The Daily Collegian
Women’s tennis showing improvement
By James Nlcol
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Improvement has been a goal of
the women’s tennis team all sea
son and at a
regional tourna
ment featuring WOMEN’S
some of the best TENNIS
players in the
country, the team
got what it was looking for.
Petra Januskova was the run
ner up in the singles bracket of the
Intercollegiate
Association’s Women’s Atlantic
Regional Tournament. She fell to
Michaela Kissel of Marshall 7-5,6-
0 in the finals of the singles brack
et.
The tournament brought
together teams from the ITA’s
Balza produces on offense
By Ryan Loy
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
When opposing players turn
their attention to the Penn State
womens volleyball team’s outside
hitters, Fatima
Balz hr bi
jalza ias jeen
making them pay WOMEN’S
VOLLEYBALL
from the middle.
Though the
senior middle hit-
ter hasn't recorded a large collec
tion of kills, Balza has quietly
strung together some very pro
ductive performances in the past
two weeks for the No. 9 Nittany
Lions (17-4, 7-3 Big Ten).
Balza has just 54 kills this sea
son fifth on the Lions but she
is second on the team with a .393
hitting percentage.
Much of her productivity has
come in recent weeks.
Fatima Balza (3) goes for a block with teammate Blair Brown
Right backs playing strong
By Andrew Robinson
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
At least four times this season, a
ball bound for an open net has
instead been drawn like a magnet
toward Brian _______
Forgue, who
made a key stop 5
before sending it SOCCER
back into the open
Forgue isn’t a goalkeeper, how
ever. He’s the right centre back on
the Penn State men’s soccer team
with a knack to be at the right
place at the right time.
Forgue has combined well with
right back Matt Smallwood to pro
vide resiliency and toughness on
that side of the Nittany Lions’
defense.
“Overall the back four are really
doing well and they feel good
about themselves too,” Penn State
coach Bob Warming said.
“They’re really catching on and
we’re not getting beat by those
balls over the top as often.”
Smallwood has been the starter
at right back all season and has
transitioned seamlessly from the
defensive midfield role he played
the last two years. At 6-foot-l, 180
pounds, Smallwood brings a hard
nosed, physical edge to the right
side but is still quick enough to
Lady leers get win over Rams in Rhode Island
By Christine Newby
FOR THE COLLEGIAN
The Lady leers secured a victo
ry against a team that has defeat
ed them during each of the four
years Mo
Stroemel has ■ Any ipcdc
stood on the LfIUT
After a 5-0 defeat Friday night,
the Lady leers got redemption
Saturday in a back-and-forth bat
tle against the University of Rhode
Island, 4-3, in Kingston, R.I.
“This was a big character win
for [the team] because it showed
that they could really buckle
down,” Stroemel said.
The Lady leers entered the final
19 minutes of the third period
Atlantic Region, which consists of
schools in Pennsylvania,
Delaware, Virginia, Washington
D.C., West Virginia and Maryland.
The winner of the singles and
doubles titles .
earned a berth in
the USTA/ITA
National Intercol
legiate Indoor
Championships,
played in Flushing
Meadows, N.Y, at
the USTA-Billie -
Jean King Januskova
National Tennis
Center from Nov. 4-7.
It was the second time this sea
son Januskova had advanced to
the finals of her bracket. At the
Midland Invitational Tournament
in September, Januskova won the
Tennis
After she saw limited playing
time during a stretch early in the
Big Ten schedule, coach Russ
Rose said Balza played really well
in the Oct. 9 loss at Indiana. Since
then, the senior has returned to
being a regular in the Lions’ rota
tion.
While Balza’s defense, especial
ly blocking, has been her strength,
the middle hitter has become a
threat offensively. In Penn State’s
four wins since the loss to the
Hoosiers, Balza has 17 kills on .481
hitting.
The Venezuelan native said she
has to take advantage of her
opportunities. “Because they don’t
set me that much, I have to score
the times they set me,” Balza said.
“The other team is pretty much
not expecting me, so if I don’t have
two blockers in front of me, I have
to score.”
keep pace with the speediest left
wingers.
However, the junior is rooted to
the final third and
makes plenty of
forays into the
attacking half of
the field each
game. Despite
having an attack
ing mindset and
actively pushing
into the opposi- Forgue
tion’s territory,
Smallwood has no trouble going
the full 90 minutes and running up
and down the field the entire
match.
“He always goes forward and
we always say to him he has huge
lungs,” senior midfielder Matheus
Braga said with a laugh. “The guy
can’t stop. Every time I go back
from the end line I always breathe
hard to get back and defend, and
this guy just goes back and forth
all the time, it’s crazy.”
While Smallwood has been con
sistent all year, Fbrgue had to fight
his way onto the field early on. The
sophomore started the year on the
bench, then earned his way into
the left back role and shifted
across the line as Warming made
changes throughout the year.
