The Daily Collegian
Marek Polidor (5) takes a faceoff against Ohio this weekend
Lack of physical
play haunts leers
By Greg Garcia
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Penn State leers head coach
Scott Balboni could barely
watch. Standing above his play
ers in front of the bench, he
bowed his head down in disap
pointment.
It wasn't the same team. The
team he was accustomed to
watching. There was something
different about the leers this
weekend, which ultimately led to
their first loss this season.
After a thrilling, come from
behind, 3-1, victory Friday, the
leers seemed flat on Saturday.
The execution on special teams
wasn’t there and the level of
physicality, something the leers
(6-1) usually bring game in and
out, was subpar.
When asked how his team
played Saturday, Balboni replied
with one word, “poorly.”
Any time the leers managed
to fight their way back on the
scoreboard, it seemed someone
was heading to the penalty box.
The leers recorded a season
high 26 minutes in the sin bin
Saturday including a 10-
minute misconduct penalty from
senior forward Tim O'Brien.
Balboni cited the lack of phys
ical play due to the poor play on
special teams. He said his team
didn’t generate enough power
play chances because they were
not working hard enough. When
a team is not working hard, the
opponent doesn’t have to try and
take a player down, or slash
them thus resulting in a
penalty.
Instead, the leers were the
victims committing the penalty.
For first-year assistant coach
Josh Hand, the Icers-Ohio
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series was not what he initially
expected.
"This series was not very
physical," Hand said. "I heard
the Penn State-Ohio rivalry was
much more physical than this.”
Hand thought many of the
penalties were a result of mental
lapses instead of playing physi
cal. He said the mental lapses
prevented the team from being
aggressive and keeping the
Bobcats' defense on its heels.
Not only was the effort not there,
but Hand explained how the
process, which includes the
forecheck and back check, was
non-existent.
Junior forward Paul Daley
said the team put themselves in
a big hole by taking some of
those penalties Saturday. He
went on to say how good teams
would make a team pay for those
mistakes.
While there were numerous
controversial calls, Daley
refused to put the blame on he
officials.
"This is our fault, no excuses,"
Daley said. “We can’t blame the
refs for what happened.”
However. O'Brien saw things
differently.
“I don't know, that ref I guess
was just out to get us," he said.
"You can't do anything about it. I
don't know why he gave me 10
minutes. I was just tapping my
stick at him telling him nice
call."
Daley is hoping his team can
move on from the loss, and prove
a point the rest of the season.
"This is not the Penn State
team we are," Daley said. “Now,
we have to go out and show the
league what were about.”
To e-mail reporter: gjgso44@psu.edu
Lady Ruggers dominate
On a chilly Saturday morning,
the Penn State Lady Ruggers
faced off against Princeton with
three of their top contributors out
due to injury.
Missing junior captain Sadie
Anderson, and
senior selectors
Kyle Armstrong
and Lisa
Henneman, the
team didn’t skip a
beat, pummeling
Princeton 50-8 at
the Lady
Ruggers’ West
Pitch
After a week of preaching about
getting off to a faster start in the
beginning of games, coach Pete
Steinberg said he was extremely
pleased with the depth and grit his
team showed.
“I would say in the second half
we played some of the best rugby
we played all year and I think part
of that is when we were without
out some of our studs,” Steinberg
said. “Everyone had to step up
and I think that was really satisfy
ing about that game was that
everyone stepped up because they
didn’t have to wait for Sadie, Lisa
or Kyle to do something. We said
we have to do something and if we
can keep doing that and not rely
ing on our best players we can be
successful.”
Asit Mishra/Collegian
The team scored five tries each
Women swimmers start 2-0
In the first of only three home
meets this season, the womens
swimming and diving team made
the most of it for
the home crowd
Saturday after
noon
After a domi
nating 174-67 win
over West Virginia on Oct. 16, the
Nittany Lions cruised to a com
fortable 187-113 win over Virginia
Tech Saturday at the McCoy
Natatorium, improving to 2-0 on
the season.
The Lions handed the Hokies
(2-1) their first loss of the season,
as impressive individual perform
ances led the women to a big non
conference win. A win that coach
John Hargis partially attributed to
a tough loss to Virginia Tech last
season.
“Last year against Tech, we lost
a heartbreaker,” Hargis said. “I
think our upperclassmen definite
ly put that in the back of their
mind.”
