| The Behrend Beacon Women’s Tennis captures fourth league championship title in eight years By Jenna O’Block staff writer On Saturday the women’s tennis team played in the AMCC Tournament Title. The Lady Lions pre viously won the first four AMCC championships in 1997, 1 9 9 8, 1999 and 2000 During the title match, they had wins in all six single flights and two of the three double flights. The team has im- proved a lot be- Junior Amy Frizzell serves up an ace during one of the team’s last matches against Thiel. tween last year and this year. It has got some new strong players that helped the team to do very well this season. “Our freshman played well all year which was a great boost,” said Coach Barger. “I see good things for this group if we can keep them together. We play well as a team and everyone gets along which makes it a lot more enjoyable.” The ladies won almost all of their matches and also won the AMCC tournament. “I don’t think that has ever been done before,” said Jenna Yankowski, a sophomore who plays number five singles and three doubles for the team. “Along with having a very strong team, all of the Men’s water polo making history By Kyle Woodside staff writer As I was sitting down to interview Coach Tristan this week, I found it more coincidental than scenes in a Three's Company episode. While talking to Tristan in a different office than we usually talk in, I noticed behind him that there was a sign posted that proclaimed, “NO ONE comes into our POOL and PUSHES US AROUND.” This statement was the epitome of the events that took place at the Junker Center Sunday afternoon. Sunday was Senior Day for the team. Nick McGrady, the lone senior on the squad, was hon ored. Behrend celebrated Senior Day with an 11- 4 victory over Mercyhurst, who defeated Behrend 12-8 earlier in the season. “We knew we could beat them. The guys were hungry,” Coach Tristan said. Behrend enjoyed a comfortable 8-2 halftime lead and never looked back. “We felt we could have scored 20 goals if we left the starters in,” Tristan said. Juniors Andre Pranckevicius and Justin Ryder each scored three goals for the Lions. Anthony Spoto netted two, and Steve Schleicher, Bran don Thiel, and Brandon Sieber had a goal apiece. McGrady made his last home game memorable with 16 saves in goal. McGrady currently holds the career record for saves with 593 and is trying to surpass his single season record for saves at 245. Right now, he has 149. An average of about 15 saves per game for the remainder of the sea son would enable McGrady to break his own record. HOUSING AND FOOD SERVICE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK SPORTS players got along really well which helped us to do even better.” Every week the AMCC picks a ten nis player of the week. In the first three weeks out of five total, Behrend tennis player took the honors which were Yankowski, Allison Mudrey, and sophomore Mindy Calvert. Mudrey, a freshman, has been named this weeks Allegheny Moun tain Collegiate Conference athlete of the week. The ladies took first place in each division, except at first doubles where they took second. “That was a disappointment to go undefeated all year and then to lose in the finals, but Mindy and I will get it next year,” said Mudrey. At the beginning of the year the team’s goal was to have a winning record and go into AMCC’s with a number one seed in every division. “All of the girls who went to AMCC’s were very supportive of one another and we had a lot of fun,” said Mudrey. “I can’t wait until next year!” Through everyone’s dedication and teamwork they were able to go way beyond that goal. Not only did the team have number one seeds in each division, they had athletes of the week many times. They were able to end the season with a winning record of 14-3. “I really liked coaching this team this past sea son,” said Coach Barger. “Everyone did as asked with no question. We set out to win the confer ence and do well in our regional matches and that is what we did.” “I think that our team not only had talent but we put our heart into it to get where we ended up, which was AMCC Champions” said Shelley Goodpastor, a freshman who played sixth singles and second doubles. Senior captain Nick McGrady had 16 saves in goal during his last home water polo match on Sunday. McGrady holds the single season record for most saves with 593. Junior Brian Kustra stepped in later in the game and finished with six saves. “He is doing a fine job for just learning how to play goalie this year,” Tristan said. The Lions also played Saturday against Slip- The Lady Lion’s after capturing the 2004 AMCC Women's Tennis Championship title. The Lady Lions played very well all year, and the team’s final two matches were against Thiel and Westminster. They beat Thiel 9-0 and Westminster 6-3. “I felt very good about our win over Westminster,” said Barger. “Everyone played well and it gave us a good regional win.” The team will be losing senior Christie Leinginger, fourth year player and fourth singles competitor and two year captain. “I am happy and excited we won AMCC’s and had a good record this season,’’said Leinginger. “I am really looking foward to playing in the spring.” The team will also be losing senior Katie Ranalli a first year player and third singles player. “It was really nice having Katie on the team,” said Leinginger. “She’s a good player and it was nice to have her come in and contribute as much as she did.” Leinginger and Ranalli both recieved first team all-conference honors in singles and doubles. Along with the seniors the entire team recieved first team honors. pery Rock. Behrend was resilient in