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The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/2001/10/16/w-tennis-earns-seventh-at-ecacs/)

October 16, 2001

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W. Tennis Earns Seventh at ECACs

By wpengine | October 16, 2001

Harvard certainly was greedy this weekend. Not only did it spoil Homecoming for all of the Cornell teams on East Hill, but it managed to beat the Red on the road as well.

The Crimson handed the netwomen a 7-0 loss Friday and gave up just one point all weekend en route to the ECAC Division I Championship crown in Princeton, N.J.

Despite losing late Friday afternoon to Harvard and again to Princeton Saturday morning, a solid 6-1 win against Brown in the opener was enough to give the Cornell women a seventh place finish overall at the tournament — an improvement on last fall’s eighth place result.

Freshman Erika Takeuchi described her first visit to the ECACs as “a lot of fun,” and praised the determination shown by the team throughout the weekend. She was especially positive about the match against the Bears, which saw the Red take five of six singles matches and two out of three in doubles.

“We already had a lead against [Brown] after winning the point in the doubles and then stayed mentally strong through our singles matches,” Takeuchi said. “We were all pretty determined to win, and it was a good start to the tournament.”

In addition to Takeuchi’s win at the no. 4 singles slot, juniors Suzanne Wright and Daniela DelPrete, sophomore Kate Sternberg and freshman Akane Kokubo all notched straight set singles victories. Wright and DelPrete and Kokubo and Sternberg also paired for the two doubles wins that secured the first point early on.

Points didn’t come as easily for the Red, however, once Harvard took the court. The eventual champion handed the Red seven straight losses, and Takeuchi was the only player to even win a set.

Saturday morning saw Cornell face a third Ivy foe — the Princeton Tigers. The Red put up a fight, but fatigue and good play from the Tigers proved too much for the women, with DelPrete securing the only singles win of the match and the black and orange sweeping the doubles.

The netters will play their final matches of the fall at the ITA Individual Championships Oct. 26-30, before they begin preparation for the 2002 spring season.

Archived article by Sarah Spain

Related

M. Soccer Beats Oneonta, 2-1

By wpengine October 17, 2001

Sophomore Kaj Hackinen directed a pass from classmate Ian Pilarski into the back of the net with 5:43 left on the clock to break a 1-1 tie and give the men’s soccer team (4-3-1, 0-2-1 Ivy) a thrilling come-from-behind victory over Oneonta State (6-6-1, 2-1-0 ASC) last night on Berman Field. Red Dragons sophomore forward Antonio DiMuccio put the visitors on the board early. Senior Leonard Camacho fired a pass from the left, which DiMuccio put past Cornell junior goalkeeper Nate Dunlap 6:21 into the game. Dunlap made his first career start between the pipes for the Red in place of regular junior goalie Doug Allan, who was sidelined with the flu. Oneonta continued its year-long dominance in the first half. With DiMuccio’s goal, the Red Dragons have outscored opponents 8-0 in the opening frame. “At halftime I told the team that we needed to bring more energy to the game,” recounted head coach Bryan Scales. “These midweek games you can’t rely on the fans to get you going. It’s the players that gotta bring the game to life.” The Cornell offense heeded Scales’s halftime talk, turning up the pressure in the second half. The Red fired numerous shots on Oneonta sophomore keeper Jack Potter. But Potter made several show-stopping saves, including one on Red senior Ted Papadopoulos’s free kick early in the half. Papadopoulos had another chance a few minutes later when he headed a Pilarski pass slightly right of the net. Midway through the second half, a Red Dragon foul that drew howls of protest from the Oneonta bench set up a free kick. The Red took advantage 25:38 into the second half, knotting the score as Papadopoulos finally got a shot around the wall of defenders and past Potter. The goal made Papadopoulos the team’s leading scorer, with three goals and an assist on the season. The Red Dragons nearly recaptured the lead soon after, when Dunlap had trouble controlling a rebound, but the Cornell defense helped him corral the loose ball. Hackinen’s goal in the 85th minute put the Red ahead for good, as Dunlap and the back four were able to repel any further Oneonta attacks. The game-winner was the first of Hackinen’s collegiate career. “We created a whole bunch of chances in the second half, and fortunately two of them went in for us,” said Scales. “Chances are tough to create, and when you create them, finishing them is tough. But this was a good result for us because it shows the guys that they can come back, dig themselves out of a hole and get a win.” The game was played in bitter cold and steady rain, creating slick conditions and making ball control difficult. “This field’s fast to begin with, and when you add water, it just makes the game even quicker,” commented Scales. “The game was at a speed where it was difficult for both teams to really get the ball moving, but in the second half I thought we did a much better job of playing quickly and getting the ball moving from guy to guy.” The heavy pressure that Cornell kept up in the second half pushed its shot count to 16, compared to the Red Dragons’ five. Potter stopped five shots in the game. “I thought he made some terrific saves,” noted Scales. “We had some absolute bombs in front of his goal, and he was able to get himself in front of them.” At the other end of the pitch, Dunlap only had to make one save en route to his first career win. “You can’t win a game like that, when you’re down, without everybody pulling the rope,” said Scales, comparing the match to a game of tug-of-war. “Teddy was a star because he scored a goal, and Kaj got a goal, but everybody was pulling in the right direction.” The Red improved to 4-1 at home, having permitted just three goals in those five games. Against non-league opponents, Cornell is a perfect 4-0 at Berman Field. Ivy League foe Brown (5-6-1, 1-1-0 Ivy) will visit Ithaca on Saturday night, when the Red will be in search of its first Ivy victory. Oneonta will be in Binghamton (0-11-0, 0-3-0 ASC) on the same day for its next match.Archived article by Alex Fineman
Explaining W. Soccer's Slide

