12 I Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2010 leers trying to eliminate pena By Anthony Barton COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER There may be another Pennsylvania hockey team nick named the “Bullies” soon enough with the way the Penn State leers have started the ICERS season. In five games, the No. 4 leers (5- 0) have taken 31 minor penalties. That equates to 62 minutes spent in the box, or just over a full game. Head coach Scott Balboni said many of the penalties derive from the physical style he’s implement ed: a style sophomore forward Junior Schaefer reliable as starter By Andrew Robinson COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Ali Schaefer watched as everything unfolded perfectly in front of her. It was less than 90 seconds into Friday night’s game and the junior midfielder saw the mass of players in front of her part as she drib bled at the top of the box. Schaefer ripped a left-footed shot that bent down toward Minnesota goalkeeper Cat Parkhill who barley pushed it over the crossbar. The ball didn't go in, but Schafer had set the tone for the game •If I could pick a spot to shoot a ball it would be top of the 18 on a left-footed shot,” Schaefer said. “I was defi nitely feeling it, I was excited and felt the energy. I thought it was going to go in, it didn’t but it raised the level the first minute." The junior midfielder has started the last four games for the Penn State women’s soccer team after starting the season on the bench. Regardless of her role, Schaefer’s style of leaving everything on the field has been a huge lift for the Nittanv Lions. She just gives us pure heart and energy and she goes out there every game and gives everything she’s got,” freshman midfielder Taylor Schram said. “She’s sliding, she’s tackling, she's winning balls and she just bumps up our level and gives us intensity and aggressiveness we’ve been needing in the midfield.” Since Big Ten play started, Schaefer’s impact has been more evident on the field. While her stat sheet isn’t as stuffed as some of her teammates’, the junior’s contribu tions come in a different form. When she was subbed out in the second half Friday night. Schaefer downed a cup of Gatorade then hurried to the sideline where she yelled nonstop encouragement to her teammates on the field. "She’s been our emotional leader all season regardless of starter or non-starter, but she’s a huge piece to this puzzle right now,” Lions coach Erica Walsh said. “You can't underestimate her role for this team right now. She's getting it done on the field, off the field, she under stands what it means to be a true team player.” In past seasons, Schaefer was focused on getting on the field and playing a holding role with a defensive mindset. Now with some experience, the side of Schaefer that made her a potent offensive threat in high school has started to show. Aside from the second-minute shot, the junior had another well-struck attempt from the left wing in the wan ing minutes of Friday’s game. Sunday, with her team trailing bv a goal, Schaefer got another look from her spot at the top of the box, but the shot was saved. 'Schaefer has been great for us this entire season and now she's really getting her chance which is good because she's a great player,” senior co-captain Megan Monroig said. "She holds her spot well, she attacks the goal. Despite the fact she's supposed to be a holding midfielder, she’s very attack-minded, she wants to go at goal.” The junior's teammates have come to expect the same performance from Schaefer every game. And while the midfielder keeps holding out hope one of her shots will find the back of the net, she realises it’s not all about her scoring. Penn State's roster has its share of goal scorers, but the glue players like Schaefer are just as important. The Las Vegas, Nev. native's heart and energy prove that fact and have endeared Schaefer to her teammates. "Schaef. it's her focus that’s just unbeatable. She’s 100 percent there 100 percent of the time and her heart’s completely in it,” sophomore midfielder Maddy Evans said. "She wants it as much as anyone and it really shows on the field, she works her tail off once she’s on and she’s going to get the job done. She’s also someone who keeps us excited and pumped up and in the game, she’s really fun to play with and fun to watch.” jM^es Spend $5O at any Simply Tan Location and you will be entered to win 1 of 25 prizes The Grand Prize is ONE FREE YEAR Of UNLIMITED TANNING See store for details Stay up to date on deadlines and promotions! Eric Steinour has bought into. “Most penalties come from playing hard and physical,” Steinour said. “Tb me all that says is we’re playing aggressive, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.” That said, Balboni and senior forward Tim O’Brien both said the leers have taken some preventa ble penalties. A low point came this weekend in their two-game sweep of Central Oklahoma. The leers took nine minor penalties in the first