Friday, October 27, 2006
Men’s Water Polo headed for playoffs
The Penn State Behrend Men's Water Polo team began practice in August, and "what a difference the men have made since then," said Head
Coach Joe Tristan. Tristan feels there have been a lot of improvements in the athletes’ abilities and is looking for a positive attitude heading
into the playoffs this weekend
This past weekend. Behrend held the annual District 111 Eastern Championships in the Junker Center. The tournament started on Saturday
and finished up on Sunday. The University of Connecticut finished first, Washington and Jefferson College finished second, and Behrend fin
ished in third place. According to Tristan, “this weekend the boys played well, regrouped and played better, and had fun."
Tristan says he is very pleased with the talents and strengths on the team this season. “The best part of coaching is to see how the athletes
perform throughout the season from start to finish, and also see the athletes succeed," he said
Tristan says he tries to get all the players involved in participating. ,
The key players offensively this season are Anthony Spoto and Andre :
Pranckevicius. Defensively, the key players are Vincent Brewer and
Jacob Hayden.
The men have worked hard all season. They practice for two hours a
day, and work on strength training and techniques to improve for the
games
Tristan also says he believes that one of his most important jobs is to
teach the athletes about life. He says he believes athletics are just like a
job. He wants to help his athletes understand to work hard in life and do
what’s best for them. When you work hard, you get promoted. Just like
in Water Polo, when you work hard and show ambition, you get more
playing time. Progression is the key to moving up and being successful.
We saw the Water Polo teammeet their expectations so far this season.
The team was very diverse, many of the athletes come from different
states. There are only forty Water Polo teams in Pennsylvania, and in
comparison, there are four hundred teams in California. There are two
high school teams in the Erie and two in Pittsburgh. The hot spot for
Water Polo is California.
Some of the teams that Behrend will play this year are Gannon,
Mercyhurst. The University of Connecticut, Washington and Jefferson,
and the Naval Academy. The biggest competition for Behrend this year
as is always in the past is; Washington and Jefferson and George
Washington, keeping with previous years tradition.
The men are looking to play well this weekend at the NCAA Playoffs.
According to coach Tristan, “the men will train hard all week and give
it all that they have in playoff's." This weekend the playoffs run
Saturday through Sunday and are held at Bucknell University in Rodolphe Acelor cradles the ball during a match
Lewisburg, PA.
r Sports Trivia
| Next week kicks off the NBA regular season. Currently Leßron
I James holds the record for being the youngest player to ever record
| a triple double in an NBA game. Who is the oldest?
■ Last week’s answer: Derek Jeter’s four postseason records are
! most career postseason hits, most postseason total bases, most
I Division Series home runs and most hits in a postseason game.
■ E-mail your answer to Dan Mitchell (dgml47@psu.edu) or Jordan •
! Gilmore (jtgl7B@psu.edu). The first person to answer corectly will !
j have their name printed in next weeks issue along with the answer, j
'University (gate
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By Heather Heenan
staff writer
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PSU sports: It’s all relative
Penn State Behrend is one of two Penn State
branch campuses to offer NCAA competition
sports to its students, the other being Penn State
Altoona. Both Behrend and Altoona are NCAA
division 111 schools, and both are members of
the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference
(AMCC). These highly competitive schools
have had numerous AMCC championship
games and NCAA qualifiers against each other.
The Penn State Behrend Lady Lions
Volleyball team has lost twice to Altoona in the
AMCC playoffs. "Both teams are at the top of
the conference every year,” stated Head Coach
Phil Pisano. "Any time we are in the AMCC
championship game the girls want to win, but
when it’s against Penn State Altoona, they seem
just that much more pumped up.”
The tennis team will also attest to having a
grudge toward the Altoona squad. The women’s
team has been the AMCC champions five of the
last eight years and runner up to Penn State
Altona two other years. The men’s tennis team
has not been so fortunate, coming up with only
one championship team and being runners up
six times, with the majority being to a strong
Altoona team.