Braga said Forgue and
Smallwood have been strong all
down 3-2, but they tied the game
with 11:48 left, and scored the
game winner with 4:48 remaining
on the clock.
The winning goal for the Lady
leers came off the stick of junior
forward Chelly Deiling, who has
been with the team since fresh
man year.
Deiling took the faceoff to the
right of Rhode Island’s goalie.
According to Stroemel, the faceoff
was a draw, but the puck skirted
out to the slot.
“Deiling literally just got [the
puck] and fired it,” Stroemel said.
“The shot was high, stick side, and
that was the game winner.”
After the Rhode Island goal in
the first minute of the third frame,
the Lady leers showed teamwork
to level the score.
singles consolation bracket and
defeated the tournament’s No. 1
seed Alexandra Kichoutkin of
Ttilsa.
Januskova said she was pleased
with her performance and hopes
to continue improving on her
game for the spring season.
In the Atlantic regional
Januskova improved her record
this fall to 10-3 in singles. Head
coach Dawna Denny said she was
impressed with Januskova’s play
against some of the talented play
ers in the region over the course of
the tournament.
“Without question she did a
great job,” Denny said. “It was a
tough tournament and she did
really well. She should be really
proud of herself, she had a great
tournament”
Balza said sophomore setter
Kristin Carpenter is getting better
at seeing where blockers are and
setting die middle hitters at the
right times.
Fellow middle hitter Arielle
Wilson said Balza has a good
approach, which allows Carpenter
to see her for a set.
“With us working on being
quicker in the middle, Fatima gets
to the ball very well,” Wilson said.
“She’s been doing a great job of
seeing the blocker and seeing the
opening on the other side of the
court.”
While Balza has been a role
player on offense, her blocking has
been a key to the Penn State
defense.
Now that she’s finding more
success recording kills and scor
ing points for the team, she said
she’s more energized defensively.
Balza said recording one kill only
motivates her to get another and
work hard to hold a block
Senior libero Alyssa D’Errico
said Balza has done a good job of
settling into her role on the team.
D’Errico said the middle blocker’s
recent productivity has helped
produce points, through both kills
and blocks, that are vital to the
team.
“Right now, she’s just in a really
comfortable spot with where she
is on the court, who she’s around
and who’s surrounding her,”
D’Errico said.
“She’s just doing a great job
of stepping up when we need her
to.”
To e-mail reporter: rmlsl3B@psu.edu
season and the other players have
plenty of confidence in their entire
defense. Since Forgue took over in
the middle, Smallwood has played
well with his linemate.
“ ‘Forguey,’ he’s always talking
and he’s a great leader out there,”
Smallwood said. “He knows what
he’s doing and he’s a great centre
back and he’s always talking to
me, ‘Slide back,’ Get over,’ ‘Step
right.’ He’s just awesome in com
munication.”
Smallwood’s contributions
haven’t been lost on Forgue either.
The centre back said his team
mate is relentless in the attack
and Smallwood’s crosses consis
tently give the forwards a chance
to bury goals.
In the final third, Forgue
couldn’t have asked for a better
partner to lock down the right side
with.
“Defensively, he’s one of the
most tenacious players I’ve ever
played with and he’ll stick anyone,
he doesn’t care who it is,” Fbrgue
said.
“If he plays for the No. 1 team in
the country, if he’s a national team
player, it doesn’t matter, ‘Smalls’
will stick him. Having a guy play
ing to my right like that, it makes
my job a lot easier.”
To e-mail reporter: adrso79@psu.edu
Freshman forward Carly
Szyszko carried the puck down the
left side of the ice and dished a
pass to junior forward Michelle
Clarke, who broke for the goal.
Clarke redirected the puck into
the mesh of the net to tie the
score, 3-3.
“Michelle did exactly what she
was supposed to do,” Stroemel
said.
“It was a good, hard pass and a
perfect redirect”
On Friday, the Lady leers
arrived to the arena just 40 min
utes before game time due to
some traffic.
Deiling said the team skated
faster Saturday night compared to
Friday night’s loss.
“We definitely had a lot more
confidience [Saturday] since we
SPORTS
Denny has stated all season
that she wants to see consistent
improvement from the team. The
team delivered at the regional
tournament and posted a record
of 14-9 in the tournament.
Januskova was not the only
Nittany Lion to have success in
the main draw. Amy Simidian,
Marie Bedard and Maria
Prishlyak all won games in sin
gles, with Prishlyak advancing to
the round-of-16 where she was
defeated by the tournament’s No.
4 seed, Emily Fraser of Virginia, 6-
3,6-4.
In doubles play the team of
Januskova and Simidian
advanced to the round-of-16 where
they were beaten by the team of
Lindsey Hardenbergh and Erin
Vierra of Virginia, 8-1.
