Men's Soccer Faces Defending Ivy Champs

By ryan | September 29, 2000

Revenge is sweet.

After seeing its Ancient Eight championship ambitions thwarted at the hands of a defeat to the Yale Bulldogs last year, the men’s soccer team is hoping to turn the tables Saturday night when its foes from New Haven come to town.

A win would result in an early 2-0 start in league play and place the Red on track to remain highly competitive for the crown. Yet Yale, the defending Ivy League champions, should present a formidable challenge.

After advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament last year and tallying a school-record 13 wins, Yale remains among the favorites for the league title.

The squad is noted for its stingy defense. Danny Moss, who controls the action between the pipes, has been named the team’s captain after coming off a season in which he posted a dominating 1.03 goals against average. The senior’s play contributed to the daunting .526 shutout percentage the team owned.

Sophomore Jay Alberts will likely earn the attention of the Red’s defense. The midfielder had an awe-inspiring freshman season, garnering All-Ivy honors in a campaign which saw him notch 21 points, 15 coming in Ancient Eight competition. It was the best point output by an Yale freshman in the program’s history. The Whitfield School graduate even caught the eye of Soccer America, who named him to its All-Freshman team.

An All-New England team member, Alberts is joined by a corp of talented midfielders including senior Matt Schmidt, junior James Pearce, and sophomores John Walker and Nick Morris.

Yale was weakened by the graduation of prolific scorers Jac Gould and Phil Harris. Despite losing these offensive threats, the Bulldogs should be strengthened by a strong front line of diaper dandies including Justin Burton, Allen Cerasani and Mike Hollington.

The Bulldogs come into Ithaca owning a 3-4 mark. For the visitors, the contest will mark the opening of their Ivy League campaign. Moss continues to be a stalwart in net — all of Yale’s wins have come as the result of shutouts.

The Red return to the East Hill coming off a solid performance against regional-rival Colgate. On the positive end of a 3-1 decision, the booters improved to 3-2 (1-0, Ivy).

Senior Adam Skumawitz continues to strike fear in the hearts of defenders. The Ivy League Player of the Week continued to dominate having tallied a pair of goals in each of his last two games. Friday’s game marked the first time the Californian has scored two goals in a single game. He now has nine points in the last two games, a record since Bryan Scales took over patrol of the sidelines at Berman Field.

Cornell will continue to look to all-time assist leader senior tri-captain Rick Stimpson to establish offensive opportunities. The Chesire, England, native had an unassisted goal to open the scoring in last Tuesday’s contest against the Red Raiders.

The Red will likely counter Moss with sophomore Doug Allen, who recorded his fourth career victory with six saves in the seventy-three minutes he played at Hamilton. Scales inserted fellow Californian Andrew Gordon for the final 17 minutes against Colgate. It was Gordon’s first start at the varsity level.

The road to the title will continue, with the contest being slated for a 7 p.m. start time on Saturday evening at Berman Field.

Archived article by Gary Schueller

Lehigh Speeds Past Cornell, Wins 35-16

By ryan October 2, 2000

In a tale of two halves, Lehigh had the better half. The result was the Cornell football team (1-2, 1-0 Ivy) dropping a 35-16 game to the 20th-ranked team in Division I-AA. The Red could not have started the game any better, as it took the opening kick, and marched 73-yards on 12 plays for a touchdown. On the drive, sophomore quarterback Ricky Rahne was six-for-seven for 68 yards, hitting five different receivers in the process. Junior running back Evan Simmons capped off the drive with a one-yard dive to put the Red up by six. Sophomore Peter Iverson made the point-after to put the Red up 7-0. Lehigh took the ball next, and after driving to the Cornell 30 yard-line, had its drive stall out by not being able to convert a fourth-and-two. The Mountain Hawks’ Phil Pleasant carried the ball, but was stopped short of the marker by junior Bran Sacco and senior co-captain Dan Weyandt. The rest of the first quarter saw Lehigh force two Cornell three-and-outs, while the Mountain Hawks again turned the ball over on downs in Cornell territory. The last play of the quarter showed the speed Lehigh had at its disposal. The Red’s freshman punter Joe Hull booted a kick to the opponents 35 yard-line, but Jermaine Pugh fielded the ball in traffic and returned it 31-yards to the Cornell 34 yard-line. On the first play of the second quarter, Lehigh quarterback, Brant Hall found an open Brin Endler on a deep-in route for the score. The Brian Kelley kick tied the game at 7-7. Cornell was able to maintain control of the game, keeping it a low scoring affair. The Red earned the only other points of the half, when Iverson made a 35-yard field goal. The kick capped off a eight play, 58 yard drive, including a 35 pass from Rahne to senior co-captain Joe Splendorio. The Mountain Hawks were able to run up 225 yards in the half, but had nothing to show for it besides two missed field goals and the lone touchdown. The Red took the 10-7 lead into the half. “I was happy with the way we playing in the first half,” head coach Pete Mangurian said of his squad’s performance. “I thought the tempo of the game was in our favor.” But on the opening play of the second half it was clear that the tempo was about to change. Lehigh’s Abdul Byron returned Hull’s kickoff 55 yards to the Cornell 38 yard-line. Senior Jimmy Vattes made a touchdown saving tackle. Lehigh was once again unable to capitalize on this field position, as Kelley missed a 23-yard field goal attempt. Cornell was able to win the field position battle on the next position, as Hull punted the ball, and sophomore Keith Ferguson downed it at the Mountain Hawks’ one yard-line. However, after three runs by Pleasant, Lehigh gave the ball to Jamaal Burcher. The Red stopped the play at the point of attack, but Burcher cut back and found the left side of the field wide-open. The he turned on the jets, and raced 82 yards up the sideline to the Cornell endzone. Sophomore Vincent Bates had a shot at Burcher at the Cornell 30, but a quick move left Bates unable to make the play. On the ensuing Cornell possession, Cornell was faced with a third-and eight from its own 19 yard-line. Rahne hit Ferguson in the hands for the first down, but the sophomore was unable to handle the pass and tipped it into the air. Byron hauled in the ball for the Mountain Hawks. Four plays later Phil Pleasant crossed the goalline on two-yard run, putting the Red down 21-10. “We have to make a big play on third down and we don’t. Not only don’t we catch the football when we should, it turns into an interception and they score,” Mangurian said. “Now [we are] down two scores. We have to answer.” And answer Cornell did, as Rahne led the team straight down the field. The quarterback hit Splendorio in the endzone, who used his height and jumping ability to bring in the ball between two Lehigh defenders. The two point conversion failed. But the damage was done, and the Mountain Hawks defense would not allow the Red to threaten again. Lehigh responded to the Cornell touchdown with one of its own on a 11 yard Burcher run, making the score 28-16. Pleasant scored the final touchdown of the day, giving the game its final margin of 35-16. As the Red was forced to pass due to the score, the Mountain Hawks were able to cover receivers and rush Rahne without worrying about the run. “The game gets out of hand after a while,” Mangurian said. The Red did give up 340 yards on the ground on 55 carries, but did limit the Mountain Hawks to 163 yards through the air. Mangurian did emphasize the difference between this game and the loss to Bucknell two weeks ago. “I think there is probably more frustration and more disappointment because at some point we felt that we were going to win the game,” he said. Mangurian was also pleased with the performance of sophomore fullback Nate Archer as well as Rahne. Rahne was 20-for-34 on the day for 234 yards, and, with the exception of the interception that hit Ferguson in the hands, took care of the ball. Archer blocked for Simmons in the first half, and caught a ball displaying a new facet of his game. Simmons left the game with a thigh bruise at the start of the second half after running for 43 yards. The Red will play at Harvard this Saturday.Archived article by J.V. Anderton
Cornell Struggles Uncharacteristically in Second Half