this game, leading 2-0 after the first quarter and only down 5-4 at halftime and 7-6 after the third quarter. However, Behrend came up short to this tough Division II school, 12-6. “We got tentative. We didn’t want to get called for pushing off on the bottom of the pool, so we wasted some scoring opportunities,” Tristan said. “We had four turnovers in a row at one point in the fourth quarter and they capitalized on all four.” Andre Pranckevicius sparked the offensive at tack for the Lions as he scored four times while Justin Ryder and Brandon Thiel each scored once. In addition to Nick McGrady’s record, there are others. Sophomore Justin Ryder has broken the record for career goals with 58. The previous record was 53. O Freshman Anthony Spoto has averaged three <5 goals per game, earning him the opportunity £ to be two goals away from tying the single sea- S son goal record of 53. Spoto has also broken the ■5 career drawn penalty shot record with five drawn. £ Junior Steve Schleicher’s 39 career assists z broke Dario Kis’ previous record of 35. These o numbers will continue to grow as there are still eight games remaining this season. Behrend looks for the momentum from the Mercyhurst game to help them as they travel to W&J for the Division 111 Eastern Championships, where they are seeded fifth. “I feel we are a top four team. This is Champi onship Week!” Tristan said. At the championships this weekend, Behrend plays Johns Hopkins, then Connecticut College. Let’s go Lions! NAME: Allison Mudrey SPORT: Women’s Tennis CLASS: Freshman DATE: October 18, 2004 Allison Mudrey (Hermitage/Hickory) was named this week’s Beacon/Food and Housing Athlete of the Week. Mudrey began the week with home dual-match wins in both singles and doubles. She then traveled to the AMCC Championships where she became this year’s champion in first singles. Mudrey defeated Alison Schwartz of Penn State Altoona 6-1, 7-5 to capture the title. Mudrey was also the runner’s up in first doubles with partner Mindy Calvert (Warren/Warren). Friday, October 22, 2004 Crass canny raaflv tscapure JUMCC (Ms By Brooke Dodds staff writer This season’s Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Cross Country tournament is going to be an exciting time. The blue and white look for ward to the moment that they can jump out to win the title that they very much deserve. The AMCC championship is going to be held at Frostburg State and will include all of the AMCC schools. Frostburg has won the past three titles with Behrend finishing second each time. Behrend won AMCC championship title in 2000 and hopes to take back their title at this year’s race. During two meets in which Frostburg also took part in, the two teams split with Behrend finishing before Frostburg at the Allegheny College Invitational and Frostburg taking the Dickinson College Invitational. For men’s individual runners, Behrend’s Brad Ruffo and Frostburg’s Kurt Ruble are the two lead ing runners in the AMCC conference. Ruffo, a sophomore has been twice named AMCC athlete of the week this season, and is the top runner for Behrend at all meets this season. Ruffo was named last seasons AMCC New Comer of the Year. Ruble, a freshman, took Runner of the Week honors three times so far in his freshman year, and is a favorite to take New Comer of the Year this season. Those that are top ten finishers in the race are going to be awarded All AMCC Honors. Includ ing Ruffo and Ruble, Behrend and Frostburg may likely walk away with 9 of the top ten positions, predicted Coach Cooper. “The top runners for our team will probably be Craig Davis, Tim Schultheis, Eric Diluzio, Harry Balwick, Brent Beauseigneur and Andy Marshall,” said Coach Cooper. “Along with those men are Joe Wilcher, Mike Barlett, Rick Holzworth, and Brett Pollack who will definitely add their support.” For the Behrend Women, in 2003 the Lady Li ons finished one, two, three, four and six at the AMCC’s. Unfortunately, the leading group in the race took a wrong turn on the course which was poorly marked and ended up being disqualified by an official at Pitt Bradford. This mistake took the AMCC title away from Behrend and was a disappointment for the runners after a year of hard work and a title they deserved. Pitt-Bradford did not follow the rules outlined in the NCAA handbook when it came to the disquali fication. There was a section that read “there should not be any disqualifications if the course is not marked according to the NCAA guidelines” which the course was not according to Senior runner Jessica Knapp. AH the women are incredibly anxious to get out there and make right last year’s wrong. They are all excited to beat Frostburg on their home course. The women have been picked in a 2004 preseason AMCC coaches poll to win the AMCC title. Jess Knapp was picked as the Runner of the Year in 2003 and was tabbed in the preseason as the run ner to beat for 2004. The runner that will present the greatest challenge to Knapp is teammate and 2003 AMCC Rookie of the Year, Leslie Gentile. Other women who have potential to bring the title to Behrend are Claire Manelick, Willa Paterson, Leisl Soergel and Sara Paterson. Mudrey’s performance at AMCCs capped off a terrific season. She went 14-3 in singles and 13-1 in doubles. Mudrey helped lead her teaununates to it 14-3 rscxwd and thetr fourth AMCC htk in jeirs. women's tennis Oneti ef the Year award the first (Dime since 2000 L Housing and Food Service Athlete of the Week is selected by the Sports Informa tion Staff. Murdrey was also chosen as this week's AMCC Women's Tennis Player of the Week.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers