Category: Sportswriting Page 6 of 7

It was a long day under Lady Lion field hockey fire for Rutgers goalkeeper Jodi Deem during Penn State’s 2-0 victory over the Lady Knights yesterday.

Penn State did an excellent job of keeping the ball in Rutgers territory, but failed to capitalize on many scoring opportunities. The Lady Lions fired off 19 first half shots on goal, but only scored on one of them.

“Our team ‘D’ was excellent,” said defensive back Becca Main. “I feel that the defensive backs played the best yet.

“I would like to have seen us score more. It seems as if we are afraid to take chances, which holds us back. I think that if we took some chances, our game would be a lot better.”

“Our forwards are young,” said Coach Char Morett, “But it will come with experience. They had a good goalie, who used some different techniques, and we missed some key opportunities, but overall I was pleased.”

Rutgers’ Deem felt the Lady Knights could have beaten Penn State.

“It was a very defensive game for us, but their shots were not as strong as I thought they would be,” she said. “This is the first year that I think we could have beat Penn State, if only our offense would have gotten into the game.”

“This is the first time I feel that we’ve kept with Penn State,” agreed Rutgers coach Ann Petracco. “We played a good defensive game, and fell apart on the attack. If we could have moved our attack, it would have been a different ball game.”

The Lady Lions came out playing a physical but conservative game. The scoring didn’t start for the Lions until late in the first half, when Amy Stairs scored on a penalty corner with an assist from Chris McGinley.

The Lions failed to score on the previous eight penalty corners, and had four additional penalty corners in the second half.

“Their goalkeeper used a lay down technique to cover the goal on penalty corners, that makes it tough to score on,” Lady Lion Jen Coletta said.

“Our attack was not aggressive today,” Stairs said, “We didn’t capitalize on many key opportunities.”

Rutgers came out playing a more aggressive second half. The Lady Knights held the Lady Lions to only seven second half shots on goal, and one additional goal. The ball even made a few brief appearances in Penn State territory.

Coletta scored the only second half goal. Jen Stewart and Tara Maguire, who had a hat trick last game, were credited with the assist.

Rutgers had a total of four shots on goal in the game, and freshman goalkeeper Shelly Meister had three saves in her first collegiate start. Penn State had a total of 26 shots on goal, and Rutgers goalkeeper Deem had 17 saves for the day.

“We have to work on our transitions between lines,” said Morett. “We play on grass next week and I feel that that will be to our benefit.”

The Lady Lions will play at No. 10 Connecticut on Saturday.

“We haven’t peaked yet,” said Main. “The best is yet to come.”

In an attempt to deal with last-minute rule changes and a young, inexperienced lineup, the field hockey team is trying to find the field system that best fits its style.

The Lady Lions used one of the new systems in their 4-1 victory over Syracuse Tuesday. This system consisted of three forwards, three midfielders, three fullbacks, one sweeper, and one goalie.

“It worked out well,” said Coach Char Morett, “I was pleased, but we still need work between midfield and attack, and midfield and defense, but that will come with practice.”

No. 5 Penn State (1-0) will test its new system once again Sunday, during its home opener against Rutgers (1-0 before last night’s game). The game will be played at noon on the turf field at Holuba Hall.

A major source of Penn State’s power this season will be its returning midfield. All three of the midfielders — Jen Stewart, Amy Stairs and Chris McGinley — were in the starting lineup last year.

“I hope to step up and score a lot more this season,” said Stewart, a co-captain. “With the elimination of the obstruction rule, I think that we will have a definite advantage over other teams who might not adapt as well as we have. We have been working with a spin move, and now we need to begin to work with each other.”

“It is just a matter of getting used to working with each other again,” said Stewart, “We already know each other’s basic tendencies, in a little time we’ll be back in the swing of things.”

Freshman forward Tara Maguire, who scored three of Penn State’s four goals Tuesday, says that she is quite comfortable with the new systems.

