Category: Sportswriting Page 2 of 7

Another close one — NOT!!

Once again, the No. 2 ranked Icers coasted through another weekend outscoring their opponents by over five times their score.

The Icers glazed the Terrapins 15-1 on Friday, and followed suit with the sinking of the Navy Midshipmen 8-3 on Saturday; this is ice hockey mind you.

The Icers have scored so many goals this season that they have earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to scoring. This came into play in the first period of the Navy matchup when the Icers scored the “Phantom Goal.”

“It never crossed the goal line,” Icers Coach Joe Battista said. “Sometimes you get those breaks.”

The “Phantom goal,” however, was enough to trigger a “real” Icer scoring flurry, and they blistered out three goals to make the score 4-0 at the end of the first period.

The only close call they’ve had this season came when the Midshipmen nailed a goal 20 seconds into the second period. That goal, in turn, triggered somewhat of a flurry of the Midshipmen variety, and they scored two follow up goals to make it a one point game.

“That was the first time this year that I sensed that we were in trouble,” Battista said. “They took it from a four goal lead to a one point game in less than six minutes.”

It had appeared Navy’s ship was steaming into dock, that was until Icer forward Don Lamison scored a goal that put up the glacier which pierced Navy’s bow thrusting the Midshipmen overboard.

Goalkeeper John Gray and forward Ross Cowan were credited with the assists on the goal giving the Icers the momentum needed to seal the match.

“It was obviously a big goal for us,” Battista said. “It stopped their momentum, and gave us the two point cushion.”

The Icers have been rather big on cushions this season, and exemplified this in their 15-1 spanking of the Maryland Terrapins Friday.

Battista, however, said the game was a lot closer than the score might imply, and said Maryland actually stunted the Icers in the first period.

“The score is not indicative of the pace of the game,” Battista said. “We pulled away at the end. They came out and stuck it to us in the first period.”

The Icers did not score until midway through the first period, which Battista felt was a scary moment for the Icers.

After that first goal, however, it was scoring as usual for the Icers. Seven of the 15 Icer goals were scored on power plays, which Battista blamed on the Terrapin penalty killing unit.

“They kept taking dumb penalties,” he said. “You cannot do that against a power play as strong as ours.”

Coaches usually hope to find a good physical player, or a fine finesse player, but to find both in the same set of skates is a blessing for any coach.

The Icers have such a package wrapped in the form of No. 19 Ross Cowan, and are taking full advantage of his versatile talents.

“He is perhaps one of the most talented pound for pound players that I’ve seen,” Icer Coach Joe Battista said. “He likes to play a physical game, but he also likes to quarterback the puck, and he can kill penalties. He’s just one of those guys you like to get the puck to.”

Cowan obviously gets the puck a lot, he is the high scorer for the Icers with 17 points already this season, and is rapidly approaching the 200 mark for his carreer, which is a glacier only six Icers have melted.

In his skate for 200 he has worked his way in to contention for many Icer landmark records. In last weekend’s 10-0 bout with West Chester and 8-3 exchange with Deleware, Cowan raked in three goals and three assists to find himself the ACHL player of the week. These points also moved him into the top ten career goals in Icer history, and has also placed him firmly in the top ten list for career points.

Cowan’s line, which consists of himself, Don Lamison, and newcomer Rob Keegan, has 42 of the Icer’s points thus far this season. This high impact line is not yet satisfied with their performance, and looks to play a steadily increasing role in the march of the Icers, starting with this weekend’s trip to Maryland.

“We’re still getting to know each others tendencies,” Keegan said. “We’ll score our share of goals this season.”

The Icers are slated to meet up with the 3-3-1 Terrapins today, and the Navy Midshipmen tomorrow.

“We haven’t heard much about Maryland,” Keegan said. “We’re going to treat it like we would any other game, go in play our best, and give them all we’ve got.”

Coach Battista does not seem overly concerned with Maryland, but does not want his team to let up because the following day they face a fresh, fiery Navy.

“(Maryland) is giving up an average of seven goals a game,” Battista said. “They have a young goalie, but we have to stay up because we have to play Navy Saturday, and we will be their first game of the weekend.”

Battista warns that nobody can be taken lightly no matter what the opposing team’s record.

