T hey made us laugh. They made us cry. They made us write about them. And though a few weeks have passed since the fall season ended, we want to take this chance to recap those teams and athletes that made our autumn so damn special.
Field Hockey
The 2001 season for the field hockey team ended with a 3-2 loss in triple overtime to Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H.
Led by senior captains Ashleigh Snelson and Melissa Wannop, Cornell had a promising season with some impressive victories over top schools. Although the Red finished with an overall record of 7-9 and 2-5 in the Ivy League, the it lost some heartbreakers in overtime.
Impressive victories came during the middle of the season as the Red defeated Yale, Rhode Island, Columbia, Colgate and Lafayette. The powerful offense coupled with the stringent defense was the key to the success of Cornell.
As the season progressed, the Red began to wear down and as a result stumbled towards the end. It lost to 19th ranked Syracuse in overtime, 2-1. It also lost close games to Harvard, Brown, American, and Dartmouth.
There were many players who had profound impacts this past season. Sophomore forward Carissa Mirasol led the team with eight goals and three assists for a total of 19 points. Mirasol was named to the All-Ivy first team.
Senior captain Ashleigh Snelson was also named to the All-Ivy first team. She scored three goals along with four assists for a total of 10 points. Snelson has had an outstanding career at Cornell with a total of 10 goals and 11 assists, for a total of 31 points.
Junior forward Sarah Rosenbaum received All-Ivy honorable mention as she finished third in scoring for the Red with five goals and two assists for a total of 12 points. Head coach Tambroni will look to Rosenbaum next year as a leader and a key contributor to the offensive attack.
Sophomore goaltender Kaitlin Tierney had an impressive performance in net for the Red this year. She faced 152 shots and saved 135 of them for a total save percentage of .785.
Cornell will look to continue its strong offense attack and improve on this season next fall.
Men’s Soccer
Despite a final season ranking of 22nd in the nation, the men’s soccer team (9-4-3, 1-3-3 Ivy) had to settle for watching the NCAA tournament from Ithaca, as a strong push at the end of the season fell short of earning it a bid.
The Red finished the season on a six-game unbeaten streak and defeated several key opponents over the course of the season. Cornell, for example, was one of only four teams to beat Penn State this season. The Red also won a thrilling double overtime contest against regional foe Syracuse. Another highlight was a come-from-behind win in the rain against Oneonta, another regional opponent.
Cornell claimed the No. 2 ranking in the New York region, trailing only St. John’s, which is currently in the elite eight of the NCAA tournament.
In Ivy League play, the Red finished fifth in the standings despite a league-low .84 goals per game.
Senior Ted Papadopoulos led the way for the Red statistically, scoring seven goals and amassing 17 points. Papadopoulos received All-Ivy and All-New York region first team honors. His classmate Nick Haigh was named to the All-New York second team.
Three Cornellians earned All-Ivy honorable mention, led by junior goalkeeper Doug Allan, who blanked five opponents and recorded eight wins. Junior captain Liam Hoban also received the honor, as did sophomore Ian Pilarski, who paced the Red with seven assists.
Women’s Soccer
The women’s soccer team began its year with a bang, then got banged up, and ended with the hope of things to come.
The season started with a 3-0 bashing of Lafayette. The Red then headed north to take on nationally-ranked Syracuse. In a shocker that seemed a harbinger of future league success, Cornell nearly stole the game, losing by a single goal 1-0.
The first Ivy League game of the year brought more excitement with Cornell winning in overtime on junior co-captain Sarah Olsen’s tap-in at 2:26 of extra time. The game was also freshman goalkeeper Katie Thomas’s second shutout in three starts.
With a new enthusiasm brewing around a somewhat struggling program, things seemed too good to be true. Unfortunately they were.
A rash of injuries to many of Cornell’s veteran starters and the struggles associated with a young team trying to find its rhythm plummeted the lady booters into a seven-game losing streak.
Three ties and four losses later, Cornell was left with a 2-5-3 (1-2-1 Ivy) record. However, the season’s final five games saw a certain rejuvenation for the Red as it went 2-3 to end the year at 4-8-3 (1-5-1), with all its losses coming one-goal margins.
The team’s youngest players seemed to find their rhythm, fitting in with the upperclassmen returning from their injuries. It was a hopeful ending, with a grand promise for the future, to an otherwise spoiled season.
Postseason honors were garnered by Olsen (second team All-Ivy) who led the team in scoring senior co-captain Julie DeMichele (All-Ivy honorable mention) who played in 65 games over her four-year career, and Thomas ( All-Ivy honorable mention) who led the league in saves (104). Thomas was also twice named Ivy League Rookie of the Year during the course of the season.
Sprint Football
The sprint football team starred as the Little Engine That Could this season, displaying an extraordinary will that carried it deep into the season.
The Big Red engine is still climbing the hill, but already has many reasons to be optimistic. Senior tri-captain Sunil Gupta was effective as a starting quarterback, and in his place will step in a talented junior by the name of Charlie Tam, who can beat any defense with his legs or his arm. He split time with Gupta behind center as well as spending several drives in the backfield. Sophomore running back Dean Coccaro emerged as the workhorse of the team, allowing the passing game to open up. Most impressive of his stats was a hard-fought 82-yard game against Penn.
In its first game of the season, the Red almost upended the Quakers, the 2000 league champions, falling only on a last-second desperation touchdown pass.
The Red then proceeded to throttle Princeton twice, 24-6 and 27-6, relying primarily on the legs of Coccaro and Tam. Cornell has now beaten the Tigers four times in a row.
Gaining confidence from its early season victories, the Red went into its second game against Penn hoping to earn its first win in Philadelphia in years. The offense played well between the 20s but had trouble getting into the end zone, and subsequently lost, 41-3.