“I’m not a stranger to our new system,” Maguire said, “I played all summer and worked out with a few different systems.”

“I was both excited and nervous comming into the game, but I try not to think much during the game because if I take time to think it takes away from my level of play,” Maguire said, “I got a little worried when they called back my second goal. They said that I pushed off of a defender before I shot my goal. I thought, oh no, this is my first college game and I already got a green card.”

Maguire recovered quite well, she came back to score two second-half goals.

McGinley, who scored the first Lady Lion goal of the season about 15 minutes into the first period, said she feels that the whole team is capable of scoring, not just a few individuals.

“We are not a team of big names as we have been in the past,” Stewart added. “We are a young scrappy team with a lot of heart. I have big hopes for this year. We all come out and work really hard.”

“Everybody thought that this would be a year of re-building, I see this as a year for succeeding,” Stairs, the other co-captain, said. “I have set goals for my self as I imagine everybody else has, and if everybody plays their game, I think we have the potential to go all the way.”

The Lady Lions are also adjusting to some NCAA rule changes.

Normally when a defender would obstruct the path of a ball carrier, play would stop. This rule, however, has been eliminated. Stewart said she believes the result will be a quicker-paced game.

Starting an extremely young lineup, the Lady Lions, in a 4-1 victory over Syracuse, proved that playing with heart can more than compensate for playing with a lack of experience.

Only five of the Lion’s starters had any considerable experience to date, the rest had little to no experience playing in college level field hockey.

“We’re so young, we will have to work out working together,” said coach Char Morett.

“I am personally pleased,” said Morett. “As time progressed we took more control.”

Chris McGinley opened the Lion’s scoring with a goal from the corner about 15 minutes into the first period. Freshman Tara Maguire sealed the victory when she tipped a shot from another freshman Jennifer Coletta past Syracuse goalie Cheri Herr.

Maguire also scored two additional second half goals for the hat trick.

“She’s everything we expected,” Morett said, “she’s a scorer, and she had another goal that was called back.”

Penn State had 15 shots on goal and allowed only 6 Syracuse shots on goal. Sophomore goaltender Paulette Thompson had three saves, and allowed only one fourth period goal. Jodi Carter, a corner from Syracuse, scored with a shot over the head of Thompson with only three minutes left in the game.

The Lady Lions will have their home opener against Rutgers Sunday at noon.

With the loss of first team All-American goalkeeper Michele Brennan, the Lady Lion field hockey team find itself with a big goal to fill.

The run for the position is between 5-foot-11 freshman Shelly Meister, and 5-foot-3 sophomore Paulette Thompson, who had about 10 minutes of playing time last season.

“Both are extremely close to the position,” said Coach Char Morett. “Paulette has more experience against college level field hockey,” said Morett, “but Shelly has the height and aggression.”

“Michele is helping both to learn the fundamentals,” Morett said, “both are coming along wonderfully. Shelly is working on covering the cage with a full split, and Paulette covers the angles.”

Brennan, who holds the school record for the number of shutouts, has returned this season to help coach her successors.

“I put in four hard years,” Brennan said, “it is nice to be on the other side.”

Brennan, who had to return this semester to take additional credits, opted to volunteer as goal coach to help ease the transition, and to help fill the loss of former assistant Megan Donelly.

“I am used to coaching younger athletes,” Brennan said, “it is a refreshing change coaching these two. They’re both extremely talented, and catch on to anything I show them, and they do it well.”

“It is nice to be able to offer my experience,” Brennan said, ”I’d like to see them do well.”

Brennan was playing for the U.S. Field Hockey team, but was sidelined by a broken leg. She made a brief attempt to return, but felt that she did so prematurely. She has plans of returning when the U.S. team reconvenes in December. Until then, she is enjoying coaching the two goaltender contenders.

She said that she feels that both show great potential in different styles. She also said that they are improving vastly as they are gaining some much needed experience.