Sophomore Amy Modglin con
tinued her impressive start, catch
ing her coach’s attention as she
dominated the 200-yard distance
Saturday, taking first in the 200-
freestyle, 200-backstroke, and 200-
IM.
“Modglin is in a league of her
own right now, she's just swim
ming unreal,” Hargis said about
her big day.
However, Modglin wasn't the
only Lion to pull off the trifecta for
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By Greg Fernandez
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Penn State
Princeton
By Dan Dißacco
FOR THE COLLEGIAN
WOMEN’S
SWIMMING
“If they passed it, we would just hit them so it
would scare them for the next time. I don’t know
what their strategy was, but it didn’t work.”
half, constantly putting pressure
in the Princeton zone as they con
tinued their dominance through
the ERPU, bring
ing their record to
3-0 in conference
play.
Freshman
Lauren Barber,
filling in at full
back for
Henneman, led
the way with two Steinberg
tries as the Lady
Ruggers’ offense clicked for most
of the game. Barber, who started
her first game at fullback and dis
played good bursts of speed and
quickness, said the team wanted
to come out strong and with a chip
on their shoulder.
Senior Deven Owsiany, who
filled in as captain for the injured
Anderson, agreed, saying the
team had been practicing on their
tackling and physicality all week
at practice.
“When [Princeton I had the ball
and they passed, it was our goal,
especially as back was just to hit
them,” Owsiany said. "If they
passed it. we would just hit them
so it would scare them for the next
“Modglin is in a league of her own right now,
she’s just swimming unreal.”
first-place finishes Saturday.
Sophomore Paige Whitmire and
freshman Hailey Campbell also
grabbed three first-place finishes
as they teamed
together with
freshmen Rachel
Butler and
Mackenzie Po
wers to take first
in the 200-medley
relay.
Later in the
meet, the duo Hargis
teamed up with
juniors Samantha Palser and Erin
Thomas to take first in the 400-
freestyle relay. In between the two
relays, Campbell also took first in
the 100-backstroke, while
Whitmire grabbed first in the 50-
freestyle.
Hargis said this week was one
of the toughest weeks of practice
he’s put his team through, and he
was surprised at how well his
team swam, showing no signs of
fatigue.
Freshman Chelsea Weedman
shared her coach's sentiments.
“It’s exciting knowing that we're
not rested at all for this, and we
still swam as well as we did,
Weedman said.
“I feel [the season's! going well
so far.”
The Lions' next meet is a two-
Monday, Oct. 25, 2010 I 9
Deven Owsiany
Senior
time. I don’t know what their strat
egy was, but it didn’t work.”
With the injury bug hitting the
team this week, Owsiany said she
was happy with the way some of
younger players came in and
played, especially against a scrap
py and athletic team such as
Princeton.
“I think Brie Barto, Lauren
Barber and Oliva Lindsey all did
well coming in and taking a lead
ership role with our selectors and
captain out,” Owsiany said.
“Having our selectors and captain
out gives us the ability and experi
ence to have people step up. It
doesn’t matter if they are in the
game though, you can still step up
and be vocal.”
Steinberg said this depth will
help the team in the future, espe
cially in the ERPU championships
on Nov. 6-7.
“I think Princeton played really
well with us in the first half, espe
cially for a young team,” Steinberg
said. “But I think the depth we
showed today will be big thing for
us in the long run."
To e-mail the reporter:
gmfso47@psu.edu
John Hargis
women's swimming coach
day meet in Charlottesville, Va. on
Nov. 19-20, when they take
on Virginia and Big Ten foe,
Indiana.
"I'm glad we have the break,”
Modglin said. "I think we have a
lot to work on and a lot to improve
on."
Hargis however does not like
the four-week break between
meets, but assured he will do
everything he can to keep
his team fresh, and have them
ready.
Heading into Charlottesville
undefeated is big for the Lions,
from both a record and mental
standpoint, and Modglin believes
that it will set the tone for the rest
of the season.
“This positiveness that we had
ISaturday], I think is just going to
roll into the next meet, and hope
fully the whole season," Modglin
said.
Despite the break, Hargis is
already looking ahead, as he has
to get his team prepared for two
strong women’s squads in Virginia
and Indiana, but for now he’s
happy in the direction his team is
going.
“Our schedule from here on
only gets harder,” Hargis said.
“But, they’ve reacted to this point
very well, and hopefully we’ll con
tinue to get better."