By wpengine October 17, 2001

After charging out to a 2-1-1 record and nearly beating nationally-ranked Syracuse in its second game of the season, the Cornell women’s soccer team now finds itself stuck in a six-game winless streak. The latest let-down came at the hands of a potent Harvard team that beat the Red 3-0 on Saturday. The sudden change in fortune for the lady booters begs the question, what happened? The short answer is injuries and inexperience. The Red has watched many of its top players go down early in games with injuries, forcing them to sit out that game and nagging them in the following few games as well. Such was the case for junior stars Cailin Rice and Caitlin Ramsey in the past two weeks. Sophomore Alicia Doolittle and freshman Natalie Dew, two players who played major roles in the Red’s early season success, have also been forced to sit out games to heal their own aches and pains. There have also been some chemistry issues for a Red squad that (due in large part to the wave of injuries) has not found a consistent rotation. The depleted backline for Cornell has also forced the Red’s midfielders to drop back for entire parts of games to concentrate on defending their goal. This has subsequently hurt the frontline’s ability to get more quality shots on goal. Head coach Berhane Andeberhan commented on this problem after this weekend’s loss to the Crimson. “We keep having to drop back our midfielders,” he said, “and that is where most of our goals have come from this season.” The Red, which plays a game of patient ball possession, has also found its opponents executing a much more physical style of play. After a game against Penn that saw the Quakers commit an eye-opening 24 fouls, Andeberhan harped on this point. “Teams seem to really be playing us rough,” he mentioned, “which is how we will be scouted [the rest of this year] because we are a young team.” The recent woes for the Red do not have to be a season-long struggle by any means. With a fresher squad and more playing time together as a team, the women’s soccer team should soon find its rhythm. Throughout its recent woes, the Red has also had some memorable moments of brilliance. Freshman goalkeeper Katie Thomas has turned many heads on the national collegiate soccer level, earning Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors earlier this season. Sarah Olsen, who most predicted to be the Red’s superstar this season, has also lived up to all expectations. Seizing her role as co-captain, Olsen has become the undisputed leader of her team, topping almost every statistical category possible. She currently has 19 shots on goal this year — the next best mark is nearly half her total at 10. The Red has four more Ivy League matches to prove that it is a team capable of recovering from its current dry-spell. “We are a young team with a lot of potential,” Andeberhan said on Sunday, “we will be rewarded soon enough.” That turn-around can come as early as this Saturday when the Red hosts Brown at 1 p.m. Archived article by Scott Jones