“This is a terrific opportunity to be taught by Michele,” Meister said. “She has been my idol since I was a freshman in high school. I saw her play when I went to see Penn State in a final four game, and since then I have looked up to her style of play,” she said. “Her coaching has made the transition to college field hockey a lot easier, but the whole team has made that easy. We’re all like family,” said Meister.

“Paulette and I are good friends even though we’re competing for the same position,” said Meister, “We encourage and push each other hard, and I think that will help us to be ready sooner. We tend to sympathize with each other because we’re both in the same dilemma.”

Thompson, who had 10 minutes of playing time last semester, feels that her game has greatly improved. She played spring ball and gained a lot of experience.

“I enjoyed working with Michele,” Thompson said, “It is better working with her now that she is coaching and helping me to mold into her style. I feel that I am a lot better this year, and having a coach like Michele helps alot.

“Even though Shelly and I are out for the position we still get along great and work well together. I think it will be a good season.”

“Char and I thought that this year would be a rebuilding year with seven freshmen, but everyone came out strong and I look for them to do excellent this season,” Brennan said

Neither Thompson nor Meister will know who will be starting until closer to the Lady Lions season opener at Syracuse on Sept. 8.

“Right now they’re neck and neck,” said Morett, “Who knows, maybe they’ll split the time.”

Penn State’s men’s lacrosse team slopped their way through a 13-10 victory yesterday over Bucknell.

It’s games like these that the Lions should be thankful for having as good a goalie as J.J. Pearl. Pearl had 19 saves on the night and was faced with 41 shots on goal by the Bison.

“We played really sloppy tonight,” said Coach Glenn Thiel, “We were lucky to win.

“We have to learn to play smart if we want to continue to win,” Thiel added. “This kind of play cannot go on.”

The Bison controlled the ball most of the game, Thiel said. With the slight exception of a third-quarter energy burst from the otherwise dead Lions, Bucknell circled the Lion goal at will.

The Lions, who typically excel in the first quarter, were held scoreless by the Bison until late in the second quarter. The Bison on the other hand scored three times and rolled over the Lions for most of the first half.

The Lions did manage to squeeze out 5 goals before the end of the first half. The Bison also had a rally of their own, scoring four goals to take a 7-5 lead into halftime.

When the second half started, it looked like a new game for the Lions, Thiel said. He said that the Lions were handling the ball well and pulled out to a 10-9 lead.

“We showed a lot of character to be able to come back out for the second half and be able to come from behind,” said Chris Lehman, who was the Lion’s leading scorer with four goals on the night.

Unfortunately, come from behind was all the Lions did on the night. After taking the lead, the Lions shut back down and barely managed to maintain the lead, Thiel said.

The Lions only scored three goals in the final quarter. With gratitude to goalie Pearl, the Lions held the Bison to a single goal.

Most of the Lions goals came on the power play.

The field was wet and slippery, but that was no excuse for the soft and tentative style of defense played by the Lions tonight, Thiel said. He also said that the offense turned the ball over too many times.

“We gave Bucknell too many opportunities,” he said,”We played bad defense. We were lucky that they were unable to convert.”

One plus for the Lions was Pete Makover’s switch from midfield to attack. He scored one goal and had three assists.

“It worked out really well,” Thiel said. ” I think it worked out well for both Pete and the team.”

The Lions travel to C.W. Post for a match on Saturday.

After winning seven straight games, Penn State men’s lacrosse team has dropped its last two.

The Lions hope to end this new streak on the road when they play unranked Bucknell at 7 tonight.

The Lions have dropped from No. 8 to No. 15 in the Division I lacrosse poll, and have put themselves in a must win situation for the rest of the season. Every game has become a big game for the Lions if they hope to be the first Penn State men’s lacrosse team to make an appearence in the Northeast Regional Tournament.

“We’re fired up and need a win to keep the dreams alive,” said attack Pete Makover. “We’re (Bucknell’s) biggest game, and now we’ve got to make them ours.”