Behrend basketball Head Coach Dave Niland
doesn’t see any difference between playing
against Altoona or against a school loke Hilbert.
“I have never used the word rivalry in my
coaching career,” said Niland. “I want my guys
to play every game as if that team is the hardest
m
Make-the-,
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
By Dan Mitchell
assistant sports editor
Hockey sizzles on ice
The Penn State Behrend Men’s Hockey Club couldn't have asked
for a better start to their season. After running the table at their annu
al Behrend tournament, the team entered league play with a full head
of steam
“The tournament gave us a lot of momentum,” said senior President
D. J. Craven. “Starting a season undefeated is the best you can ask
for.”
The Lions very quickly turned that momentum into a fifth consecu
tive victory against visiting Allegheny College. Junior Brad Alayon
had a game high three goals and one assist, while junior Brystcn Jones
contributed two goals in the 9-2 win. Craven, senior Jon Romanelli,
and freshmen Kevin Geibel and Aaron Marks each had one goal.
Junior goalie Pat Laskey had eight saves.
After proving that they were untouchable on their home ice. the
Lions took their 5-0 record on the road against league opponents
Indiana University of Pennsylvania (lUP) and Robert Morris. The
road, however, showed them little mercy, as the team recorded back
to-back losses. The Lions were defeated by lUP 5-2, and then by
Robert Morris 8-5.
“We weren’t focused for all 60 minutes of the game," said Craven.
“In both games we started out slow and didn’t play well until we were
already in a three goal deficit.”
Junior Dan Thiessen and Brysten Jones scored the team’s only goals
in the losing effort against lUP. Laskey had 12 saves in net.
In the defeat to Robert Morris freshman Chris Simanic had a game
high two goals. Romanelli, Thiessen and freshman Sean Bartlett each
contributed a goal. Despite the losing effort, Laskey had a busy day in
net stopping 36 shots.
Although the losses have been hard to swallow, the team is viewing
them as learning experiences.
“I think we realized we have things we need to work on in all
aspects of our game,” said Craven. “We need to take it one game at a
time, one period at a time, and one shift at a time”.
The Lions plan to carry that same mentality over into the remainder
of their four game road trip. Although the first two games resulted in
tough losses, the team is optimistic about its upcoming schedule. The
team will travel to Cleveland to face Case Western this Friday night,
and then finish up the road trip October 29 against Alfred University.
“This weekend we need to come out firing on all cylinders and
prove to ourselves that we can play competitively the whole game,"
said Craven. The Lions are back at home this November with
games against Robert Morris, Edinboro, and the University of
Pittsburgh.
team on the schedule.” Niland says he doesn’t
like to hype up one game or team just because
they may be a rival. Niland says he does recog
nize the fact that his team and Altoona have
only met once in the AMCC playoffs.
Behrend cross country coach Dave Cooper
says he agrees that he doesn’t really see much
of a rivalry. “We run at meets with numerous
schools each week, so it would be very hard to
concentrate on beating one school with all the
competition that’s around you,” Cooper said.
The Behrend men’s soccer team has had its
share of success in the AMCC, making it to the
playoffs for the past nine straight years. But
like a lot of sports, it seems that there is a new
team at the top of AMCC to beat each year, and
that is the team that everyone gets hyped up for.
“Some years they are ranked better and some
years we are ranked better. I wouldn't really
say that it matters until we meet them in the
playoffs; if we meet them in the playoffs, there
isn’t really an rivalry there,” commented senior
captain Sean Ruhlman.
Last year Behrend fielded 21 varsity sports
and brought home five team AMCC champi
onship titles and one individual championship
title. Behrend also had five runners up in the
AMCC. Thanks to these sports Behrend has
once again brought back the President’s Cup.
The Cup ranks each school’s entire athletic
department, and then is awarded to the highest
scoring school in the AMCC. The Behrend
Lions captured their fourth President’s Cup in
five years, last year. This makes Behrend athlet
ic teams the school to beat.
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By Matt Waronker
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