“The one thing I have learned over the years,” He said, “is on any given night any team can come up and beat another. That’s just something we’re going to have to guard against happening to us.”

To face a penalty corner is one of the most stressful game situations to be in as a goalkeeper.

To face seven straight penalty corners in less than six minutes as a freshman late in a scoreless battle in a NCAA quarterfinal battle is insane.

Big Ten Freshman of the Year Shelly Meister not only faced the seven penalty corners, she repelled them with increasing vigor and authority.

“My mind was empty,” Meister said. “I was just running on pure adrenaline. I wanted them to come at me. I wanted them bad.”

“She was amazing,” junior defender Becca Main said. “As she was making all of these saves, she’s shouting out instructions, and moving us around. She definitely was not playing like a freshman, she was playing like a fifth year senior.”

Prior to the quarterfinal matchup, Meister read an article from a Massachusetts newspaper citing that the Lady Lions have no weak links, except their freshman goalkeeper Shelly Meister. If a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, the Lady Lions had one hell of a chain.

“I think she took it personally,” Main said. “That’s probably why she did so well against them.”

With about 15 minutes left in regulation time, UMass had spent the biggest part of the second half firing shots at Meister, and pushing at the Lady Lions’ defense.

“They were in the circle forever,” Meister said. “I was yelling out instructions, and we weren’t going anywhere.”

“I think that they kept pushing us back,” Main said. “They just kept pushing us back, and we weren’t digging our heals in, but I think Shelly turned things around with the penalty corners.”

The Lady Lion defense finally got rattled, and lost their composure, which gave the Minutewomen the penalty corner opportunities.

“I think the defense lost its poise,” Coach Char Morett said. “That’s why we created all those opportunities, but Shelly held us together.”

On the first penalty corner, Meister made her disgust apparent as she and the other three defenders bashed their sticks against the goal.

“You could see her determination,” goal Coach Michelle Brennan said. “She was taking it personally, and it was her they were shooting at.”

They shot at Meister seven times, and she seemed to be unfazed by the Minutewomen’s increasing momentum.

Meister peaked at the seventh stop, and her emotion poured over to the rest of the team.

“It was a real inspiration to us,” Main said. “We figured it couldn’t get any worse than this. She fired us up, and we had to protect her like she was doing for us.”

Meister, in fact, fended off 34 shots on goal, and had 15 saves on the day. It was that 35th shot that turned out to be the doozie.

The Minutewomen scored on a luck goal that crawled across the goal line.

“She was playing so great,” Morett said. “It was a shame that it had to end that way, on a fluke goal.”

AMHERST, Mass. — Clocked by the Minutewomen!

Father Time and Mother Nature teamed up with the No. 3 ranked University of Massachusetts to shut down Penn State’s No. 5 ranked field hockey team in a 1-0 overtime bout.

UMass junior Tara Jelley scored the gamewinning goal amidst a crowd at the Lady Lion net to win the game, thus ending Penn State’s season.

“Somebody’s got to win, and somebody has to lose,” senior co-captian Jen Stewart said. “And it was us.

The game was a war of the midfields, and neither team made much happen in the first half.

“Both teams were playing a great game,” Coach Char Morett said. “It was going both ways the first half.”

Coming into the game, Morett knew her team would have to use its speed and agility to beat the statuesque Minutewomen. The UMass grass was wet, and the ground was soft, which did not allow for an agile match.

As the game progressed, both teams had to contend with the increasing number of ruts in the field. At the conclusion of the first half both teams had only registered 16 shots on goal combined.

“Both teams had to deal with the conditions,” Stewart said. “Just because UMass is supposed to be used to playing on grass, shouldn’t mean much. We played two of our best games on grass.”

Neither team could develop the momentum necessary to create a scoring opportunity in the first half.

Penn State had two quick penalty corners toward the beginning of the first half, but could not convert. UMass followed up with two of their own, but didn’t get the shots off.

Once again the Lady Lions’ defense was essential to keeping it a close match. Unfortunately, the Minutewomen came out with a much tougher attack, and seemed to stun Penn State. The Lady Lion defense held tough, but the attack was held silent.

Chris McGinley, who is the Lady Lion’s leading scorer was held to only one shot on goal in the entire match — Penn State only had eight shots for the entire match. UMass, on the other hand, cranked out 22 second half shots on goal, and dominated much of the ball control.

