By wpengine February 28, 2003
The women’s hockey team will close out the regular season this weekend at home against No. 1 Harvard tonight at 7 p.m. and Brown tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. Tomorrow’s contest marks the final home game of the six seniors, and they will be honored during the game. The Red (4-17-2, 2-10-2 ECAC) earned a point last weekend in its home-and-home series against travel partner Colgate, tying the Raiders at Lynah before losing in Hamilton. Harvard (24-1-1, 13-0-1) and Brown (10-12-4, 7-6-1 ECAC) faced off on Tuesday, and the Crimson came away with a 4-3 win to clinch the ECAC regular season and Ivy League titles. “The game between Harvard and Brown [earlier this week] was very physical, so that could be a factor. They have some really good depth, both teams, so I’m not sure it will affect them as much as our team when we’re still developing and gaining experience with players,” commented head coach Melody Davidson. Last Thursday at Lynah, the icers notched a goal in the closing seconds of the second period to go up 1-0, but Colgate buried a shot with eight minutes left in the third. The game went to overtime, but ended in a tie. Sophomore Jamie Ramenofsky scored her first collegiate goal in the effort. On Saturday, the Raiders grabbed the lead late in the second, and held on until the closing minutes of the game, when senior Sanya Sandahl was pulled to bring out the extra attacker. Colgate responded with two empty net goals to seal the victory. The Red currently holds the last playoff spot and is two points behind Yale, which plays Dartmouth and Vermont this weekend. The icers need at least three points to pass Yale, as the Bulldogs hold the tiebreaker over the Red. If Yale wins one game this weekend, then the Red will face Harvard in the first round of the ECAC playoffs next weekend. The Crimson maintained its hold on the No. 1 ranking in the USCHO and AHW polls with a sweep last week of No. 9 Princeton and Yale. Senior Jennifer Botterill leads the country in points per game, goals, and assists. She recently broke the school’s all-time scoring mark for both the men’s and women’s teams, and captured the all-time Division I scoring crown after Tuesday’s game. Botterill is a finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award, given to the nation’s most outstanding player in women’s collegiate hockey, an award she won in 2001. She helped Canada capture the gold medal at the Salt Lake City Olympics for Canada, and was coached by Davidson, who was an assistant coach for Team Canada. “Jennifer Botterill is an outstanding hockey player. Regardless if you’re coaching or working with her, she’s going to come with her A game every time,” remarked Davidson. “Our goal will be to minimize those top players, and try to maximize our time against their other lines. I don’t think [my knowledge of her playing ability] will be a big factor, other than it’s going to be great to see her,” she continued. The Crimson boast two other Olympic medalists in freshman Julie Chu and junior Angela Ruggiero, who both won silver medals last year for Team USA. Chu was recently named ECAC Rookie of the Week, her fourth honor this season, and Ruggiero is the nation’s top-scoring defenseman. In goal, junior Jessica Ruddock is first in the nation in GAA and winning percentage, and seventh in save percentage. Red freshman Andrea Skinner’s twin sister Jennifer is a blueliner on the Crimson, and the two have both notched five points this season. When the two teams met earlier this season in Cambridge, the Crimson came out on top with an 8-0 win. After reaching the finals of last year’s Frozen Four, Brown has had somewhat of a lackluster season. The Bears are currently fifth in the ECAC and are fighting for a home playoff series. The team is coached by Margaret “Digit” Murphy ’83, who was one of Cornell’s most prolific scorers and helped the Red capture two Ivy titles. Sophomore Jessica Link leads the team in scoring with a team-high 15 goals, while senior Kim Insalaco has notched 17 helpers to go along with five goals and was recently named to the 2003 USA National Team. Senior Pam Dreyer has a 2.48 GAA and a .905 save percentage, and was also named to the 2003 USA National Team. The Bears earned a 9-1 win over the Red in November in Providence. “We’re expecting Brown’s speed and the torpedo system they play. We had a lot of factors last time, not getting to the rink on time, all those things, so we shouldn’t have any problems here. We have to expect and know what’s coming at us right away and be able to advance the puck quickly and take advantage of breakdowns that their system might show us,” said Davidson. This weekend’s games will be a good test for the Red, as it will most likely have to face the Crimson again next weekend at Cambridge for the first round of the ECAC playoffs.Archived article by Jonathan Auerbach
By wpengine February 28, 2003
