PSH sports victorious
By MEGAN RESSER
Sports Reporter
MKRIS7@PSU.EDU
All of the Penn State Harrisburg
intercollegiate Fall sports teams are
over halfway into their seasons at
this point in the semester. Most of
the teams are enjoying remarkable
success thus far. By the time this
issue comes to press, the teams will
be one more week into their seasons
and even closer to playoffs and end
of-season tournaments.
The baseball team is
enjoying a seven-game
winning streak as of late.
Their most recent victories
came when they beat Penn
State Abington and Penn
State York in consecutive
double-headers on
September 30 and October
1, respectively. This means
that they post an overall
recordof7 wins, 2 losses and
an undefeated Pennsylvania
State University Athletic
Conference record of 7
wins, 0 losses. The baseball
team is unique in that they
play a Fall season and a
Spring season and by the
time this issue is published,
they will have finished all
of their regular Fall games
and will only have the Mid-
Season Tournament left to
play on October 14 and 15.
The cross country team
is also off to an impressiv e
start, placing 3 out of six
teams at a conference meet
at Penn State Wilkes-Barre
on September 16. A few
days later, they placed a
remarkable first out of eleven teams
at a conference meet at Penn State
Worthington Scranton. On September
30, they placed second out of eight
teams at a meet held at Luzerne
County Community College.
The women’s soccer team, one
of the new teams here on campus,
has started their season off with an
impressive 3-0 overall record and a
2-0 PSUAC record. They continued
their unbeaten streak by defeating
Penn State Abington by a score of 3-
0 on September 29. Their undefeated
record is even more impressive when
one considers that the team only
has fourteen players. A typical full
soccer team roster boasts eighteen or
more players.
Posting solid 4-1 PSUAC and
5-2 overall records, the men’s
soccer team is optimistic about the
The soccer field at PSH. The men's team has an
overall record of 5 - 2 and the women have a, thus
far, undefeated record.
remainder of their season
asked if he would like to make any
remarks about their season, captain
George Christofidis, ’O7, said, “As a
captain 1 feel that we are doing well
overall as a team. We are growing
as a team and making less and less
mistakes on and off the field. Soon
enough 1 won’t have anything to yell
D hofo by JOSH SALVIA/Capitol Times
at my teammates about.” When asked
about the team’s attitude towards
the playoffs Christofidis said, “As
a team we feel that we can and will
win it all this year.” This strong sense
of motivation is surely fueled by the
fact that they lost to Penn College
in a tough semi-final playoff game
last year.
The women’s volleyball team is
making a fairly strong showing this
Fall despite having a small eight
person roster. Their overall record
fell to 5 wins, 5 losses as they
lost to Penn State Mont Alto on
September 30, but they still have
a respectable PSUAC record of
5 wins, 3 losses.
Despite solid performances
which garnered wins against
Penn State Lehigh Valley,
Penn State York, and Penn
State Hazleton, the new co-ed
tennis team suffered two tough
losses to Penn College within
one week, making both their
overall and their PSUAC record
3-2. As a member of the team,
I can speak for my teammates
when I say that we have been
motivated by these losses to
work even harder and to aim for
an unbeaten rest of our season.
Within the past two weeks, the
golf team, which is also new to
campus, has placed third out of
seven teams at an away match
at Penn State Mont Alto and
fourth out of six teams at an
away match at Penn State New
Kensington. They will have
competed in their last regular
season match on October
second, and will be preparing
for their PSUAC championships
which are scheduled for October
15, 16, and 17 at Blue Course.
Please continue to come out and
support your fellow PSH athletes
as they finish out their Fall sports
seasons. Full rosters, schedules,
photos, and information about
coaches can be found by clicking on
the Intercollegiate Athletics link on
the www.hbg.psu.edu web site.
Nittany Lions to hold the line
By GENARO C ARMAS
Guest Reporter
Associated Press
Minnesota’s affinity to running
the football is about as much of a
constant in the Big Ten these days
as Joe Patemo pacing the Penn State
sidelines wearing rolled-up khakis
and thiek-rimmed glasses.