By ryan October 2, 2000

Every time the Lehigh football team scored against Cornell on Saturday afternoon, bells clanged through Murray H. Goodman Stadium in Bethlehem, Pa., throwing the home crowd into a frenzy. And while the bells stayed predominantly quiet during the first half, they came out in full force after intermission, as Lehigh (4-0, 0-0 Patriot) piled up 14 points in each of the latter two quarters on its way to a 35-16 victory over the Red (1-2, 1-0 Ivy). Final score aside, the contest was the sum of two disparate halves, the first construed by Cornell’s methodical and temperate control, the second dominated by the Mountain Hawks’ sheer athleticism. “Coming out [of half-time] we had a very good opportunity to win the game,” head coach Pete Mangurian commented on Cornell’s 10-7 advantage after the first 30 minutes. More striking than the lead however was how the Red dictated play during the opening half, slowing the game’s tempo and taking Lehigh’s notable speed advantage out of the equation. “I think we did the things we needed to do,” Mangurian affirmed, adding more specifically, “I thought we were efficient offensively, and we moved the ball on the ground well enough to keep them off-balance.” Indeed junior quarterback Ricky Rahne accumulated 144 yards on 11-for-21 passing in the first half, while classmate and starting tailback Evan Simmons racked up 48 yards on the ground including a one-yard TD dive on the opening drive of the game. That initial series saw the Red at its best. In workman-like fashion Cornell moved the ball 73 yards on 12 plays, putting the Mountain Hawks in an early 7-0 deficit. “At that point it was the kind of game we wanted to be in,” Mangurian said. “You don’t want to get in a shoot-out with these guys. There’s too much speed on the field for them.” The Red defense prevented exactly that situation, stopping Lehigh on a critical fourth-and-two on its first drive, then putting the Mountain Hawks in several unmakeable field goal situations. “They were making some yards, but they weren’t converting them into points,” Mangurian remarked. “You go in at half-time, and you think you have a sense of where you are.” But 8:26 into the third quarter, Lehigh running back Jamal Burcher snuffed out all of the Red’s momentum, carrying it squarely onto the Mountain Hawk sideline. Three plays after a Joe Hull punt had pinned Lehigh at its one yard-line, Burcher bounced off the left side of the Cornell defensive line, backtracked and raced off across the other side of the field for a breath-taking 82-yard touchdown run, putting an end to the Red’s lead. “Now we’re back playing the game at [Lehigh’s] speed,” Mangurian said on how the tide had turned following Burcher’s scramble. “One score changed things.” But Cornell could not immediately answer Lehigh. On its ensuing series, the Red saw a Rahne pass tipped by sophomore wide receiver Keith Ferguson into the hands of Lehigh’s Abdul Byron, leading to another Mountain Hawk touchdown. Even when the Red did score however, it was foiled by Lehigh’s speed. Down 21-16 on the heels of a 20-yard touchdown catch by senior wide receiver Joe Splendorio on the last play of the third quarter, Cornell decided to attempt a two-point conversion. Rahne targeted a wide open Ferguson at the back of the end zone, only to have his pass swatted down at the last second by linebacker “Bubba” Young. Lehigh added two more insurance scores for good measure, but the requisite damage had already been done. “We just didn’t take advantage of the situations and we let them hang around,” Mangurian said. “There are three or four or five things along the way that absolutely turned the game the other direction. “We had chances to make plays, and we didn’t.”Archived article by Shiva Nagaraj