In its final game of the season, the Red lost to powerhouse Army 52-3. Cornell also had the pleasure of playing Navy in the Pride Bowl in New Jersey. Although the Red lost 42-10, the players had a good time talking to the underprivileged children for whom the game was played.
Cornell will lose some big names to graduation, including tri-captains Angelo Palmieri and Martin Vogel, linebacker Martin Alaniz, fullback Brian Allen, defensive end Scott Buszko; defensive backs Taylor Beauchamp and Alexander Gitomer, wideout Chris Hood, defensive linemen Miko Kuo, Phil Rosenmann and running back Joe Levine.
Tennis
Juniors Suzanne Wright and Daniela DelPrete represented the women’s tennis team at the Eastern Regional Championships held in Philadelphia. Wright reached the third round in the tournament, where she fell to Princeton’s Kavitha Krishnamurthy 6-2, 6-0. Classmate DelPrete won consecutive matches in the qualifying tournament before falling in the first round of the main draw.
Wright and DelPrete, the team’s co-captains, completed the fall season at Eastern Regionals
after leading the Red to a seventh place finish at the ECAC Championships, an improvement over last year’s finish.
In the spring season, the tennis team can look forward to the continued maturity of many of the team’s younger players, including five freshmen.
Sophomore Zach Gallin leads the men’s tennis team into the spring season after an impressive run to the quarterfinals of the ITA Regional Championships. En route to his quarterfinal appearance, Gallin upset No. 6 seed William Lee of Harvard. Cornell was also represented at ITA by senior Chris Lewis and sophomore Aravinda Neuman, who both won first-round matches before falling in the second round.
Other highlights of the fall season for the tennis team included the individual victories of freshman Matt Chemer-Ranft, sophomore Scott Paltrowitz and the doubles pair of Chemer-Ranft and junior Mike Laycob in the Army Invitational Tournament. The Red also placed fifth in the ECAC Championships in October, its best result ever in the annual fall tournament.
In the spring season, the men can expect continued production from team leaders such as Gallin and classmate and doubles partner Michael Schlappig. Seniors Stefan Paulovic and Pat Hagan should continue to provide solid play in their final tennis season for the Red.
Volleyball
For the women’s volleyball team, this season was one of both disappointment and success. Aiming for an Ivy League crown, the team’s third place finish was bittersweet considering the heights it soared to and the lows it crashed to during the fall season.
Despite the roller coaster ride through 14 Ivy matches, last week sophomore outside hitter Debbie Quibell and junior outside hitter Angela Barbera were named to the All-Ivy first and second teams, respectively.
After a 5-1 start, including a defeat of defending champion Princeton, the Red slipped down a four-game losing streak. It, however, managed to sweep its final two weekends and end 9-5 in the league.
Quibell was easily the anchor in Cornell’s season as she performed in the top-10 in three categories in the league. Her 3.57 kills per game average ranked her 10th, her .41 service aces per game was good for third and her 3.42 digs per game put her in third place.
Cornell couldn’t have finished with the bang that it did without the help of Barbera. A transfer from Boise State, her role on this team was uncertain at the beginning of the season. She quickly proved her worth, however, and went on to rank third on the team in kills per game with 2.80 and third in digs per game with 2.24.
Senior Jennifer Borncamp was also played a pivotal role in the Red’s success. Ending her career with 1,009 kills and 996 digs, she will hold a place in the record books and rank third and fourth in those two categories.
Senior middle blocker/converted setter Jamiee Reynolds really was the unsung savior of Cornell’s program. After sophomore Rachel Rice went down with nerve damage, Reynolds stepped into the setter role to fill the large and vacant shoes. She ended the year with 1023 assists and averaging 10.88 assists per game, which ranked her fifth in the league.
The Red’s nine conference wins marks a new school record. And after finishing last place in the league two season’s ago, Cornell is primed to make another run for the Ivy crown with the confidence and knowledge that it can and does compete with the best.
Cross-Country
One last race for senior Max King of the men’s cross country team ended with disappointment. King was competing as the only Cornell representative in the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Greenville, S.C. With high expectations going in, King was unable to compete the race after losing his shoe. Despite this disappointment, King did impress at the Heps in October, placing second with a time of 24:55.3.
The 2001 season was a showcase of youth for the cross country team, with many younger runners turning in strong performances. Freshmen Vasanth Coorg and Jon Goldsmith and sophomore Andrew Boone joined King and junior Barry Kahn as scorers for the Red at Heps. Head coach Nathan Taylor’s roster featured 10 freshmen and five sophomores, a good indicator for future.
The Red will be forced to compensate for the departure of King next season. The co-captain’s leadership, as well as that of classmate Geoff Van Fleet will leave a void that must be filled by next year’s seniors, including Kahn and Dan Dombroski.
The women’s cross country team was ranked No. 22 in the country going into the NCAA Championships. The women placed 30th in team competition. Jessica Parrott and Carlan Gray, who placed 124th and 127th respectively at NCAA’s. Senior Lena Mathews, junior Christine Diaz and freshman Kari Haus also scored for Cornell at NCAA’s. All five women capped off spectacular seasons with their performances in Greenville.
The Red women placed second at Heps, only 11 points behind Ivy League champion Yale. Freshman Kate Boyles was particularly impressive at Van Cortlandt Park, placing sixth with a time of 17:53.8, the best result of any freshman competing in the meet. She earned first-team All-Ivy honors. Mathews, who placed 11th at Heps in 18:01.5, garnered second-team All-Ivy honors.
The impressive performances of the younger runners gives the Red much hope for the future. The fact that these athletes performed so well as such an early point in their careers indicates that a very bright future is in store for head coach Lou Duesing’s squad.
Archived article by Sun Staff