Page 14
The Behrend Beacon
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Above: The Lions celebrate sophomore Justin Ramsay's second goal during their AMCC semifinal
game against La Roche on Wednesday. Right: Sophomore Andy Lesser helps the men to their 4-1
victory by scoring one goal, his fifth of the season.
by Ray Immekus
staff writer
The men's soccer team defeated Laßoche Col
lege 4- I Wednesday night to advance to the Allegh
eny Mountain Collegiate Conference champion
ship. The win clinched the seventh straight title
game appearance for Behrend.
Leading the way for the Lions was sophomore
Justin Ramsay, scoring the first and second goal of
the game. Sophomore Andy Lesser added a goal
as well as senior Andy Laver.
Swimmers take their mark
Ready for Buffalo State
by Amy Frizzell
sports editor
As students begin to anticipate
snowfall many start to think about
bundling for the cold snowy winter. But
as for 23 Behrend students, they've kept
their swim suits on.
The men's and women's swimming
and diving team have been in the pool
practicing since Sept. 29 to prepare for
its fourth season here as a varsity sport.
The swimmers will kick off their
season tonight when they meet with
Buffalo State.
"They've been in the water doing
calisthenics and water workouts
complemented with weight training,"
said head coach Jen Slack.
Formerly the assistant coach for
swimming and diving, Slack has taken
over the head coach position this year
after Jeff Heynes stepped down last year.
She will be joined by assistant coach Joe
Tristan, who is also the head coach for
men's and women's water polo.
With well over half the swimmers on
the team being freshman, Slack isn't the
only one new to her position.
Housing
and
Food Service
Athlete
of the
Week
PENNSTATE
"With the team being so young there's
more excitement," said Slack. "They
have some learning to do yet, but they're
adjusting well."
The task of leading these young teams
is up to senior captains Tara Braden,
Carrie Smock and Sarah McGarvey for
the women. Leading the men are
captains freshman Joe Deely and junior
Eric Phillips.
"There's definitely better quality and
more experience than last year," said
Slack.
Even though the team hasn't
participated in any meets yet it has still
set goals for the season.
"They've set personal goals which
would be to improve their times," said
Slack. "Joe and I have set a goal as well
and that is to get more people qualified
for ECACs, which a lot of people are
working towards as well."
Other then team goals Slack has also
set a goal for herself as a coach.
"I want to promote team unity. They
need to have fun," said Slack. "Being
an athlete is a great opportunity."
For more information on upcoming
meets, check out On Deck this week
Eric
The Lions will face the winner of the Frostburg
State and Pitt Greensburg semifinal game, which
was played Thursday afternoon at Yough High
School.
A potential rematch of last year's championship
game, in which Greensburg defeated the Lions 2-1
in overtime, has served as a motivator for this year's
"That game was a big motivator for this season
for the whole team. Greensburg came in and
mocked us, and laughed at us. They beat us in over
time in a real iffy game," said senior goalkeeper
Andy _Laver
SPORTS
Friday, November 7, 2003
Women's soccer advances
after seven round shootout
Round two: The challenger, Penn
State Behrend, versus the champion,
Frostburg State.
The AMCC championship match is
official, pitting the Lady Lions of
Behrend against the reigning two-year
champion Bobcats from Frostburg.
The match will be the second time in
one week that the two teams will meet.
Both teams advanced in the conference
semi-finals to the final game to be held
Saturday.
In the conference semi-finals, the No.
2 seed Lady Lions defeated the No. 3
seed Pitt-Greensburg at Mercy hurst
North East as senior Andrea Krahe
scored the winning goal in the shootout
round.
Pitt-Greensburg jumped to an early 1-
0 first-half lead. Behrend sophomore
Heather Crawford tied the game in the
second half sending, the game to
Runners fall short of AMCC
goals, five disqualified
by Kevin Fiorenzo
The men's and women's cross country
teams competed in the AMCC
Championships this past weekend at Pitt-
Bradford. The men's team came away
with a second place finish while the
women did not qualify for a team score.
In the men's race, Behrend had four
runners in the top 10. Leading the way
once again was freshman Brad Ruffo,
who came in fourth place out of 62
runners with a time of 28:45. He was
followed in fifth place by fellow
freshman Reuben Smith with a time of
28:49.
Freshman Craig Davis had a time of
29:02 while junior Tim Schultheis
finished at 29:08. They finished in
Laver then added an unassisted insurance goal at
the 33 minute mark to give the Lions the 2-0 lead.
It was Laver's eighth goal of the season. Hordych
made four saves en route to his eighth shutout of
the season. The defense once again played a solid
game, and are playing at a level that wins champi
onships.
Behrend finished the regular season with a 12-4-
2 record and a 5- I conference mark. Frostburg State
closed the regular season out at 9-5-2 with a 5- 1
conference record.