Penn State has won the last two times these teams have met. Two years ago when Penn State played at Bucknell, the Lions slid by with a 9-8 win.

“The last time we played there, (Bucknell) played a realy scrappy game and gave us fits,” said Coach Glenn Thiel. “We’ve got to play our game, and do it well.”

Bucknell’s field is poorly lit and in bad condition, said Thiel. The Lions are a fast-paced team, and poor conditions hinder their style, but Thiel is confident that the Lions can play their game and play it well. To do that Thiel said that they have to take control early and maintain it throughout the game.

“We want to show our dominance early,” said attack Jamie Morse. “The longer they think they’re in the game, the better chance they have of making it a close one, and we don’t want that — we’re going to have to shut them down early.”

Thiel said that Bucknell has a large physical defense and a good attack, but feels his team has yet to be outmatched, and doesn’t feel Bucknell will be any different. Morse agreed.

“We practice against a physical defense every day, and we will prove that we have a stronger attack (than Bucknell),” he said.

The Lions made one major move — Pete Makover was moved from midfield to attack.

“It was a good move for me,” said Makover, “I have been having back troubles. I am comfortable there, and am confident that I my performance will improve.”

Thiel said that Makover’s move will greatly help the team, and that Mike Busza will be ready to back up Makover, and hopefully give the Lions the strong finish that they have been missing for the last couple of games.

Pull out the hip boots, it’s knee-deep mud lacrosse. Hobart, with an assist credited to Mother Nature, beat the men’s lacrosse team 11-8 Saturday in soggy Geneva, N.Y.

It had rained for almost three consecutive days in Geneva prior to the match, and it continued to pour throughout Saturday.

At first it looked as if the Lions were going to make a game of it. But then the Statesmen scored the first goal, and from that point on the Lions seemed to be just a stick in the mud.

For the rest of the game the Lions had to play catch-up, a style that Penn State is not well-suited for. The Lions brought the game to within a goal several times, but just couldn’t gain the edge they needed to win, attacker Kevin McGinley said.

“A catchup game is not the type of game that we wanted to be playing against Hobart, especially in the rain,” attacker Jamie Morse said. “The weather just better suited Hobart’s type of play.”

It wasn’t a lack of opportunity that troubled the Lions. They had 47 shots on goal for the game, but just weren’t hitting the mark.

By the end of the first quarter the Statesmen led the Lions, 3-2.

The weather made it a very slow, low-scoring game. The ball spent a lot of time in the mud. At the end of the first half the score was 5-3 in favor of Hobart.

Both teams came out for the second half with new life. The Lions, who seemed to have found their second wind, picked up the pace of the game. Both teams scored two third-quarter goals and the game went into the fourth with Hobart leading 7-5.

Almost two minutes into the fourth quarter Penn State scored again, and seemed to have the momentum that might carry them over the top.

A penalty brought Penn State’s momentum to a hault and Hobart capitalized with a power-play goal. Another Penn State penalty led to another power-play goal for Hobart.

Those two goals were the nail in the coffin for Penn State. The Statesmen marched on to score two additional goals.

“We just couldn’t hit the goals we need,” McGinley said. “We’re generally a physical team and the rain seriously cramped our style.”

McGinley led the Lions with 4 goals and Morse had three assists. Scoring the other goals for Penn State were Mike Busza, Chris Lehman, Greg Guarton and Ben Hood.

Penn State’s loss to Hobart has put the team in a must-win situation for the remainder of the season if it is to follow its dreams of being the first Penn State team to appear in the Northest Regional Tournament. The Lions will travel to Bucknell Wednesday.

Talk about being under fire while you’re on the job. Over 75 shots on goal were fired in the direction of Penn State goalie J.J. Pearl during the men’s lacrosse team’s 16-8 thrashing by Towson State.

The Lions had their typical shotgun start. At first it seemed as if it were going to be a close match, with the Lions scoring two quick goals. Then Towson started scored and the Lions lost their momentum.

