8 | The Behrend Beacon
Men’s water polo look to improve
By Kyle Woodside
staff writer
Imagine going to play at one of the highest pro
file tournaments and you know your team is the
only Division 111 college competing. That’s the
situation Coach Joe Tristan was faced with this
weekend when his men’s water polo team trav
eled to the big Navy Open Tournament for the
second time in Behrend men’s water polo history.
In the first game, Tristan’s Behrend Lions were
slated to play Navy’s “B” team, the second string
of the Division I team, ranked 1 l' h nationally. The
Lions put up an admirable fight despite arriving
to their hotel at 2:30 a.m. on the same morning
that they had to awake at 7:00 a.m. for warm
ups.
After the first quarter, the team was only down
3-2. In the third quarter, the long night took its
toll as Navy pulled away and came out victori
ous, 14-4.
The Lions came up short again against Divi
sion II Slippery Rock by a score of 14-7. Despite
the score. Coach Tristan was proud of his players
effort in this game.
“I was proud of the guys in the season opener,”
said Coach Tristan. “I asked them to dig deep in
the fourth quarter and go after three goals despite
being exhausted.”
The team came through by outscoring Slippery
Rock 3-2 in the final quarter, an accomplishment
Tristan notes as an important improvement over
last year.
On the second day of the tournament, the Li
ons were up by five goals early in the game against
Fordhatn University. Division I Fordham scored
four goals in the fourth quarter in a come from
behind win, 10-7.
Behrend’s final game was an exhibition game
against Northeast Zone, where the blue and white
fell 14-4. This game allowed Tristan to try new
things with his team to see which worked better
than others.
I eading the team on offense was Sophomore
Soccer teams off to strona start
Men zvin Herb Lauffer Tournament,
in second round
women fall
Photo File
After winning the 2003 AMCC Championships the men’s team recieved its’ first ever bid to
NCAAs. where they played defending national champs, Messiah
By Kimberly McCray
staff writer
This past weekend both the men’s and
women's soccer teams kicked off the 2004
season. Both teams competed in the annual
Herb Lauffer Tournament held at Behrend.
The tournament was held on Saturday Sep
tember 4 and Sunday September 5.
The men got off to a great start with two
quick wins. On September 4 the team de
feated Hiram with a score of 1-0. Near the
end of the second half, sophomore Stan
Kaweesi- Katongole scored the only goal
to win the game.
The following day, the men finished the
tournament with another win against
Baldwin Wallace. Again, they came
through with a score of 1-0.
At the beginning of the second half, se
nior Eric Nyberg scored a goal off of an
assist from juniors Brian Blaszczyk and
Dan Bash.
Even though Baldwin Wallace domi
nated the shots during the game with a 20-
to-5 ratio, Behrend came out on top. Bash
received the title of the 2004 Herb Lauffer
Tournament Men’s MVP.
Last year the team finished with a 13-4-
2 regular season record and are looking
forward to the 2004 season being just as
rewarding. The men return to the field on
September 11 at Westminster.
The women's soccer team opened the
2004 soccer season with a 1-1 record. The
women competed against Alfred on day
one of the tournament. The women were
victorious with a final score of 3-0.
In the opening minutes of the game jun
ior Heather Crawford scored an unassisted
SPORTS
Men’s water polo hits the pool in preparation for their upcoming
University.
Brandon Thiel and freshmen Anthony Spoto and
Andre Pranckevicius. Thiel had four assists while
Spoto had three. Spoto also had 11 goals while
Pranckevicius contributed eight.
Spoto further impressed by causing 11 of
Behrend’s 30 “kickouts” which enabled the team
to score 10 out of 30 goals while on a 6 vs. 5
advantage; similar to a power play in hockey.
Freshmen Vincent Brewer and Rodolphe
Acelor, contributed as well with sound play.
Despite starting the season with a 0-3 record,
Tristan is confident and proud of his team who
he feels has picked up where it left off last year.
“Last year’s team was great. This year’s team is
better. There is a friendship between the team
members and individual performance is not em-
goal to give Behrend the lead. The
goals didn’t stop there. The women
scored the next two goals at the end of
the first half.
