Friday, October 21, 2005
Men's soccer maintains winning ways
By Heidi Weismiller
hmwso26@psu.edu
The Behrend Men's soccer team has only one
week left before the AMCC championships. After
adding two more wins to their record this week,
the Lions are confident that they will be ready to
take on the challenges they will face in the play
offs.
On Saturday, Oct. 15, Behrend was at home
against AMCC conference team Frostburg State.
Although the game was evenly matched and both
teams showed excellent skill, the lions sent
Frostburg home with a 1-0 loss. Each team had 11
shots on goal and as the game came close to an
end, many thought it would end in a tie. It was
clear however, that Mark Cipriani wouldn't stand
for a tie when he buried a pass from teammate
Mancilli Loffreda into the net with less than six
minutes left in the game. The game became
intense in the last few minutes and Behrend player
Dan Bash was ejected from the game with less
Lady Lions focused conference crown
By Kelly Houghton
staff writer
kihsoo@psu.edu
Your Penn State Women's Soccer team has been
demolishing competitors all season and has yet to
falter as the season draws to a close.
The Frostburg Bobcats made the long trip to Penn
State Erie last Saturday in what was the game of
the season. Hungry for e conference title,
Behrend entered the game inst the Bobcats
with fire in their heels and determination in their
hearts.
Junior Kara Struski, a prominent player and a
key reason to Behrend's success this season,
believed that "the game against Frostburg was the
biggest game of the year and the deciding factor
on whether or not we would host the AMCC tour-
nament."
Frostburg, who finished 8-1 in the conference
last season, conquered our Lady Lions in 2004
with a score of 2-0. This year, Struski comment
ed that the team prepared both "physically and
mentally" during practices the week of the
Frostburg showdown in hopes of protecting their
home field. Struski's optimism in sending
Frostburg "back to Maryland with nothing but a
loss" wasn't fully achieved, however, as Behrend
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than a minute to play
Their second win of the week came a little easi
er to the Lions, but they still played a competitive
game. On Tuesday, Oct. 18 the Lions sent yet
another team home with a loss. They beat Thiel
College 2-0. The first goal was scored by Jamie
Thomas with about 17 minutes left in the half. He
was assisted by teammate Rob Milani. The second
Behrend goal of the night came less than one
minute later and that secured the win for the
Lions. They forced Thiel to play defense most of
the game, only allowing them a total of three shots
on goal.
Behrend has only two more games left in the
season and both are against conference teams. The
Lions will travel to Mt. Aloysius on Oct. 22 and
they will play at 3:00 pm. Then on Oct. 25 they
will play at Medaille ending regular season play
The AMCC conference championships will begin
on Oct. 29 and continue through Nov. 5. The loca
tion and times of the championships have yet to be
announced, but all Penn State students are encour
aged to come and support the men's soccer team.
consented to a tie in double-overtime
Coach O'Driscoll believed that his team played
"really well" against Frostburg. Although he cate
gorized his team's play in the second half and
overtime as dominating, he stated that they just
"couldn't put the ball in the back of the net."
However, O'Driscoll is confident in his team's
play in their next matchup against Frostburg
"We are all on
the same page
with our style of
play."
-Coach Pat O'Driscoll
definitely will do well the next time we play them,
hopefully in the conference championship," said
0' Dri scoll.
The tie against Frostburg means that Behrend is
currently the second seed in the conference, hav-
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Junior D.J. Craven maneuvers around a defender from Thiel. Behrend defeated Thiel 2-0 to
increase their record to 11-3. Jamie Thomas scored for the Lions. There also was an own goal
ing tied twice in contests against Pitt-Greensburg
and Frostburg. Frostburg's first and only tie this
season was to Behrend. O'Driscoll stated that the
team's two ties were a disappointment. "We felt
that we were a better team in both games," said
O'Driscoll.
Frostburg now possesses a conference record of
6-0-1, while Behrend holds an equally impressive
record of 7-0-2. Behrend improved their record to
seven wins as they defeated Thiel College in
action on Thursday.
Although a non-conference game, Behrend
demolished Thiel 5-0. With only one senior and
one junior on the team, the Thiel Tomcats are still
on the prowl for their first victory oft the season.
Last September, Behrend also found little trouble
in shutting out Thiel, winning the game 2-0. In
that match up, Senior Michelle Newland dominat
ed play, scoring both goals.