The ball spent most of the final three quarters circling the Penn State goal. Pearl was under constant fire, and was receiving little help from his defense, who seemed noticeably tired. Suprisingly enough, only 16 of these shots found their way past Pearl.

“We played not to lose,” Pearl said, “we didn’t play to win, and that’s why they beat us.”

Coach Glenn Thiel said that his team just had a bad day. Pearl himself said that he was feeling flat going into the game.

“When your goalie has an off day, then basically so does the rest of the team,” Thiel said.

Pearl said that he had a personal vendetta against Towson State. He chose Penn State over Towson out of high school. He said that both schools were pulling him pretty hard, but he met Thiel at a lacrosse camp, and basically thought that Penn State was closer to the type of shcool that he wanted to attend.

Until this year Pearl fought daily for his job as starting goalie with Jamie Morse, who is now an attackman. Pearl said that his new job security has improved his performance.

“I can concentrate a lot better now, and it allows me to do some new things that I couldn’t do before,” Pearl said.

Pearl said that now he has become confident with his starting position, and he is playing up to the level that he feels that he was at before.

Pearl has been playing in goal since he first took an interest in lacrosse in his fourth grade gym class.

“Basically nobody else wanted to stand there and take the heat, and I was willing,” he said. “I didn’t have the speed some of the others had, but what I lacked in speed, I made up for in cordination.”

He said that he has a true love for the sport, and plans to continue his play in a box league or something of the sort after graduation.

“It’s the only true American sport,” he said. “There’s a lot of deep tradition involved, and I like being a part of that.”

Pearl has set a goal for he and his team to make it to the NCAA tournament this season, a feat that no Penn State team has ever accomplished. To do that the Lions cannot lose another game. They have a game Saturday at Hobart.

“Lacrosse to Hobart is like football is to Penn State,” he said, “They are having a lacrosse festival and there will be well over 10,000 people on hand. It’s kind of intimidating, but I’m confident that we’ll be able to shut that out and play the game.”

In his senior year, Jamie Morse made the rare transition from being a goalie to an attackman for the men’s lacrosse team.

Until this year, Morse and J.J. Pearl battled every day of every season for the starting position of goalie. In his freshman year, Morse won the starting job from Pearl. Morse had a save precentage of 61. Pearl won the position in their sophomore year, and they split time in their junior year. And this year everyone decided it was time for a change.

“There was always a lot of pressure,” Morse said. “Every time somebody scored a goal, I found myself looking at the sidelines to see if I was going to be substituted.”

Morse said that his move from goalie to attackman was probably the best move for both Pearl and himself. He said that both he and Pearl were feeling the pressure, and it was affecting both of their performances.

“Every day at practice, J.J. and I would be battling it out,” Morse said, “I felt like I was reaching my peak before the game, and it was probably the same for him.”

“I cannot say that I’ve ever seen another player go from being a goalie to attack,” Coach Glen Thiel said.

It is an unusual switch. Thiel said he said that he has seen a couple of players go from being goalies to long-stick defense, but never to the attack. Morse is a good garbage player, Thiel said, always in the right place at the right time. Much of that came from his experience as a goalie.

“I think that being a goalie so long has helped (Morse) to anticipate where the goalie will be, and to shoot opposite of him,” Thiel said. “Morse has been doing a great job screening for us also. He knows where the goalie needs to be looking and is right there blocking his sight.”

“As a goalie, I watched attackers and I learned through their eyes,” Morse said. “It helpes me to know where and when I am going to shoot.”

Before this year, Morse had only played attackman in pickup games and just experimenting by himself. He said that he has made the transition comfortably.

Morse said that he has become confident with this new position. He is the third-highest scorer for the Lions this season. He scored three of the Lions’ 11 goals in their win against the Scarlet Knights, breaking a 10-game losing streak against Rutgers.