“We were nervous in the first half,” UMass Coach Pam Hixon said. “But once we found a way to get the ball out of our end of the field, and we felt our confidence pick up, things started to go our way.”

At one point in the second half, the Minutewomen had seven quick penalty corners. Freshman goalkeeper Shelly Meister stopped all seven and seemed to be feeding off the increasing intensity, and managed to hold out the Minutewomen for the remainder of the second half.

“I wasn’t thinking anything when those shots were coming,” Meister said. “I was just getting more fired up with each one of them.”

Meister had 15 saves on the day, and made the difference in what could have been a blowout.

In overtime, the Minutewomen had been hovering around the Lady Lion goal, and a crowd had developed inside the circle. Jelley ended up on the ground in the midst of all of the elbow brushing, and came up with the winning goal.

“Everyone was in the circle at the time, and there was a little raucous going on in there,” Jelley said. “Then somehow I ended up on the ground, and the next thing I knew the ball came between my legs, and I swooped it in. I could have probably pushed it in faster with my hands.”

Owlch!

For the second time this season, the Lady Lions burrowed the Temple Owls 4-2, this time to win the first round of the NCAA Division I field hockey tournament.

It wasn’t as easy as the score may imply, but Coach Char Morett said she expected a tough battle.

“No doubt about it,” she said. “Playing Temple, any time, you expect a match like that especially in the playoffs.”

The Lady Lions came out to a sluggish start, and Temple took full advantage of the situation.

“I think that we were a little bit nervous,” co-captain Jen Stewart said. “I think we will be a little nervous before every game. But I think that being nervous is good sometimes, then you are not overconfident.”

As a result of the nerves, the biggest part of the first half was an on-going tug of war. The Owls snuffed the Lady Lion attack but were driven back by the impenetrable Penn State defense.

Penn State won the first round of the war when junior Chris McGinley hooked up with the co-captains Stewart and Amy Stairs to score the first goal of the game on a penalty corner about 15 minutes into the match.

At this point, the Lady Lions picked up momentum but had it knocked back out by two quick goals via the Owls.

Temple’s Toni Byard tied the game at 1-1 on a penalty corner with assists from Debbie Utz and Cari Washko.

Less than a minute and a half later the Owls were provided with the opportunity for the go ahead goal through a penalty corner, but did not convert. Five seconds later, however, Crystal Carr drove a pass from Leizabeth Hoek past freshman goalkeeper Shelly Meister.

Despite the two quick goals, the Owls did not feel they were doing what they needed to beat the Lady Lions.

“In the game, we didn’t ever feel that we had them,” Temple defender Washko said. “That was not our team. We were not playing up to our potential.”

The second half was an entirely new game for the Lady Lions. They came out with the Lady Lion vigor that had been absent through out the first half.

“In the first half, we were waiting to catch the ball,” Morett said. “In the second half, if there was a loose ball, our defenders and backs were realy going after it. That creates the transition for us we need to get up the field.”

It did not take the Lady Lions long to get up the field in the second half. Only two and a half minutes into the second half McGinley hooked up with the Co-Captain Connection to tie the game at 2-2.

That goal took the game in hand for the Lady Lions, and the attack sparked.

This spark was enough to knock the emotion out of the Owls, and the ball spent the remainder of the match circling the Temple goal.

“Temple plays on all emotion,” Stewart said. “And once we had their emotion out of the game, we were pretty sure we had it.”

With seven minutes left McGinley pulled out the go-ahead goal when she hooked up with the Co-Captain Connection to make the score 3-2 in favor of Penn State.

Following that goal the Owls nose-dived, and McGinley put the capper on the Lady Lions scoring when Marcy Kolongowski tipped a pass from inside the circle back to McGinley who drove it past a sleeping Donna Porter.

“I think that she let it go by her,” McGinley said. “She just kind of watched it roll by, and I was like ‘thank you’, and that was it.”

That was all the Lady Lions needed to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I field hockey tournament to meet the University of Massachusetts Minutewomen.

The Lions are coming! The Lions are coming! And they’re out to get the Minutewomen.

Penn State, riding on a five-game winning streak, is traveling to Massachusetts to face the Minutewomen on their home grass.

Massachusetts packs a statuesque lineup, and as a result does not have the speed possessed by the Lady Lions.