However, both Behrend and Frostburg have two
conference games remaining, leaving the door
Sports information makes magic happen
By Kyle Woodside
staff writer
kdwlooB@psu.edu
Imagine a world (or Behrend athletic depart
ment) that looked something like the following:
a basketball game without an announcer, which
would eliminate the starting lineups and play
by-play action: a track team that didn't have a
media guide made for them, which would pre
vent anyone from knowing anything about this
elite group of runners; or a volleyball game
without the scorekeeper, which would make the
referees have to keep a mental note of the score
in a fast-paced game while simultaneously
making calls during this frenzied state. Also,
think of when you walk into the Junker Center
and grab a game program out of that wooden
podium. What if the programs weren't in the
podium?
Can't imagine that world? Me neither. That's
why we've got to thank our lucky stars for the
people in sports information department who
make the behind-the-scenes of Behrend athlet
ics happen. Some of the behind-the-scenes
actions include updating Behrend athletic web
sites, distributing press releases, calling other
athletic departments, reporting scores to the
local media outlets and creating media guides.
Media guides are those colorful pamphlets that
are made for each Behrend men's and women's
athletic team, which give a brief biography of
each player and coach and also give an overall
summary of the team.
Paul Benim is the director of the Sports
Information Department, or the "SID" as it is
commonly called. Benim has served as the
head of the SID for over 11 years now.
"Sports information is an exciting field,"
Benim said. "Every day has a new twist. It is
enjoyable to assist in getting a student-athlete's
name in the paper or to promote their accom
plishments."
Behrend's volleyball coach, Phil Pisano, is
the assistant SID director. The SID also has a
new graduate assistant, Corey Steadman.
Steadman hails from the Rochester, NY area
and is at Behrend in place of former assistant
graduate student and track sprint coach, Keith
Cerroni, who now serves in Allegheny
College's SID.
"I am fortunate this year to have both Phil
and Corey's assistance," Benim said. "These
two guys are doing great work for our athletes
and teams. I am very appreciative of their
efforts."
Behrend's SID has undergone a major meta
morphosis in the last couple of years. They
have grown from covering 10 sports to 21,
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wide open for a clear champion. Frostburg St
remains the only team capable of standing in
Behrend's path to the conference championshi
O'Driscoll. in only his second season as head
coach, has vet again led his team in an impres
season jam-packed with victories However,
O'Driscoll and his team aren't finished yet Y
lady lions nonetheless have their eyes on the r
of the conference championship.
O'Driscoll believes that his team has greatly
progressed over the season. "We are all on thi
same page with our style of play, - said O'Dris
Hopefully the Lady Lions will perfect this sty;
the next weeks, bringing home a championshi
the campus and community of Penn State Erie
Be sure to wish the girls good luck as they t
el from Behrend to Mt. Aloysius and Medaille
next week, protecting their unbeaten record.
from having zero webpages to possessing the
largest body of wehpages here at Behrend, and
from having zero media guides to having 14
last year. Also, the fact that Behrend joined the
AMCC in 1997 and that the NCAA now
requires a Statcrew computer program to be
used during home events has posed quite the
challenge for the SID crew because of all the
collaboration that needs to take place.
However, the SID has responded to the
changes remarkably well despite Benim's
struggle to balance being the head baseball
coach and SID director. Pisano's balance of
volleyball coach and SID assistant and
Steadman's balance of eraduate classes and
SID assistant
Behrend's sports information department also
requires the help of several work study students
who do office work and run a majority of the
Behrend athletic events. You might have seen
some of these students sitting at the big table
by the player benches, especially at home bas
ketball, soccer and volleyball games. Duties of
the work study students can range from some
thing fairly intense such as running the score
board, shot clock or the scorebook to some-
thing as simple as playing the National Anthem
CD before games start.
Work study employees have the daunting
task of trying to keep the rules straight for all
the different sporting events they work at. This
can get quite confusing at times if you're not
thinking straight, daydreaming a little bit, or
have had a long day. In general, if you have
work study and love the college athletic scene,
then a sports information department position
is for you.
"I love getting to watch all the sporting
events while being paid for it, especially since
a lot of my friends play on the teams," said
work study student, Paul Henry.
Another option is out there if you love sports
and are a communications major in your sev-
enth semester standing, you can complete an
internship with the SID for college credit. Only
120 hours are needed to obtain the full three
credits. The internship must be approved by the
head of the communications department. Dr.
Cathy Mester. Once approval is met, then you
can register for your internship on eLion. The
internship consists of a flexible schedule with a
combination of office work as well as game
day duties. The internship, along with the work
study SID position, looks geat on a resume.
The SID has been taken for granted. This is
only natural. Try to keep in mind that a lot of
hard work goes into game preparation that isn't
seen. The athletes aren't the only ones demon
strating their sports capabilities.