Morse said that he wants to make the Northeast Regional Tournament this year. Since he started at Penn State, Penn State has always come close to making it, but has never quite pulled it off. This year the Lions are undefeated to date, but their biggest challange is yet to come. Today they will face Towson State, which just defeated No. 1 Loyola.

Morse said that he will not treat this game any different than any other game. He said that he does not let up for a game.

“Every game is a big game,” Morse said, “If I start to let up just because a team is not doing so well, that is when stupid mistakes come in, and that can cost you the game.”

Gerry Gramaglia said that he started boxing this year to get into shape and to have some new challenges.

This season he got that and more when he beat Chris Williams of Lock Haven Saturday night to become the Northeast Regional Champion at 190.

Gramaglia and four of his teammates won Saturday night to become Northeast Regional Champions in their weight divisions, and will travel to Colorado Springs, Colo. for the national championships. Representing Penn State will be Ben Ladrido at 125, Walter Blake at 132, Paul Maginnis at 156, Jim Ustynoski at 172 and Gramaglia at 190. This is the largest number of boxers that Penn State has ever sent for the national championships.

Gramaglia, who looks more like a defensive tackle than a boxer, charged out for the first round and didn’t hesitate to show Mike Lyons of Lock Haven that he was ready to fight. Gramaglia dominated the first round, both boxers staying nose to nose while they punched. In the second round it became obvious that both boxers tired from the first round exchange. By the end of the third round, the average was about one punch every 30 seconds, but each one counted. Gramaglia had an energy burst at the end of the third round and threw enough shots to win the bout and the championship.

Walter Blake danced around Joe Sowers of United States Military Academy, taunting him as if he knew he had the bout won in the second round. It wasn’t an offensive bout for Blake, but it was enough to win him the bout and the regionals.

“(Blake) is an incredible boxer,” said Coach Bill Wrable. “He’s doing great, but he needs to do more punching and less of the other stuff.”

Blake said that he had no doubt that he’d win the bout, and that he worked too hard to blow it. Blake said that he wasn’t very enthusiastic coming into the day, but seeing Kevin Cull’s bout truely inspired him.

“I was feeling really flat today, until I saw Kev (Cull),” said Blake. “He boxed two days in a row, the second bout with a broken nose, seeing what he gave really picked me up.”

Cull was hitting so hard Friday night that he knocked his opponent into the aisles, literally. In a hard-hitting volley against the ropes with Turso Valls of Lock Haven, Cull gave one hard shot to the face of Valls that knocked him through the ropes and down to the floor. Valls continued the bout, but was unable to break Cull’s momentum. However, he did manage to break Cull’s nose with a headbutt.

Saturday, in the finals, Cull’s nose began to bleed early in the first round, but he still hit hard. Many times referee John Christopher stopped the bout to check to make sure Cull hadn’t lost too much blood. He still put out an incredible effort, and kept the bout extremely close. In the end the decision went against the blood-covered Cull.

There’s a lot of things that a person can do while he is being hugged, but boxing is not one of them. Frustrated, Seth Lyter tried jabbing a few shots at Williams while he was being squeezed like a roll of Charmin. Lyter put up a good bout, but lost because he couldn’t gain the points by punching that Williams did by hugging.

The third round for Ustynoski was as close to a two-hit round that he could get. Ustynoski came out and hit Greg Leland of USMA, then Leland hit the floor. The referee then stopped the bout, giving Ustynoski the win. Ustynoski advanced to finals, and became the champion by a walkover. Maginnis also advanced to the national championships by way of walkover.

Ladrido seemed to start out fighting a defensive bout against Dave Machamer of Lock Haven, but broke out of that with a solid flurry of punches at the end of the round. From the second round on Ladrido had the bout well in hand.

The boxers will be leaving for the national championships in Colorado Springs on April 1, and will be returning April 6.

“It seems that the higher intensity workouts paid off,” Wrable said, “and they’ll be even harder between now and nationals.”