“UMass is traditionally not a fast team,” Coach Char Morett said. “So we have to rely on our speed and quickness, and that is what is going to win the game for us.”

Penn State has played mostly on turf this season, and has grown used to that style of ball play. UMass’ field surface is grass, but the Lady Lions have risen to the occasion when forced to play on grass.

“I think that we played our best game on grass,” Morett said. “I think we will adjust, and do fine. I don’t think it will present a problem. ”

Penalty corners have become a big part of the Lady Lions scoring, and Morett plans to add a little variety due to the grass surface.

“We have a few options that we are planning to use,” Morett said. “I think that we will be able to use a few of them.”

In the event of bad weather, the game may be transfered to a different field, which is covered with turf. The Lady Lions, however, do not feel that the surface will have a lot to do with the game, co-captain Jen Stewart said.

— by Jim Woods

Jill Pearsall, in her never ending quest to be the best, has worked her way into the reigns behind the field hockey team’s powerful defense.

“I am always working to improve, to be the best I can be,” said the sophomore defender. “Since there is always room for improvement, I’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Pearsall’s hard work has earned her the position of sweeper for the Lady Lions. The sweeper must be able to see everything on the field at all times. She must be able to stay calm, and make the calls for the defense.

“The role of sweeper is definitely for a leader,” said junior defender Becca Main. “She (Pearsall) sees everything, and still is able to react as well as she does. She is amazing.”

At the season’s beginning, Pearsall was unsure of how she would fit into this year’s lineup.

Pearsall missed the first four games of the field hockey season because she, and teammate Kirt Benedict, were playing for the U.S. Juniors Team in Venezuela.

“I was a little worried about how I would blend back in when I came back,” Pearsall said. “Once I was back though, they made it real easy for me.”

Pearsall brought back with her experience, and a large desire to play.

She was not yet sure where she would fit into the lineup, but knew she wanted to start. During the practices, prior to leaving for Venezuela, Pearsall was being tested in a number of different positions. She had no idea where — and if — she would play when she returned.

“They hadn’t lost at all while I was gone,” she said. “So I had no idea what would happen when I got back. All I knew was that I wanted to help.”

She started her second game back against Temple, who ironically, the Lady Lions play at noon today at Holuba Field in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Lady Lions were hoping for a bye past the first round of the tournament, but instead were slated against Temple.

“We were a little disappointed that we didn’t get the bye,” Pearsall said. “But everybody is up for the game, and I think that we are going to destroy them.”

In their last meeting the Lady Lions pasted the Owls in a 4-2 victory. Pearsall came out roaring in her first start of the season. She had her first goal of the season, and also was credited with her first defensive save.

“I did a lot of practicing while I was in Venezuela,” Pearsall said. “I was playing post on penalty corners, and I got to look at a lot of different shots.”

During her freshman year, Pearsall started in the midfield but played post on penalty corners.

“I was a freshman who had never played defense in my life,” Pearsall said. “It was like taping a bull’s eye to me. The teams knew I was a freshman, and tried to take full advantage of it.”

Since that time, Pearsall has erased that bullseye, and has become a key defender for the Lady Lions. This year she was one of the five Lady Lions selected for first team All-Big Ten.

“I think that Jill is one of the best defenders in the conference,” fellow defender Chris Blais said. “I think that we work a lot better as a unit with her telling us what is going on.”

The No. 5 field hockey team is back on the NCAA prowl.

For the 11th consecutive year the NCAA has invited the Lady Lions to participate in its Division I field hockey tournament in which the team has a history of finishing fourth.

The Lady Lions, who finished second in the Big Ten, are slated to square off against intrastate and former Atlantic 10 rival Temple at high noon Thursday at Holuba Field. The Lady Owls were the A-10 runner-up this year.

After coming off two big wins last weekend, the Lady Lions were hoping to take advantage of No. 4 North Carolina’s loss to New Hampshire and No. 3 Massachusetts’ tie to move into the top four.

The rankings, however, did not change, and the Lady Lions have to get by the Owls before they can advance to the semi-finals against the Massachusetts Minutewomen Sunday in Worcester.

Hoping to receive the bye, the Lady Lions were not pleased upon first notice of the invitation. As a result, they have decided to focus their discontent on Temple.

