i The Behrend Beacon Friday, December 15, 2006 Fall sports teams leave The Penn State Behrend Lady Lions volleyball team finished the season with a school record of 26 wins and only two losses in the regular season. The Lady Lions then captured the runner up trophy in the AMCC tour- 'lament and went on to the ECAC tour- nament. where they finished second to NJCU. HOUSING AND FOOD SERVICES ATHLETE OF THE WEEK NAME: David Gahan SPORT: Men's Basketball CLASS: Junior DATE: December 11, 2006 David Gahan (Erie/East) has been named the Housing and Food Services Athlete of the Week. Gahan led the Behrend Lions to a pair of conference victories this past week over Hilbert and Pitt-Greensburg. The men are now 5-2 and a perfect 4-0 in the AMCC Gahan connected for eight points, four boards, and two assists as the blue and white routed the Hilbert Hawks by 20 points, 59-39. Three nights later, Gahan emerged off the bench to provide a spark in the Behrend offense as he put together a double-double, dropping 15 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in a 12 point victory over the Pitt- Greensburg Bobcats. Housing and Food Services Athlete of the Week is selected by the Sports Information Staff. BEACON SPORTS The Penn State Behrend Lady Lions soccer team started with high expecta tions and finished with even better results. The !women brought home an AMCC Championship and an NCAA appearance. The women had six play ers named to the AMCC all conference team, as well as having one team member, Nikki Frisbee named to the all region ;team for the Great Lakes region. The ladies are only losing one senior but she is one of the greatest women to ever play soc cer at Behrend. Kara 'Struski started almost every varsity game in her four years at Behrend and also captured the career assists record her senior year. their mark on After only having nine of their 29 players return the Penn State Behrend mens soccer team got off to a slow start, but finished the season winning six of their last 10 games, including their first round AMCC game against Pitt-Bradford. The men had three all-conference recognitions, including Dave Balenos first team selection. Joining Balino were Ahmad Salim and Sean Ruhlman, forward and defense respectively. The team loses three seniors, Ruhlman, Josh Serafini and DJ Craven whose pres- ence will be missed on the field The Penn State Behrend Lady Lions tennis team started their season by winning the Behrend Invitational. The ladies continued to stun the compe tition, finishing their regular season with a 15-1 record and capturing their third straight AMCC championship title. Throughout the season, the ladys had four players named as AMCC players of the week at numerous different times. ens basketball undefeated in AMCC The Penn State Behrend mens basketball team added on their undefeated AMCC record with a 73-61 win over Pitt- Greensburg December 9 at the Junker Center. The Lions, who are now 4-0 in conference play, saw strong performances from juniors Kevin Buczynski and David Gahan. Buczynski led all scorers with 23 points, shooting a solid 6-8 from the field and an even more impressive 11-12 from the line. Gahan provided the Lions with a much needed spark off of the bench, shooting a perfect 7-7 from the floor, contributing 15 points and dominating the boards with 11 rebounds. Behrend maintained a slim 25-22 lead entering the half, and in a game that constantly exchanged scoring runs, no lead was safe for the Lions until late in the second half. The Bobcats kept themselves in the game with a run of four consecutive three point shots early in the second half, and managed to scrap for any shot Behrend's tenacious defense would allow them. Pitt- Greensburg shot 8-19 from beyond the arc, however their inconsistent 14-33 from the field couldn't keep pace with Behrend's 61% shooting in the second half. Despite a few late opportunities, the Bobcats were no match for Behrend's second half dom inaing performance. The Lions controlled the boircLout-rebounding Pitt-Greensburg 40-26. "As a team they definitely played very well," said head coach Dave Niland. Behrend's win over Pitt-Greensburg marked the first time they have beaten the Bobcats since the 2004-2005 season. The Lions dropped all three of their games against Pitt-Greensburg last season by a combined total of eight points. The Lions followed their victory over Pitt-Greensburg with a 73-55 loss to non-conference opponent Westminster College. What began as a close match-up, with both teams shooting an identical 52% from the floor, quickly turned into 18 point rout of the Lions. While the Titans continued to shoot a consistent 52% from the field during the second half, the Lions perimeter game practically disappeared. Behrend shot 9-28 from the floor and couldn't find an answer for Westminster's scoring attack. Five Westminster players reached double-digits in scoring. Sophomore guard Tom Newman contributed a team high 14 points in the losing effort. Buczynski had 11 points and nine rebounds, and Gahan shot a solid 5-7 from the floor supplying 10 points The loss drops Behrend to 5-3 overall The Lions have over two weeks until their next cooltest, 'lido tournament held in Dajtona Beach, Florida. The Daytona Beach Classic, an annual tournament, will be held ► 28 apd 29. The Lions will play Lebanon Valley and Saint John's, two of the stronger teams Behrend expects to face thqi • "These teams will be outstanding competition," saidNilatil. "They're definitely two of the better teams we'll face all year." CONTRIBUTED PHOTO By Matt Waronker Behrend Athletics The Penn State Behrend mens water polo team finished their season strong with two wins in the Division 111 Eastern Championships, giv ing them a third place finish in the tournament hel at Behrend. The men had a rough season as a team but they excelled individually in two different areas. Behrend goalie Leandro Azevedo was tied for top in the nation for his outstanding save totals. He had an 11.6 saves per game average and 163 saves on the season. Juniors Andre Pranckevicius and Anthony Spoto are tied for 19th in the nation for their goals per game average, and 44th in he nation for their goal total for the season with 2.1 and 40 respectively. Graduating only three sen iors, the team looks to come back stronger next season. BMW The Penn State Behrend mens and womens cross-country teams were off to a quick start, having two top five finishers at the first invi tational. At the AMCC championships, the women finished runners-up as a team and were lead by outstanding sophomore Jenny Bailey. Bailey was also named the AMCC Runner of the Year. The mens team also finished with a strong second place finish and were led by senior runner and captian Brad Ruffo. Ruffo finished an outstanding career here at Behrend, where he became the first runner to ever compete at the NCAA national cross-county meet in 2005. staff writer
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