Freshman Julie Quail is accredited
with the two unassisted goals. The
Lady Lions scored all three goals in the
first half and were shutout in the sec
ond. However, a strong defense kept
Alfred out of the goal the entire game.
In tournament action the next day, the
women suffered a tough 1-2 loss to
Baldwin Wallace. Baldwin took the lead
when they scored an early goal in the
eighth minute taking control of the
game. At the beginning of the
second half, Crawford received a red
card, setting the Lions back a player
for the remainder of the game.
The game remained scoreless until
freshman Emily Miller answered back
with a goal of her own. The goal came
in the sixtieth minute off an assist from
junior Michelle Newland.
Unfortunately, Baldwin Wallace
added to their lead in the remaining
minutes of the game resulting in an up
set for the Behrend women.
This season the women are looking
to build off last year’s record of 12-7-
1. Carrying them will be a team com
promised of veteran experience and
leadership as well as strong newcom
ers. The women will be lead by first
year coach Patrick O’Driscoll.
With new additions to the team, the
women are looking forward to making
another AMCC run. The team’s next
game is scheduled for September 11 at
Westminster.
phasized.”
Tristan and his team noticed an empty spot
without sophomore Justin Ryder. Ryder, who is
Behrends men’s water polo leading scorer, was
out with a concussion.
“We’ve got to prove ourselves to the big dogs,
and we are so far,” said Tristan. “I want other
coaches to know that if you take us lightly, we’re
gonna bum you.”
The Lions will travel this weekend to
Lewisburg for the Bucknell Tournament. On
September 11, Behrend plays Grove City and
Toronto University.
On Sunday, the team looks forward to their
morning match vs. Gannon and looks to defeat
Bucknell’s “B” team later that afternoon.
Intramural
deadlines
Sand volleyball Sept. 13
(mens, womens, co-ed)
Tennis Sept. 13
(mens, womens, co-ed)
Cross country Sept. 24
(mens, womens, co-ed)
Flag football Oct. 1
(mens, womens, co-ed)
Register online:
pennstatebehrend.psu.edu/athletics/
intramurals
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Men’s golf
on par
Women's team has
strong individual
performance
By Samantha Cibula
sports co-editor
Tiger Woods might be struggling to find his
swing but the Behrend men's golf team has
its swing in check. The men headed to the
University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg Sep
tember 7 for the first tournament of the sea-
The men played each hole of the season
opener as if they were imitating the world’s
number one ranked golfer, Vijay Singh.
Each team brought five golfers, but only the
top four scores counted. After the match the
top scores were tallied. The Behrend men fin
ished second out of nine teams. First place
went to St. Vincent College a Division II team,
by a mere five strokes.
Not only did the men take home an impres
sive second place but the team score of 294
was an all-time best for Behrend at this tour
nament. Last season the men s golf team
didn’t break 300. The score sets Behrend up
with expectations for a great season.
“It was one of the best scores for Behrend
at the tournament,” said freshman Kevin
Grignol. “One of our season goals will be to
go out and win tournaments and possibly
knockoff a few local Division II schools.”
Adding to the men’s second place finish was
freshman Alex Kiproff. Kiproff shot an as
tounding round of golf landing him a fifth
place in the individual rankings. His score of
71 led the team to a second place finish.
“I’m very excited about this year," said head
coach James Curren. “We have good veteran
leadership as well as strong underclass tal-
The women also had their season opener at
the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg
Tournament. Although the women's golf team
is weak in numbers they had a strong indi
vidual showing at the tournament.
Representing the Behrend women were
sophomores Shelley Leonard and Brittany
Gray. Lacking in numbers, they didn't place
in team competition but shined in individual
scoring. Leonard shot an impressive 80 tak
ing the individual first place.
“I was very impressed with the ladies per
formances as well as the mens," said Curren.
“I’m looking forward to a strong season for
both the women and men.”
The men return to action at Lake Erie Sep
tember 11 while the women will not return to
the golf course until September 16 at the Penn
State Behrend Invitational
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