“I feel sorry for Temple,” junior defender Becca Main said. “We are going to run right over them to get to where we wanted to be.”

“We were dealt a bad card,” co-captain Amy Stairs said, “but we will have to win with the hand we have. The harder the road, the bigger we win.”

Coach Char Morett told her team to use the placing as a positive. Massachusetts will not play until Sunday, while Penn State will have a chance to build momentum against the Owls, she said.

Despite the team’s discontent, Morett is happy that the Lady Lions are paired with Temple.

“Penn State against Temple is a classic matchup,” Morett said. “It’s a real big rivalry, and we do have an advantage in playing at home. I feel very comfortable with how we’ve been playing, but in the tournament, anything can happen. We have to focus on Temple, and not look beyond that.”

The Lady Lions are now one step closer to breaking their NCAA jinx of fourth place finishes. But they can not afford to look past Temple.

“We’ve gotta take this one step at a time,” junior Chris McGinley said. “So we can’t discount Temple. We have to beat them.”

While Lady Lion Coach Char Morett celebrated her 100th and 101st victory at Penn State, the field hockey team racked up two victories essential to its placing in the NCAA Tournament.

Morett is in her sixth year as a coach for the Lady Lions, and holds a record of 101-25-14. After the Lady Lions’ 3-1 victory over Ohio State, Morett was presented with a mass of blue and white balloons, a bottle of champagne, flowers, and a cake to celebrate. At first, Morett was surprised by the barrage of gifts, and did not know why she was getting them.

“I had no idea,” she said. “I thought I celebrated this a couple of years ago, but that was my 100th career win, and I know my birthday isn’t for another month. It’s great. It really is.”

Due to an uncooperative Mother Nature, all of the field hockey games were played inside Holuba Hall. The change of atmosphere seemed to do the Lady Lions a lot of good as they roared over both Ohio State and Northwestern.

“I think the change of scenery was fresh air for us,” co-captain Amy Stairs said. “I just think everybody knows the NCAAs are just around the corner, and with Char and all, it just made for some really great field hockey.”

Amidst all of the emotion, the Lady Lions’ attack came to life. Until this weekend, the defense has been the key to the Penn State game. With the awakening of the attack, the Lady Lions presented a full-team effort, and played the best they have this season.

“Everybody played great,” senior Daniele Annibale said. “The defense was keeping the ball away from our end, there were great passes through the midfield, and they put it right there for the attack. It was the best we’ve played.”

In their 1-0 victory over Northwestern, the Lady Lions fired off 44 shots on goal and permitted only four Northwestern shots on goal. Wildcat goalkeeper Shannon Small recorded 30 saves, and was the only thing preventing the Lady Lions from a high scoring game.

“(Small) was the difference between, what was a close game, and a complete blowout,” Morett said. “We tried everything, and she held off everything.”

Despite the lack of scoring, the Lady Lions dominated the field, and showcased everything they have worked on in the past weeks.

“We were keeping the field spread, and we’re finaly passing hard and accurate,” Senior Kelly Heiser said. “We were all so psyched! Especially against Ohio.”

The Lady Lions pounced out to an early lead, and left the Lady Buckeyes unheard of from that point on.

“I just think that we were playing on such an emotional high,” Miester said. “We were just so intense that we couldn’t have been stopped. We wanted to jump on them early, and we did.”

Six minutes into the game Chris McGinley hooked up with the Co-Captian Connection of Stairs and Jen Stewart to score on a penalty corner.

The Lady Lions attack continued to circle the Lady Buckeye goal just waiting for the prey to expose itself.

Junior Kirt Benedict found a tender spot, and slapped a shot towards the open corner of the goal, and McGinley gave it the bump to make the score 2-0.

Shortly after, when Benedict was crashing the goal, Ohio goalkeeper Sue Wilson was kicking away an Annibale slapshot, and hit Benedict in the face. Benedict left the game, and returned to the sidelines shortly after with stitches, two shiners, and a broken nose. She was unable to return for the remainder of the weekend.

Annibale went on to score the final Lady Lion goal about half way through the first half. Morett used many subs in the second half, and received a first rate performance from them.

“We have the depth we need to go into the NCAAs,” Morett said. “It is a good thing to know that we have people like Kelly Heiser and Meredith (Mandrachia) that can just jump right in, and do that well.”