By wpengine November 25, 2003
The women’s hockey team wanted to get off on the right foot and gain some momentum before a stretch of nine games on the road — including trips to Colgate (9-4-1, 3-0-0 ECAC) and Boston to face an unbeaten Harvard squad. The Red’s 11 goals in its first stop seemed to be just the confidence boost it needed. Fourteen different players had at least a point in the Red’s romp of Sacred Heart, 11-1, at the Milford Ice Pavilion. Scoring two goals for the Red against its non-conference opponent were junior Pearle Nerenberg and freshman Halina Kristalyn, for her first career points. Both Nerenberg and Kristalyn had three point nights, with each also tallying an assist. Freshman Caroline Scott earned her first career points as well, netting one goal and assisting on sophomore Andrea Skinner’s third period score. “Any time a player has multiple point games their confidence level increases,” said head coach Melody Davidson about the two freshmen. “Not only on a personal level, but the team begins to have more confidence in them.” The Red got a big night out of senior Jen Munhofen, who tallied a goal and three assists, and is currently tied for the team lead in points with junior defender Jamie Ramenofsky. Ramenofsky had an assist in the first period and another in a seven-goal outburst by the Red in the final period. “It was a great weekend for all the players from a third period standpoint,” said Davidson, as the Red notched 10 combined goals in the third frame over the weekend. Putting home goals in the third period against the Pioneers were Kristalyn, Skinner, and Nerenberg with two. Also tallying scores were senior Anita Khar off a feed from sophomore Emily Cabral, junior Maryann Nowak, and sophomore Caitlin Warren — all for their first goals of the season. Khar and Warren had two-point games as each notched an assist. Another two-point effort came from senior captain Briana Jentner who notched two assists in the victory. Three net minders made stops for the Red as sophomore Flora Vineberg and freshman Sarah McConnachie made 2 apiece, and classmate Beth Baronick made four saves to earn the win. Yet, no victory was earned by either team’s goalie in a 4-4 tie with Quinnipiac. The Red again exploded in the third period, as it came back from a 3-1 deficit to eventually take a 4-3 lead. Scoring for the Red was sophomore Vicki Hodgkinson, who tallied the first score of the game on an assist from Munhofen. Hodgkinson also netted the first of three third-period goals on assists from Skinner and Munhofen. The Red’s third score was on a power play goal by Simpson, with assists from Ramenofsky and Khar. Ramenofsky assisted on the Red’s final goal, feeding Kristalyn for her fourth point of the weekend. Vineberg made 25 stops in net, but could not stop Vicky Graham’s shot from tying the contest after her save went off the skate of a Red defender and into the net, sending the game into overtime. The Red put pressure on the Bobcats in overtime, getting four shots on goal, to even that stat up at 29 shots a piece, but could not send one home, and had to settle for a draw. After a victory and a tie over the weekend, the Red finds itself with a 1-4-1 record heading into rematches with Clarkson and Colgate. Cornell will look to earn its first ECAC victory against the Raiders after dropping a close 2-0 battle with them at Lynah two weekends ago.Archived article by Chris Mascaro
By wpengine November 25, 2003
Few things are sweeter than finishing at the top of your game. It’s always great to save the best performances for last, so they can be the ones you remember in the off season, so next season you’ll be all the more willing to work harder and attack the task before you with more dedication. On Saturday in the IC4A and ECAC Championships at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, the men’s and women’s cross country teams accomplished that notable feat: They finished their seasons at the top of their games. “I was very pleased with the way the meet went on Friday,” said men’s distance coach Robert Johnson. The men’s team ran its way to a sixth place finish even without the contributions of junior captain Emory Mort, classmate Oliver Tassinari, and sophomore Ed Palermo, and the women’s team rode the strength of junior Kate Boyles’s first-place performance and freshman Nyam Kagwima’s third place effort to earn a second-place finish. “I thought that probably as a team this was the best race we ran,” said women’s head coach Lou Duesing. The team used its depth, finishing all five runners in a one-minute span between Boyles’s 17:57 and fifth finisher Mandy Knuckles’s 27th place slot. With the race the ladies ended their season with a flourish, picking a good time for their best finish and nearly replicating last year’s first place finish. Boyles led the way for the team, out-running her nearest competition by a full 10 seconds and setting the Red up for success, and earning the praise of her coach. “That’s our second ever ECAC Champion,” said Duesing, noting the gravity of the accomplishment. Right behind Boyles was Kagwima, who capped off a stellar freshman season with perhaps her best collegiate performance yet. “I thought Nyam, finishing third, ran a tremendous race,” noted Duesing. Behind Kagwima came sophomore Emily McCabe in 10th place, then senior captain Christine Eckstaedt in 20th, followed by Knuckles, giving Cornell a total of 58 points. Yale won the race with a score of 40, placing four in the top ten. Duesing also noted great races by Eckstaedt and McCabe. Not to be overlooked, junior Alyssa Simon started the day off right for the Red with her performance in the JV race. “What kind-of gets lost is that we won the JV race individually,” said Duesing. Simon came away with the victory for the Red, the first of the Red’s three individual titles for the day in the four races from the men’s and women’s teams combined. Senior captain Dan Hart led the way for the men, running a Van Cortlandt Park personal best 25:45 and completing a return from a disappointing mid-season with a 15th place finish. “Dan ran an absolutely fantastic race,” said Johnson. “He ran 25:45 and his best time [at Van Cortlandt Park] had been over 26:00 minutes.” Hart and the rest of the men’s team did their best with the positive conditions on the course, including a tailwind and relatively cool, dry conditions, and posted their best effort on the season. “I told the guys coming in, it was more of an individual opportunity to get personal best times down,” said Johnson. “The guys took advantage of the good conditions and ran well.” Freshman stand-out Ricky Lader was the team’s second man with a 24th-place finish to join Hart as the Red’s representatives on the All-East team. Johnson was extremely happy with Lader’s performance. “It was the perfect way for him to end an amazingly strong freshman season,” said the coach. “To get All-East as a freshmen is very impressive.” Lader was the second freshman finisher at the meet, and the top rookie from the Ivy League. Johnson noted it as a sign of things to come. “He sort-of proved himself,” said Johnson, “that he can not only be consistent, but he can really run in that upper echelon.” Sophomore Bryan Jarrett opened up the day for the Red in the best possible fashion by winning the junior varsity race. With his time of 26:35, a 35-second personal record, he would have placed fourth on the team. “I think that helped the guy’s confidence,” said Johnson about the varsity runners seeing Jarrett’s performance. The IC4A race was a fitting end to the season in Johnson’s mind, because it showed the team where it’s going. “We’ve been progressing,” he said. “In the grand scheme of things, we’ve been doing what we need to do.” “On Saturday, the guys got to see how far we really have come,” Johnson continued. Six of the ten men in the race ran their personal best times. “That was certainly good for the future,” said Johnson. “The guys realize we’re doing the right things and we’re progressing,” he concluded. And that will be instrumental in the team’s success next season, when the Red will return four of its top five with one more year of experience, and in the future beyond that too. “I think we left the meet in Saturday with the best feeling we’ve had all season,” said Johnson. A good way to begin the off-season, for sure, ready for the future in Cornell cross country. Archived article by Matt James