one of the most impressive games of her career. Leading all scorers with 22 points as well as pulling down six rebounds and dishing out five assists, she shot well over 80 percent for the game.

The Orange and Blue never allowed Colgate to get into the mix as they used their ability to score on second chance points all night. The Bison utilized a 14-6 run to build a 12-point halftime lead as the Colgate offense was anemic during many points of the game.

Coming out of the locker-room, the Bison held their lead steady until a 7-0 run just a few minutes into the second half put the game away.

“I think one of the many things that has helped us play so well this late in the season is that as a team we’re really starting to exploit how we can use our different strengths to score in a lot of different ways on offense,” Higham said.

Joining Higham in double figures was Shelby Romine ’14 with 17 points and Rachel Voss ’13 with 10 points.

In the Lehigh game, both the Mountain Hawks and Bison got off to slow starts on the offensive side of the ball as the Bison actually held a 14-13 lead with just under 11 minutes to play in the first half. At this point Lehigh continued its full-court press, causing the Bison to score only four more points in the half. By the time the buzzer sounded to end the first the Bison stared down the wrong end of a 34-18 score.

The story was much the same as the Mountain Hawks continued to pound the ball inside as the Bison committed multiple turnovers. With a 15-4 run in the second half, the team from Bethlehem, Pa. put the game out of reach for the Orange and Blue.

No member of the team was able to reach double digits in scoring. Taylor Phillips ’11 had the high mark for the team with eight.

“We are still learning, I think that’s an important lesson,” Higham said. “We need to work on making sure that we stay together as a team.”

The Orange and Blue will play one final game before they begin Patriot League play as they take on Army at West Point. This game has serious implications for the seeding of the Patriot League Tournament so the Bison will fight hard to secure a quarterfinal home game during the Tournament.

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Sports

Women’s lacrosse team dominates Howard

By Andrew Arnao

Contributing Writer

The women’s lacrosse team scoring a school-record 24 goals en route to a 24-5 victory over Howard on Saturday.

The Bison quickly got out to a 4-0 lead, which eventually led to a 10-4 halftime score. They then scored 14 unanswered points to make it 24-4 before Howard got another shot on goal with 16 seconds remaining.

Julia Braun ’11 was the star of the game for the Bison, scoring a career-high six goals and adding an assist for a total of seven points during the game. Ali Carey ’14, who scored five goals in her electric collegiate debut last week, scored four goals and added an assist, despite not playing most of the second half.

“The Howard game was definitely a good boost for our team after the loss against St. Bonaventure,” Carey said. “We really focused on the things we worked on in practice all last week and did a great job at executing them.”

Other top scorers for the Bison were Madison Hurwitz ’13 with four goals, Katelyn Miller ’14 and Lindsey Ferro ’14 with three, and Molly Ford ’14 with two. Ford also led the team with five assists.

Alyssa DeLorenz ’11 allowed four goals and made four saves in the first half. Howard managed only one shot on goal throughout the entire second half, allowing Emily Fask ’14 to replace DeLorenz for the last 7:30 of the game.

“We played a complete game against Howard,” said midfielder Sophie Kleinert ’14, who scored her first collegiate goal in the game. “Our defense played really well and our offense was explosive. I think this game shows what we are capable of.”

The Orange and Blue were dominant in all aspects of the game. They out-shot Howard 45 to 9 and won the draw control battle 20-11.

The Bison next play Sunday at home against Robert Morris.

“For Robert Morris, I think we just need to focus on playing both halves as well as we played in the second half of Howard and to come out strong instead of taking some time to adjust,” Carey said. “And obviously come out with a win.”

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Sports

Men’s lacrosse opens season strong

By Eric Brod

Senior Writer

The men’s lacrosse team dominated in its season opener, winning a 17-2 home victory over Canisisus. The Orange and Blue displayed their depth and versatility on offense and showed how impenetrable their defense can be.

Leading the offensive attack was Nick Gantsoudes ’12, who registered a career-high five goals. He recorded a hat trick at the 10-minute mark of the second quarter, helping the Bison break open the game with eight goals in the second quarter to take a 10-1 lead. In his collegiate debut, Todd Heritage ’14 scored three goals.

“I was able to get into the comfort zone from the very beginning of the game,” Heritage said. “My teammates helped calm my nerves, and as the game progressed it was just like any other lacrosse game.”

Jake Clarke ’11 was solid on faceoffs, winning nine of 14.

The defense, led by John Collett ’11, Alex Lyons ’11 and Jason Neithamer ’12 controlled the game by keeping play out of their territory and forcing five turnovers. Goalie Kyle Feeney ’13 was stellar in the net, making nine saves on 10 shots. He was aided by a fantastic defensive effort.

“I think the defense did a tremendous job forcing their shooters into tough spots and causing turnovers,” Feeney said. “It’s hard for an offense to get anything going when they only get 16 shots in a whole game. This game was definitely what we were looking for at the start of the season.”

The Bison face a tough task in their next contest when they face off against Villanova tomorrow at noon.