On Saturday, Joe Pa and the Gopher
running backs will be wearing out
the artificial turf at the Metrodome
when the Nittany Lions (3-
2, 1-1) visit Minneapolis.
Linebacker Paul
Posluszny and his Penn
State teammates shut down
star Laurence Maroney
last season when the Lions
routed the Gophers 44-
14 at Beaver Stadium.
Maroney has moved on to
the NFL, so Amir Pinnix
(477 yards, two TDs)
and 6-foot-3, 255-pound
linebacker-turned-running
back Alex Daniels (300
yards, five TDs) now get
the bulk of the carries for
Minnesota (2-3, 0-2).
“It all starts on the line,”
said Posluszny, coming off
his best game of the year
with 10 tackles last week
against Northwestern.
“Whoever wins the battle
of the line of scrimmage
will do very well in Photo courtesy of Google images
this game.” Joe Paterno and his Nittany Lions need to stop
Penn State has issues on the Minnesota running game on the line
both sides of the line, to a
lesser extent on defense
There’s not mueh experienced depth
behind senior linebacker/end Tim
Shaw and tough tackles Jay Alford
and Ed Johnson.
Minnesota rushes lor 203 yards a
game, 15th-best in Division 1-A.
They also have a pair of potential
receiving threats in receiver Logan
Payne (seven TDs) and 6-foot-7 tight
end Matt Spaeth.
But Penn State’s defense has
improved each week and has been
THE CAPITAL TIMES
especially tough against the run,
limiting opponents to 82 yards
a game
"We had trouble doing everything
last year. We got killed pretty good,”
quarterback Bryan Cupito said.
"We’re just going to try to run our
regular offense.”
The Lions might have trouble doing
the same, thanks to some injuries on
the offensiv e line.
Paterno said two seniors are hurt:
standout left tackle Levi Brown will
sit out again Saturday because of a
sprained left knee; left guard Robert
Price is questionable because of a
sprained left shoulder. The right
guard, sophomore Rich Ohmberger,
will be making his second
career start.
“The ones who are going to play
have not had much experience, but
the ones behind them have had less,”
Paterno said. “I am very, very much
concerned with that.”
Changes on the line come at a time
October 9, 2006
when Paterno wants his squad to
improve offensively inside the 20-
yard line. Penalties, mistakes and
missed assignments have squandered
numerous red zone opportunities,
or forced the Lions to settle for
field goals.
“1 think this week in practice, we’ll
be able to catch some things up,”
quarterback Anthony Morelli said.
“We’ve got to be able to run the
ball, try to run it. It just hasn’t been
working out for us.”
The offense is doing OK getting
into the red zone, though, thanks
in part to tough running back Tony
Hunt (525 yards, five TDs).
“He’s a good running back.
Sometimes those accolades are
accurate and sometimes they’re
not, but he’s a good, tough runner,”
Minnesota coach Glen Mason said.
The Gophers’ often-porous defense
gave up 518 yards in last week’s loss
to No. 6 Michigan, including 195
yards to running back Mike Hart.
But Mason hopes the unit can build
on a solid second-half performance
versus the strong Wolverines.
Mike Sherels, who leads the
Gophers with 37 tackles, could be
important to helping to contain Hunt.
The middle linebacker found a little
extra incentive to beat the Lions
after bumping into former teammate
Brandon Owens in the training room
this week.
A year ago against Penn State,
Owens suffered a career-ending
shoulder injury after a violent
but clean collision with Michael
Robinson while trying to tackle the
quarterback.
Owens is still with the Gophers, but
now is a student assistant. Instead of
making big plays on the field, Owens
is trying to encourage his teammates
off it.
“He said ‘You’ve got to go get
those guys.’ But that’s the same
thing he said last week,” Sherels
said. “But in the back of everybody’s
head, I think it’s, ‘Go out and win
this one for (Owens).’ It’s a little
extra motivation.”