Hayley Brock (center) dribbles the ball against Dartmouth
Slump broken
By Andrew Robinson
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
The situation required some
body to rise to the occasion.
After struggling for stretches
of the year, the
Penn State == "
jtate
women’s soccer WOMEN’S
team’s forwards SOCCER
answered the
call Sunday
against Illinois. In a must-win
game on the road, the forwards
scored both of the Lions’ goals
and contributed 11 of the team's
23 shots in its 2-0 win.
Though the contingent of
strikers has had their share of
scoring woes this season, their
teammates said they’ve never
wavered in support of the for
wards.
“We haven’t lost confidence in
Maya [Hayes], D-Tones [Dani
Toney] or Hayley [Brock]
because once they open up the
floodgates, they’re not going to
be stopped," sophomore mid
fielder Christine Naim said last
week, before the Nittany Lions
played Illinois. “They’re going to
continue to score goals and they
just need one to get the ball
rolling and once it starts going,
it’s not going to stop."
With just three games left,
including a home game
Thursday against Indiana,
Naim’s prediction needs to hold
true for the Lions to keep their
hopes of an NCAA bid alive. At 7-
8-1, the Nittany Lions need to
win out in order to keep their
record above the necessary .500
mark to get into the tournament
field.
Sunday afternoon, the for
wards showcased the talent they
have and an ability to score goals
in a variety of ways.
Toney scored the eventual
game-winner after receiving a
textbook through ball from mid
fielder Jess Rosenbluth then
didn’t come off the bus,” Deiling
said.
According to Deiling, the trip
was supposed to take eight hours,
but lasted about 10 hours.
“Before [Saturday’s] game, we
talked about what we needed to
do: Staying with them, being more
aggressive and about the plays,”
she said.
It was truly a night of firsts for
the Lady leers.
Not only did Penn State defeat
Rhode Island for the first time in
Stroemel’s tenure, but one of their
newest players registered her first
career goal.
Junior forward Kassidy
Augustine, a transfer student from
Penn State Harrisburg, scored
with about five minutes remaining
in the second to tie the game.
Tuesday, Oct. 26,2010 I 9
“I’m really happy and I think it
was probably our best showing at
the regional,” Denny said. “It was
really a great tournament all
around.”
The team hopes to continue to
improve its play moving forward
when it competes in two weeks at
the Western Michigan Invitational
in Kalamazoo. The event will be
Penn State’s last date on its M
schedule.
“They definitely stepped it up
this weekend and worked really
hard and did well, Denny said
“I’m proud of the team and their
results and we still have a couple
weeks left to make improve
ments and head into Western
Michigan.
To e-mail reporter: Jsnso49@psu.edu
Lexi Simchak/Collegian
slotting it into the left corner of
the net.
After Toney’s 20th minute
goal, freshman Hayley Brock put
the game away with a goal that
helped earn Brock the Big Ten
Freshman of the Week honors.
The freshman beat a defender
off the dribble on the right side of
Illinois’ penalty box before plac
ing a shot to the far post.
While the rest of the players
knew the forwards were primed
to start scoring again, having it
happen against the No. 13
Fighting mini was a big lift.
“It's very reassuring. Both of
them bring a different aspect to
the game,” junior co-captain
Emma Thomson said. “Hayley’s
goal was pure speed, she broke
past a girl in the back and it just
shows the different skill set we
have and we can bring to differ
ent games. It's always good for
the forwards to score and bring
their confidence up.”
The Lions' three remaining
opponents Indiana, Purdue
and Michigan have a com
bined six conference wins, but at
this point, the players know they
can't overlook any team.
Sunday’s breakthrough was a
positive for the forwards, and the
offense in general has experi
enced a bit of a resurgence over
the past three weeks.
Sophomore midfielder Maddy
Evans said it’s taken time, but
she's seen an improvement with
each game.
“With each game we’ve been
clicking a little bit more,” Evans
said.
“Not that we’ve put away
more goals but we’ve created
way more chances so I think we
can look at that on a positive
note. And while we haven’t got
ten all the goals we would have
liked, we have come a realty long
way with it.”
To e-mail reporter: adrso79@psu.edu
Augustine put the puck past the
goaltender on the low stick side
after collecting junior forward
Dana Heller’s rebound.
“[Augustine] jammed it home
on the goalie,” Stroemel said.
After the go-ahead goal by
Deiling, the Lady leers were
called for a penalty with 2:08 left,
and Rhode Island pulled their
goalie at the 1:30 mark.
Despite having to play 6-on-4 for
the final minute and a half, the
Lady leers came away with a
hard-fought victory over the
Rams.
“I think we realty played tough
and tight,” Stroemel said about
the last minute and a half in the
game.
“We managed to pull out the
win. It was pretty exciting.”