The Cornell field hockey team is looking to start the season with the same enthusiasm and success as it did last year with matches this weekend at Lehigh and Richmond.
Last year, the women won their first two Ivy league contests and was tied with the Princeton Tigers — the perennial Ivy league powerhouse — mid-way through the season. In the end, though, the Red finished below .500 for the season with an 8-9 overall record and 3-4 in the Ivies, taking fourth place in the conference standings.
This year the team is chock full of promising young freshmen talent, who for the first time, were personally recruited and trained by Michelle Tambroni. Tambroni sports a 31-34 record entering her fifth year as head coach of the Red.
Leading the charge for the 2001 season are senior co-captains Ashleigh Snelson and Melissa Wannop. Snelson, known as a “big game player,” led the Red last year in scoring in Ivy League games with four goals and one assist. In addition she is the only Cornell player to score a goal against the two previous Ivy League champions, Brown and Princeton.
Wannop, a right back, has worked hard during the off-season to improve some of the weaker spots in her game, including her marking and tackling. She has become significantly more vocal since being named captain. Coach Tambroni hopes that her energy will spread throughout the team.
Tomorrow’s venue is the Red’s first meeting ever with Richmond. It will face off at the University of Delaware at noon. The Lehigh Mountain Hawks are coming off a tough season, finishing in the bottom half of the Patriot league for the 2000 campaign. Their 7-10 record included a 3-2 loss coming from the Red at the end of the season. The Red will face Lehigh today at 4:00.
The Red returns home on Monday to face Albany and will have its first Ivy League match on September 22 at Yale.
Archived article by Josh Vlasto