game and followed with another six in the second game. Doing the math, the leers spent 25 percent of this weekend’s series with at WOMEN’S SOCCER To e-mail reporter: adrSo79@psu.edu SPORTS least one player in the box. “I think we took some stupid penalties this past weekend and it could have hurt us,” assistant coach Josh Hand said. “We were rolling there and we took some dumb penalties so it’s definitely something we have to address.” O’Brien said retaliatory penal ties were especially an issue this past weekend. He said penalties like those can’t happen if the leers expect to succeed in the future. Balboni agreed retaliation was a problem and said there was team-imposed discipline during the second game as a result. “That’s something that’s just Freshman Ariel Scott (right) attempts a kill during Penn State's 3-0 win vs. lowa on Sunday in Rec Hall Scott making most of opportunity By Emily Kaplan COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER It took Ariel Scott five swings to record her first collegiate kill. And when the freshman finally did score a point for the Penn State women's volleyball team, it WOMEN’S wasn’t exactly pretty. VOLLEYBALL The ball grazed over the net and simply dropped onto the other side of the court. But Scott didn’t care. She wasn’t looking for perfection. She was just happy to do the one thing she’s want ed to do since the moment she stepped on campus have a chance to contribute. “It wasn't an ideal kill,” Scott said. “But we got the point so I was happy.” Scott, a 6-foot-4 recruit from Ridgewood, N.J., made her collegiate debut Friday night in the No. 9 Nittany Lions’ 3-1 win over No. 19 Minnesota at Rec Hall. It wasn't always the game plan to have Scott play coach Russ Rose said that until recently he intended on redshirting the freshman this year. not going to be tolerated because it’s not the way we play,” Balboni said. “We’re always going to win with class, and obviously those types of penalties are going to con tinue to hurt us over and . over again.” Senior forward Marek Polidor said the team must cut down on their penalties immediately if the leers are to remain undefeated through this weekend. No. 2 ranked Ohio University makes a trip to the Greenberg Ice Pavilion for games this Friday and Saturday. The Bobcats’ powerplay has been scoring of late, tallying three times last weekend against However with the Lions still search ing for an identity eight weeks into the season. Rose needed to make some adjustments. And Scott is making the most of the opportunity. Over the weekend, which also included a sweep of Big Ten foe lowa. Scott played in all seven sets and recorded 12 kills. She struggled at times - Rose said Scott played "just OK" on Friday but senior co-captain Blair Brown said that's to be expected from a rook ie who’s been asked to fill a big role midway through the season. “It’s a tough conference, it's tough for somebody to come in and play big volleyball,” Brown said. "And I think she's doing a really good job of adjust ing and, working on things with her, she’s really athletic so she picks things up really fast," Senior libero Alyssa D'Errico said the entire team has noticed a huge improvement from Scott since the moment she stepped into the practice gym this summer. For the past few months, the coach ing staff has been working with Scott on improving her arm swing, and D’Errico said it’s starting to look The Daily Collegian ity woes No. 9 Oakland University. “In the games against Ohio, special teams are going to be cru cial,” Polidor said. “They have a very good powerplay, so we want to minimize their chances by tak ing the least amount of penalties as possible.” Sophomore defenseman Rich O’Brien said most bad penalties are mental, and the leers will try to improve in time for the games against Ohio. “A lot of it is people get frustrat ed and then they take a stupid penalty like a slash,” O’Brien said. To e-mail reporter: acbsls2@psu.edu "more and more like a college swing.” "Trust me, I know,” D’Errico said, with a laugh. “I have to dig her in practice.” Scott said she was surprised that she got the nod at this point in the season. She had mentally prepared to redshirt until early last week in prac tice after Penn State dropped back to-back matches against Purdue and Indiana when she began to take some reps with the first team. It wasn't official, though, until Rose announced the lineup before Friday’s match. “Once I got on the court, I was com pletely fine, because there was really good energy from the crowd and play ing at home was really fun,” Scott said. "But before the game I was a lit tle bit [nervous] because I had never played a college match before.” Now that her first weekend is out of the way, Scott hopes she’ll continue to improve and contribute. "I was really excited because we had just lost two games and I wanted to be able to help the team,” Scott said. To e-mail reporter: exkso49@psu.edu Bryan Heritage/Collegian
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