Sports CROSS COUNTRY XC prepares for AMCC Championships AMANDA STETZ staff writer The men's and women's cross country team will be host ing the AMCC Championships at the Behrend Fields on Oct. 31. The men will look to win the team's third consecutive AMCC Championship. The women look to be just as successful as their men team mates, with a win of their own. The women won the title in 2007 and expected to win the AMCC last year. This year, the women's team will be looking to not be disap pointed. "Not winning the AMCC title last year was a huge let down," said junior Liz Keller. "Not one of us expected to place as low as third last year. This season we are definitely a stronger team. We have every intention of going out on a strong note, and hopefully we win the title." Both the men's and women's cross country teams have had a strong season. While the team has placed highly in several of this year's meets, individuals have conse- SWIMMING Swim team takes second at Pitt Bradford Relays The Lions take gold in eight out of 16 events in first competition ALEC ITALIANO staff writer The Penn State Behrend swim team kicked off their 2009-2010 season by taking second place at the Pitt Brad ford Relay Invitational. The Lions, with a combined score of 230 after 16 events, fell only to Notre Dame who won by 34 points. The nearest competitor after Behrend was Penn State Al toona with a score of 82 and MEN'S SOCCER Soccer team falls to Case Western, 3-0 LAUREN LIEBDZINSKI staff writer On Oct. 23 the Penn State Behrend men's soccer team faced off against the Spartans of Case Western Reserve at the Behrend Fields. Despite less than perfect weather conditions, as well as field conditions, the Behrend men knew what they needed to accomplish. Playing without starting sophomore center midfielder Aaron Meehl would be an ob stacle that the team needed to overcome to win the game. Throughout the entire first half, the Lions certainly had 0 Photos of the men's soccer game can be viewed at the www.the behrendbeacon.com NFL Denver @ Baltimore Miami C N.Y. Jets Minnesota CL Green Bay Atlanta C New Orleans NCAA #l2 Penn St. @ Northwestern #3 Texas Cu #l4 Oklahoma St NIEL Minnesota @ Pittsburgh Carolina @ Philadelphia Season Totals: quently done well. Going above and beyond ex pectations this season, the men's senior captain Kevin Gorny has placed in several meets this year. At the first In vitational of the year, at West minster, Gorny placed first Junior Liz Keller hopes for an AMCC Championship. ousted teams such as Pitt-Brad ford and Bethany College. The Behrend Lions took the gold in eight of the 16 events. These events included Mixed 200 Yard Medley Relay, Men 300 Yard Butterfly Relay, Men 300 Yard Backstroke Relay, Men 300 Yard Breaststroke Relay, Mixed 200 Yard Freestyle Relay, Mixed 400 Yard Reverse Medley Relay, Men 800 Yard Freestyle Relay, and Men 500 Yard Crescendo Relay. Junior women's team captain Danielle Wilson, a first-team all-AMCC athlete, performed well in the mixed 400 yard re verse medley relay to help her team take the win. Junior Josh Reish was named team captain for the men's team. He swam well in the Men their chances to put the ball in the net. Unfortunately, they could not capitalize on any of their scor ing opportunities. The Behrend men held strong and stood their ground until the 27:55 minute mark of the first half when a Case West ern player was pulled down in the box, giving the Spartans a penalty shot taken by the Spar tans' Vinny Bell. Bell was able to put the ball behind senior goalkeeper Dustin Walker. Down by a score of 1-0 at halftime, the Lions needed to pick up their game and start creating scoring opportunities. Despite their efforts, the sec ond half of the game saw only two more goals by the Spar tans. Behrend continued to strug gle to find the net and fell to the Beat The Editors Connor Nick Denver Denver N.Y. Jets N.Y. Jets Miami Minnesota Minnesota Minnesota New Orleans New Orleans New Orleans Penn St. Penn St. Penn St Texas Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Carolina Carolina Philadelphia 45-19 46-18 47-17 among the men with a time of 26:52. The men's team followed suit and placed first at the West minster Invitational. The women's team has also had success this season. Junior Emily Berry has been a stand out on the women's team, plac Andy lams has been a strong runner for the Lions this season 300 yard breastroke relay along with Hamilee Cousin, Jake Sherk and Ben Strunk. The relay team took first in the event over Notre Dame by 5.71 seconds and over Penn State Altoona by 16.52 seconds. Another swimmer that did well at the meet was freshman Jake Desßoches. He helped the team take first in the mixed 200-yard medley relay and the men 300-yard backstroke relay. The Lions won the events by 1.57 seconds and 1.65 seconds respectively both over Notre Dame. Sophomore Anne Lawrence helped the women's team