The men’s and women’s track teams, both currently ranked among the top-25 teams in the national power rankings, will bring their prowess and lofty expectations to Dartmouth this weekend for the Heptagonal championships. Last year, the Red hosted the event and nearly took home two championships. The women’s team did win the title, beating second place Harvard by 12 points and dusting the rest of its competition. The men’s team looked solid and led all other teams after the first day of competition but was edged out in the final events and took fifth overall behind eventual champion Princeton, second-place Penn and Dartmouth, and third-place Harvard. This year, however, both squads boast more talent and depth than virtually any squad in Cornell history and stand a legitimate chance of dominating the meet. Already this season, the Red men and women have crushed all of their Ivy opponents and placed highly at tough national competitions consisting of Big Ten, ACC, SEC, and MAAC conference schools. The crew of Red women will be led by senior captain Katy Jay, who won last year’s Most Outstanding Performer Award, and hopes to repeat her performance. At last year’s meet, Jay won the 60m, 200m, and took second in the 400m race in addition to anchoring the 4x400m relay. Coming into this meet, she has the best 200m time (24.59s) of all the teams competing in the meet. Accompanying Jay are equally talented runners, jumpers, and throwers who have shown that they will not accept anything less than victories all season long. Junior Merili Mosley is the defending Heps 60m hurdles champion and looks poised to add another title to her resume. Senior Caitlin Ramsey will probably be Mosely’s closest competitor; Ramsey has the third fastest time in the Ivy League so far this year in the event. In the longer sprints, sophomore Kari Steed ran a blazing 55.23 in the 400m, taking first in that event. But again, Steed’s own teammates will be her biggest competition. Sophomore sisters Jessica and Shonda Brown took third and fourth, respectively, in the 400m last year and have improved dramatically since then. In the middle and longer distance events, seniors Natalie Whelan and Carlan Gray, and sophomore Kate Boyles will forge ahead for the Red. Whelan has the fourth-best Ivy time in the 800m going into the meet and has a chance to take home the gold. Gray and Boyles both scored points for the Red in the 3k and 5k races last year. Finally, in the field events, senior Sarah Herskee is favored to win the shot put. Herskee won the event last year and has upped her toss by more than a foot this season. Additionally, freshmen standouts Maria Millard and Amy Donofrio stand a good chance to bring home a few points for the women. The outlook for the men is equally auspicious. Field-event athletes will contribute big team points for the Red. Junior Travis Offner and senior Chris Hart currently stand one-two in the pole vault rankings. Offner was last year’s champion in the event, but topped his blue-ribbon performance by over one foot at the Penn State Invitational earlier this year, recording a vault of 17-02.5. Hart is a multiple threat for the Red. Currently, he is just a few inches off Offner’s pole vault mark and will also vie for victories in the long jump — an event he placed second in last year. Junior Tyler Kaune also presents multiple threats to his opponents. So far this year, he has scored an incredible number of points for the Red, placing top-seven in both the long and triple jumps each time he has competed. He goes into this weekend’s meet as the defending champion in the long jump (23-08) and holding the Ivy League’s best triple jump distance (49-02.75). Nearly all of the men’s throwing group stands a chance to score huge points. Junior Giles Longley-Cook has won numerous events this season and placed third at last year’s Heps in the weight throw. Favored to win the shot put is junior Derek Kingrey, who lays claim to the biggest throw in the Ivies (57-01.25) going into Heps. Close behind him are senior Brett Coffing and sophomore Zach Beadle. Coffing took second in the shot last year at Heps, and Beadle worked hard in the offseason to dramatically improve his toss. All of these athletes should compete for the top spots in their events. On the track, senior Quinton Carew and junior Rahim Wooley are the best hopes for the Red in the short sprints. Carew, in particular, will challenge for first in the 60m. He has the fastest time in the event for the Red this year (6.98) and placed sixth at the indoor championships last year. Junior Mike Nanaszko also hopes to score big points for the team in his event, the 500m. Nanaszko delivered an outstanding performance earlier this year in the event, clocking a 1:05.02, the fourth best time in the Ivies right now. Senior distance runners Dan Dombroski and Geoff Van Fleet round out the top Red runners. Dombroski scored for the Red at Heps last year, placing fifth in the 5k in 14:47.13 but has dropped his time this year and looks to deliver his best performance this weekend. Van Fleet also scored last year, coming in third in the 3k race. Pushing these top finishers and scoring for the Red all season long is an additional slew of runners, jumpers, and throwers on both teams who all have a good chance of scoring. Though the list too numerous to mention each athlete individually, every athlete who competes this weekend will give it their best shot and, hopefully, contribute to dual Heps crowns for the Red. Archived article by Everett Hullverson