Behrend's last AMCC title came in 1999, when
by Rachel Lyon
staff writer
sports editor
SPORT: Men's Soccer
CLASS: Senior
DATE: Nov. 3
Andy Laver (Erie, Pa. /McDowell
High School) was named this
week's Beacon/Food and Housing
Athlete of the Week.
Laver had an assist and a goal in
Saturday's game against
Frostburg, helping Behrend to
secure the top spot in the AMCC
conference. Laver leads the team
Jake Hordych. "Every person who
played on last years' team will remem
ber that game and will use that as a real
motivator when we play them. Pm sure
we'll play them in the finals again this
Behrend defeated Pitt-Greensburg on
Oct. 4 in their regular season matchup
by a score of 3-1.
The Lions are the No. 1 seed in the
playoffs, after clinching the regular sea
son crown with a 2-0 victory against
Frostburg State last Saturday.
Sophomore midfielder Mark
Cipriani netted the eventual game-win
ning goal only 12 minutes into
Saturday's regular season finale against
Frostburg State. His fourth goal of the
season was assisted by senior
midfielder Andy Laver and proved to
be all the scoring Behrend would need
overtime. With no one scoring in two
overtime periods, the match went into
seven shootout rounds.
In the seventh round, Behrend
goalkeeper Liz Hall, making her second
start in replacement of goalkeeper Dara
Nielsen, came up with an important save.
Then on the following kick, Krahe
scored the winning goal for the Lady
Lions.
"We dominated the whole game," said
senior captain Mandy Gesuale. "We just
couldn't put the ball in the net."
The loss ended Pitt-Greensburg's
season with a record of 10-6-3; 3-2-1 in
conference play.
On the other side of the bracket, No. I
seed Frostburg knocked off the No. 4
seed La Roche, 3-1. Overcoming a 1-0
half time deficit, the Bobcats scored three
second half goals, including two from
AMCC "Player of the Week" Karen
Kotofski. Key saves from goalkeeper
Stephanie Zyck kept La Roche out of the
net as the Bobcats won their ninth
seventh and eighth place, respectively.
Overall, the men finished with a total
score of 35, short of the winner of the
competition, Frostburg State.
Smith said, " We didn't perform as
well as we would have liked but I think
we were still pretty strong."
The women's competition was
embroiled in controversy as the top six
finishers were disqualified for taking a
300-yard shortcut on the set course of
,the race. Five of these runners were from
Behrend's team and one from La Roche.
The runners from the Behrend team
were senior Jessica Knapp, juniors
Jessica Sarver and Claire Manelick and
freshmen Leslie Gentile and Willa
Paterson.
The disqualification was protested by
Behrend and Laßoche because of
Kevin Fiorenzo & Amy Frizzell
Sports Editor
the Lions defeated the Frostburg State Bobcats 2-
1. Behrend has been in the championship game in
each of the last six seasons, winning two of those
games. They have faced Frostburg State in five of
those six matchups. In his Ilth season, head coach
Dan Perritano has a career record of 113-87-4
Check out On Deck for AMCC championship
game information.
straight.
The championship game pits the Lady
Lions against a familiar opponent.
Frostburg State. The two teams clashed
last Saturday in the regular season finale.
In that game, Frostburg jumped on top
early and never looked back. defeating
Behrend 4- I.
Heather Crawford scored the lone ,!oal
for the Lady Lions, who saw several
scoring opportunities sail just inches
away from the net. Frostburg forward
Kotofski scored three goals to lead all
scorers
Last Saturday's game was also played
on a soaked Behrend field, makin , ? it
very difficult to defend in all the mud.
Poor field conditions were behind the
decision to move the semi-final game
against Pitt-Greensburg to Mercyhurst
North East.
Saturday's AMCC final will be hell
at Frostburg State.
confusion over the layout of the course.
They telt that the course wasn't very easy
to follow and wasn't marked clearly. The
decision was upheld by the AMCC,
though, and Frostburg State was named
the winner.
Though the teams did not finish as well
as they expected, they are still hopeful
they can compete well the rest of the
season. They are set to run at the NCAA
Mideast Regionals at Dickinson College
on Nov. 15 and will try to finish their
season on a high note.
"I think we've reached a medium
level of our expectations. Our main goal
was to win AMCCs and we didn't get
that but everything else I think we've
done well," said Smith.
"At regionals, we just need to put a
few more people in the top 50 and have
a stron sack of runners," he said
in points with 22, goals with
eight, and assists with six. He
will be a big presence on the
field during this. week's AMCC
tournament.
The Lions next game will be
against No. 2 Frostburg in the
AMCC Finals at Edinboro on
November 8 at 12 p.m