to win the mixed 400 Yard Re verse Medley Relay and the 200 yard Medley Relay. Lawrence is expected to Spartans by a final score of 3-0. Walker finished the game with five saves. "1 personally believe we were a better team," said freshman Danny Poljak. "However, in less than perfect weather and field conditions, the better team does not always win." The ab sence of Meehl may have also hurt the Lions. "Well, Aaron is a great ball winner and handler in the mid dle," Poljak said. "Obviously, we missed him, but we still had a good amount of depth on the field. We just need to to bounce back from a tough game." The men's soccer team is currently 7-1-1 in AMCC play. The AMCC tournament is coming up for the Behrend Lions, and they are poised to win an AMCC Championship Denver Baltimore N.Y. Jets Minnesota New Orleans Penn St Oklahoma St Pittsburgh Philadelphia ing highly at several meets this season. At the Behrend invitational, the men and women placed third out of 15 and second out of 12, respectively. Most recently the cross coun try team struggled against some of the better teams in Di vision 111 at the Oberlin Invita tional. The men finished 23 out of 28 and the women finished 23 out of 25. Tanisha Wheatley led the Lions with a time of 24:49. After winning three of the last four championships the men and women will have high expectations heading into this weekend. Should one or both of the men's or women's teams win the title, that respective team or teams will be four-time AMCC champions. "We are looking really good as a team," Gorny said. "We have a good shot to win the title with up to six or seven All- AMCC runners." The Lions hope for a good turn out with the Champi onship being held at Behrend. make a few runs at the record boards during her career here at Behrend. The team is led by coach Jen Wallace who is in her seventh year as men's and woman's head swimming coach. This year the Lions will look to secure their third straight AMCC swimming and diving championship after taking the title the last two years. "The team worked well to gether, and we swam strong," said freshman Stefania Pontillo. "We hope to do better next week and will be practicing hard all week for it." The swim team continues their season when they next host Bethany College on Oct. 31. Behrend shot six times, but only had one shot on goal. Ilan Mike. Denver Denver N.Y. Jets Miami Minnesota Green Bay New Orleans New Orleans Penn St. Penn St Texas Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Carolina Philadelphia 38-26 43-21 BEHREND BEACON October 30, 2009 www.thebehrendbeacon.com Athlete of the week Jon Klein/The Behrend Beacon Ryan Banks scored three goals in a 9-0 win against Mt. Aloysius. Ryan Banks has been named the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Ath lete of the Week for the week of Oct. 26, 2009. Banks exploded for three goals in an AMCC contest against Mount Aloysius on, Oct. 24. Banks' Season Statistics Goals Assists Shots SOG SOG% AMCC Sports Standings As of 10/26 MEN'S SOCCER AMCC Pts Overall Strk Medaille 8-0-1 25 14-2-2 WI Penn St. Behrend 7-1-1 22 12-4-2 WI Penn St. Altoona 7-2 21 11-5-1 W 4 Franciscan 6-3 18 9-6 W 2 Frostburg State 6-3 18 10-6-1 W 6 La Roche 6-3 18 8-8-1 W 1 Pitt-Bradford 3-6 9 4-12 WI Pitt-Greensburg 2-6-1 7 3-13-1 L 6 D'Youville 2-7 6 3-14 LI Hilbert 1-7-1 4 1-15-1 L 5 Mount Aloysius 0-9 0 0-15 Ll 5 WOMEN'S SOCCER AMCC Pts Overall Strk Penn St. Behrend 8-0-1 25 12-2-3 W 8 Frostburg State 8-1 24 14-3 W 3 Medaille 6-2-1 19 8-7-2 WI Penn St. Altoona 6-2-1 19 14-3-1 W 5 La Roche 5-3-1 16 12-6-1 L 2 Pitt-Bradford 5-4 15 9-7 LI Franciscan 4-5 12 6-9-1 WI Hilbert 4-6 12 7-8-2 WI Pitt-Greensburg 1-8 3 2-14 L 7 D'Youville 1-8 3 3-11 L 3 Mount Aloysius 0-9 0 0-16 Ll 6 WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL AMCC Overall Strk Frostburg State 7-0 25-4 W 6 Penn St. Behrend 7-2 17-8 LI Penn St. Altoona 6-1 13-10 W 3 Pitt-Bradford 6-2 14-4 W 3 Medaille 5-2 18-7 W 2 Mount Aloysius 3-4 8-18 L 8 D'Youville 2-5 8-15 L 4 Pitt-Greensburg 3-4 5-14 W 2 Franciscan 2-7 9-13 WI Hilbert 1-6 4-16 L 3 La Roche 0-9 2-24 LI I Most recent sports results Swimming Oct. 24 at Pitt-Bradford Relays - 2nd Place - 154 pts. Men's Soccer Oct. 23 v. Case Western - Lost 3-0. Oct. 24 at Mount Aloysius - Won 9-0. Women's Soccer Oct. 24 at Mount Aloysius - Won 8-0. Women's Volleyball Oct. 24 at Penn State Altoona - Lost 3-2. Men's Water Polo Oct. 24 at DII Eastern Championships v. Washington and Jeffer son - Lost 11-7 (OD. Oct. 24 at DIII Eastern Championships v. John Hopkins - Lost 23-2. Oct. 25 at DIII Eastern Championships v. Connecticut - Lost 14- 9. Oct. 25 at DIII Eastern Championships v. Connecticut - Lost 19- 13. The Behrend Lions went on to score a season high nine goals as they defeated the Mounties 9-0. Banks scored one of his goals in the first period while adding the Blue and White's only goals in the second. 21 11 .524