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Sports

Wrestling defeats Brown, 31-7

By Joe Ruby

Writer

The men’s wrestling team split its two EIWA matches this weekend, defeating Brown (2-13, 1-7) by a score of 31-7 before falling 25-14 to No. 8 American (14-7, 3-2). With the weekend’s results, the Bison finished the regular season with a record of 7-11 overall and 2-5 in the EIWA. Alex Pellicciotti ’14, No. 4 Kevin LeValley ’11 and Rob Waltko ’11 each won their two bouts over the weekend.

Against Brown on Saturday, the Bison got off to a good start with a 2-1 decision from Derek Reber ’13 and a pin in 2:31 by Pellicciotti. LeValley earned an 8-2 decision and Brantley Hooks ’11 and Corey Lear ’13 each scored major decisions to push the Bison’s lead to 20-4. Brown’s Jeff Lemmer closed the gap slightly with a 13-9 decision over Stephen McPeek ’14, but Waltko earned a 5-2 decision at 184 lbs and Jay Hahn ’11 and Joe McMullan ’13 finished the match with consecutive major decisions. The victory over the Bears gave the Bison a three-match winning streak.

It was a different story the following day against a very talented American line-up that featured five ranked wrestlers, including 157 lb. national No. 1 Steve Fittery. Highlights for the Bison included Pellicciotti following his pin with a 17-1 tech fall in just 2:31 and LeValley defeating No. 8 Ganbayar Sanjaa 9-6. With the victory, LeValley moved into second place all-time on the Bison’s career wins list and improved his record this season to 26-1, including a 7-1 mark against ranked opponents.

Back-to-back decisions by David Thompson ’11 and Waltko decreased the Eagles’ lead to 16-14, but American won the last two bouts, with No. 3 Ryan Flores earning a fall at heavyweight to finish the match. The match dropped the Bison’s record to 0-7 against ranked teams this year.

The Bison host the EIWA Championships all day March 5 and 6 in Sojka Pavillion.

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Sports

Water polo suffers rough losses over weekend

By Scott Padula

Contributing Writer

The women’s water polo team suffered a string of tough losses last weekend at the Maryland Invitational against George Washington, Wagner and the hosting team, the Terrapins. The losses set the team’s record to 4-3 for the season.

The Orange and Blue lost 10-8 against George Washington in their opener Saturday morning. The Colonials jumped out to a 6-4 lead by intermission and the Bison were unable to overcome the deficit despite mounting a furious comeback in the fourth quarter.

Despite the losing effort, several Bison recorded impressive numbers. Hallie Kennan ’12 netted four goals, while Haley Prickett ’11 set a new career high with five assists. The Bison also had strong performances in goal from Brittany Connell ’12 and Rena Heim ’14, who registered a combined 17 saves in 32 minutes of play.

In the Saturday nightcap, the Bison lost a nail-biter to Wagner, 13-12. The Orange and Blue held a late fourth quarter lead but could not stop the relentless Seahawk offense as Wagner found the back of the net six times in the final period.

Both Kandis Canonica ’11 and Julianne Valdes ’14 tallied three goals, while Kennan added two of her own. Canonica also dished out three assists in the losing effort. The Seahawk victory marked the first in school history against the Bison in 12 attempts.

“This weekend at Maryland was a real eye opener for a lot of our players. We have a game plan that requires every single player to be on the same page, if one person isn’t fully committed it won’t work.” Said Prickett. “Hopefully we can take these losses and use them as motivation as we prepare for the ECAC Championships this weekend.”

The Bison suffered another tough loss Sunday morning, this time 12-8 at the hands of Maryland. The Terrapins controlled the tempo as they took a 7-4 lead into the half. The Orange and Blue could not respond in the second half, falling as far as six goals behind and losing their first true road game of the season.

Eight different Bison registered points, including a pair of goals from Amanda Skonezney ’12 and Prickett as well as five assists from Canonica. Canonica’s five assists upped her career point total to 350. Canonica currently sits in third place on the University’s all-time scoring list; one behind Meagan Gins ’11 and eight behind record holder Aubrey Rowe ’11.

Said new head coach Paul Rave, “Like I told our women, though we are capable of being more dominant, sometimes it’s better to come away seeing how much potential still remains to be realized.”

The team will be back in action again this weekend when it hosts the ECAC Championship, with a first-round match against Iona Saturday at 12 p.m.

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Baseball drops first four

By Chris McCree

Writer

The baseball team began its season by losing all four of its games this past weekend at James Madison University. The Bison had a tough time with a very talented Dukes squad that produced a total of 91 runs over the four game stretch, including a 37-run outburst in the first game. Much of the Bison’s troubles stemmed from inconsistent play in the field and an inability to place their pitches where they needed to.

“Going into the weekend we were confident that we would compete with JMU on every level. They played very sound baseball most of the weekend, but we also gave them a few opportunities to score,” David Duffett ’12 said.

