By wpengine
It’s amazing what a little intensity can do. On Wednesday, it propelled the women’s soccer team to its first victory of 2003, a 2-1 decision over Bucknell. The first half was a bit rocky for the Red. Maybe it was the long bus ride through the sticks of Pennsylvania. Maybe it was the memory of crushing Bucknell 3-0 last season. Maybe, it was just the raw intensity exhibited by the Bison players. “They came out extremely aggressive,” said senior wing Whitney Cale. “It kind of caught us off guard.” The relentlessness of the Bucknell attack stifled Cornell’s vaunted style of play. The Red was unable to gain stable and consistent possession of the ball through the midfield; Bucknell kept winning 50-50 balls and dumping passes over the top to both corners of the field. “They were a kick and run team,” said senior tri-captain Emily Knight. “They sent their two forwards into the corners every time and let them deal with the ball by themselves. Their defense basically just kicked it out every time they got [possession].” After escaping the first half in a scoreless showdown, head coach Berhane Anderberhan knew that in order to win the game, the Red needed to be the hammer, not the anvil. “Berhane told us to stop just reacting to plays and to actually make things happen,” said junior defender Natalie Dew. “We needed to settle down, play our game, and challenge the ball.” The renewed spirit of the Red was nearly quelled by a Bucknell goal 13 minutes into the second half. After receiving an entry pass in front of the Cornell goal, Bison freshman Jennifer Margolis turned and shot. The ball bounced off the goalpost in the opposite direction of the diving Cornell keeper, Katie Thomas. Unmarked Bucknell junior Ashley Dincher snuck behind the Red defense and netted the quick rebound. Instead of getting tight and panicking, the players simply picked themselves up, dusted off, and took control of the game. Showing the intensity that Andeberhan preached about at halftime, Cornell scored two straight goals to claim victory. Only six minutes after Bucknell took the lead, Knight cashed in on a good cross from sophomore midfielder Ali Gombar. “[The ball] slipped right through the middle,” said Knight. “I just trapped it and placed it into the net. It was a great cross by Ali.” The winning goal was scored on the pure speed of sophomore winger Kara Ishikawa, coming with only 7:30 left on the clock. Showing finesse, she chipped a shot over the Bison defense from outside the 18-yard box after streaking down the left side of the field. Ishikawa’s goal handed Bucknell its first loss of the year. This game proved to the Red that it has the intensity needed to battle for the Ivy League crown. “It proved we have some fight in us,” said Knight. “We won’t win every game by just playing our style, so we need to find other ways to win. That’s what we did.” The Red look to carry its intensity into this weekend’s tournament, hosted by St. Bonaventure. Cornell will kick-off the tourney at 2:30 p.m/ today in a match against Robert Morris and play the Bonnies on Sunday afternoon. “We want to ride Wednesday’s success into this tournament,” said Cale. “We have what it takes to win.”Archived article by Per Ostman
By wpengine
One of the most cherished traditions of the senior class at any university is the proud display of the class ring, a representation of years of hard work and toil for one’s alma mater. Yet, there will be no class rings ordered by the four seniors of the women’s volleyball team this year; they have another kind of hardware in mind. “We want the Ivy League ring,” senior middle blocker Jamie Lugo stated. “That’s been our goal from the beginning, and that’s the only ring we want on our fingers this year.” Cockiness? Overconfidence? Hardly. Coming off of three consecutive winning seasons, the Red is unquestionably one of the most talented and feared teams in the Ivy League. Back in the lineup are five of last season’s starters, including All-Ivy selections Debbie Quibell, Rachel Rice, and Ashley Stover. The Red also possess what head coach Christie Roes calls “the deepest and most talented back-up players I have coached here at Cornell,” an oft-overlooked feature that makes this year’s team all the more formidable. “This year’s team is simply the strongest in the Ivy League in terms of talent and experience,” Roes said. “Overall, we are more well-rounded and mature, in addition to being better able to deal with adversity.” Adversity has certainly been a stalwart in the Red volleyball program in recent years. In the last two seasons the women’s team has been hit with a seemingly constant string of injuries. Both Lugo and Rice have been among the starters sidelined, and Roes is well aware of the fact that staying healthy will be a major factor in achieving success. “Injuries have plagued this team in the past,” Roes affirmed. “Yet, this year there is far more optimism because not only is everyone healthy right now, but we have such talent and depth at every position that we can win games and build confidence with any player on the court. In previous years, we have not had that luxury.” Preseason workouts have been a key component to the Red’s self-assurance, as every single player arrived at the team’s Nike summer camp in shape and motivated to work hard. Rice said that the training sessions went “very, very well,” and that most of the players either met or surpassed their training goals. Moreover, the preseason workouts saw the beginnings of the volleyball squad truly coming together as a team. “Our preseason testing and workouts have been the best it’s ever been for us,” sophomore outside hitter Hayley Grieve said. “There is so much competitiveness in the intrasquad matches that it’s easy to tell how much depth we have this year. We are all really anxious to play.” The Red’s first test of the season comes in the form of the Seton Hall Spikefest, set to take place this weekend in South Orange, N.J. Iona, Seton Hall, La Salle, and Hartford are all on Roes and company’s radar screens, and the tournament should provide an excellent jumping-off point for the Red’s season. Recently, the women’s volleyball team has dominated in season openers (having defeated every opponent in opening contests for the last eight years), and it looks to continue that tomorrow against Iona. And with the confident philosophy Roes has instilled in the group over the past four years, that doesn’t look like it’s going to be much of a problem. “The thinking this year is simply to let the girls’ talent take over,” Roes stated. “As a team, we think and believe that we can win, and with each victory, that belief will only become stronger and stronger.” Rice and the rest of the team echo similar sentiments, as the squad is poised this season to make an NCAA appearance for only the second time in Cornell women’s volleyball history. “The championship is definitely possible this year,” Rice affirmed. “We’ve had serious discussions about how we are going to get there. Everyone has been hungry for it, and there is just a good feeling going all around.”Archived article by Kyle Sheahen