The Orange and Blue started out the four-game series by letting up 15 runs in the first inning and eventually losing 37-7. The Dukes racked up 10 home runs in the game, including three by catcher Jake Lowery. Despite the lopsided score, the Bison had a solid offensive game. The top two hitters in the lineup, Bob Donato ’12 and Gerry Runyan ’12, combined to go 5-for-9 with four RBIs on the day, and Scott Reed ’12 hit a home run.

The first game of Saturday’s doubleheader was the team’s best pitching performance as starter Trey Frahler ’11 worked the mound into the fifth inning. The game stayed tight to that point, but the team couldn’t seem put enough runs on the board as they fell 9-2.

As the series progressed, the Orange and Blue steadily improved and were able to put together good offensive performances. The team combined for 27 runs over the last two games after registering only nine in the first two.

“It was good to see our bats come alive in the last two games. The biggest thing we need to improve on is our defense and locating pitches better,” Reed said.

Sunday’s game proved to be the team’s best chance to win as the Bison went into the eighth inning down by only three. The Dukes then managed to plate eight runs in the eighth to close out the series with a 19-12 victory. Donato, Reed, and Douglas Shribman ’11 all drove in three runs, and Duffett recorded his second three-hit performance of the weekend.

“We need to improve in every aspect of the game,” Donato said. “The pitchers will need to focus on spotting the ball, hitters will need to have a better approach to at-bats, and defensively we will need to sharpen up, but this all comes will time. We know we can do it because we did it last year and captured the Patriot League Championship, and that’s what we’re going to do this year.”

After a week of practice, the Orange and Blue will head down to Richmond for a three-day series against the Spiders.

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Softball wins opening game of season

By Lindsay Regruto

Staff Writer

The women’s softball team started the Kickin’ Chicken Classic with a bang last weekend in Conway, S.C., shutting out James Madison in its first game. However, the Bison were unable to continue the momentum, dropping the remaining games to Coastal Carolina, Saint Joseph’s and James Madison in a second match-up.

The first game of the day on Friday saw the Bison defeat the Dukes of James Madison 4-0. Advancing into scoring position with the help of her teammates, Mallory Lyons ’14 was the first to score on a wild pitch in the second. Sam Rollandi ’11 tripled down the right line in the seventh to give the offense one last push. Elyse Colmenero ’11 and Lauren Fry ’11 walked to load the bases with all three runners scoring by the end of the inning.

The Orange and Blue defense remained strong the entire game led by Alex MacLean ’13, who allowed only two hits and struck out six. MacLean now totals 98 career strikeouts.

“Our first game against James Madison proved to be very exciting,” Alison Ford ’11 said. “We were able to push some key runs across the plate and were able to play solid defense behind a great pitching performance from Alex MacLean.”

Friday’s second game proved a bit harder for the Bison in a match-up against Coastal Carolina. With both teams displaying solid defense, the third inning ended with goose eggs across the board. The Chanticleers were the first to put runs on the board managing three in the top of the fourth with one more following in the sixth. Kathryn Wilkinson ’13 singled up the middle to end the no-hitter. Colmenero followed later with a double down the line for an R.B.I. The Orange and Blue were unable to rally and fell 4-1 at the end of the day.

Saturday opened with the Bison facing Saint Joseph’s, who came out strong, scoring two runs off the bat in the first and two more in the third and fourth. Dickinson singled up the middle in the second in an attempt to jump-start the offense, but the Bison were stopped until the fourth when Caryn Connors ’14 scored after coming in to pinch fun for Ford. With three up and three down in the sixth, the Orange and Blue were able to hold the Hawks at four until the seventh inning when Saint Joseph scored four more runs. The Bison made a comeback in the seventh with four runs of their own but were unable to close the gap, falling 8-5 to the Hawks.

Despite the loss, the Bison had success at the plate individually. Meredith Dickson ’12 had her second career multi-hit game going 2-3 with a run. Lyons went 2-2 at the plate with an R.B.I, and Fry, Alicia Wheeler ’12 and Ford all drove in runs.

“Although there are still things we need to work on, it is exciting to be playing as a senior with the talent and potential that this team has,” Ford said.

The Bison faced a second match-up with Coastal Carolina in their second game on Saturday. It proved to be anybody’s game with zeros across the board going into the top of the fourth until the Chanticleers managed two runs. The Bison held Coastal Carolina at bay with a 1-2-3 inning in the fifth. Rollandi and Laura Sandford ’13 had back-to-back singles in the sixth to try and close the deficit, but the Orange and Blue couldn’t bring anyone home and fell 2-0 to the Chanticleers.

The Orange and Blue faced James Madison once again in the last game of the tournament. The Bison defense came out strong with MacLean setting down the first six batters. The Hawks were able to break past the Bison defense by putting a run on the board in the third. The Dukes managed a three-run lead going into the sixth.  The game ended with a 4-0 loss for the Bison.

“I think this weekend was a great learning experience for our team,” Colmenero said. “We know what we need to work on and we’ll continue to get more comfortable with each other on the field as the season goes on.”

The Bison will be back on the field this weekend in the Longwood University Tournament in Farmville, Va.