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The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/2004/02/06/fencers-host-tigers/)

February 6, 2004

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Fencers Host Tigers

By wpengine | February 6, 2004

The Red hopes to ride the home advantage to victory this weekend as the fencing squad faces Princeton University and James Madison University in the Stifel Fencing Salle tomorrow.

Last weekend was the beginning of truly tough competition for the Red, which faced the strongest teams in New England at the Brandeis Multi Meet last weekend. This weekend’s matches will be another step up.

“Princeton has a tradition of being the best,” said head coach Al Peters.

Over the last two seasons, Princeton has triumphed over the Red. However, in the same stretch, Cornell has repeatedly beaten James Madison. The Red hopes to start a similar winning streak against Princeton this year.

“We don’t get to see their fencers in the season,” Peters said of Princeton’s squad. “But their fencers back from last year are strong.”

Peters, though, believes that his fencers’ experience at Brandeis has prepared them for the tough opposition coming to Ithaca this weekend.

“We got back to basics this week,” Peters said. “Their confidence is back.”

The Red is halfway through its league schedule and has a 1-2 record so far. A win against a strong foe like Princeton would give the team momentum heading into the final stretch of the season.

“On paper, [Princeton is] stronger,” Peters said.

Archived article by Olivia Dwyer

Related

Icers Rebound, Beat Dartmouth and Vermont

By wpengine February 9, 2004

HANOVER.N.H. — After being swept by Colgate in a home-and-home series last weekend, the men’ s hockey team looked like a squad that would have to limp towards the finish line, literally. With injuries to senior captain Ryan Vesce, junior defenseman Charlie Cook, and sophomore forward Cam Abbott among others, Cornell had fallen to sixth place in the conference standings. Abbott and Cook, along with recently suspended freshmen Byron Bitz and Ryan O’ Byrne, returned to the lineup on Saturday, however, as the Red looked very much like the defending ECAC champion, beating Dartmouth, 4-2. In doing so, the Red also snapped a three-game winless streak and notched its first victory at Thompson Arena since the 1997-98 season. The game began inauspiciously for Cornell, as the Green took the lead less than three minutes into the game on Grant Lewis’s power play goal. Dartmouth’ s sophomore sensation Hugh Jessiman won the puck along the boards before feeding it to Lee Stempniak, who found Lewis open at the right point. The defenseman then skated in and put a wrister over freshman David McKee’s glove at 2:25 of the first period. Cornell would catch a break later in the period, though, as Max Guimond was assessed a five minute major and a game misconduct for hitting sophomore Shane Hynes from behind. The Red would cash in on this golden opportunity, scoring twice to take a 2-1 lead heading into the second period. Sophomore forward Chris Abbott tied the score at 1-1, at 14:40, beating Dartmouth goalie Dan Yacey from a sharp angle. Twin brother Cam would then give the Red the lead three minutes later, deflecting a Ben Wallace slapper past Yacey. Assists on the goal went to the assistant captain and Bitz. “I think getting one of the [goals] was obviously critical to make it a 1-1 game,” Cornell head coach Mike Schafer ‘ 86 said. “Five minute power plays can often go by the wayside because you don’ t get any momentum going, and guys start to get tired at the end of the power play.” “The good thing with five minutes is that it allows us to continually be on the power play, and gives more than each unit a chance,” junior forward Mike Knoepfli said. The Green would not go quietly, however, knotting the score at 2-2 midway through the second period on Mike Ouelette’ s 10th goal of the year. Standing on the goal line, Ouelette flipped the puck toward the net while another Dartmouth player crashed the crease area. The puck somehow found its way through the maze of bodies in front and past McKee. The two teams looked like they would enter the second intermission tied, but that all changed when Knoepfli made a tremendous individual effort to put the Red up 3-2 with just 48.9 seconds left in the period. Knoepfli, in on the forecheck, stole the puck off a Dartmouth player’ s stick before decking Yacey and putting the puck between the goaltender’ s pads. “I was just trying to get up on the forecheck, and I knew I had a second,” Knoepfli said. “I just tried to get up on him, and slip it through his legs.” Cornell would extend the lead to a two-goal advantage when sophomore Matt Moulson duplicated Knoepfli’ s feat. Moulson intercepted a Dartmouth breakout pass at the left point and skated in alone against Yacey. The goalie dove to try to cover the puck, but Moulson lifted a backhand over the prone netminder to seal the game. “I kind of just came down and poked it off him,” Moulson said. “I got a lucky bounce and tried the same move as Knoepfli and it worked.” “They did a good job of knowing where Dartmouth wanted to go with the puck, and coming across ice. They got their sticks down on the ice in the passing lane, and picked it off when their kids tried to force it,” Schafer said of Knoepfli and Moulson. “What I liked even better was the kind of composure and poise they showed around the net.” There were scary moments for the Red during the game, as the already battered team saw Cook, freshman Dan Glover, and McKee each receive medical treatment on the ice for various injuries. While Cook was able to return, Glover left late in the second period and McKee sat out the last 10 minutes of the contest, with senior Todd Marr taking his place in net. “I’ ve got a lot of confidence in Todd. He’ s got great composure. For him to come in with 10 minutes to go in the game, he did a great job of smothering rebounds and not giving up chances,” Schafer said. The win gave the Red, which had just one victory in its last seven games, something that it could build upon during the stretch run. “It was a big win for a lot of reasons. It was obviously a big character builder for us, being down 1-0 on the road against a very good hockey team,” Schafer said. “Overall, we’ re starting to play the kind of hockey where we need to be successful. I thought we did a good job on the puck as the game wore on, and gained some confidence.” Archived article by Alex Ip
W. Hoops Splits Against Ivy Foes

By wpengine February 9, 2004

Despite mediocre first-half showings in each of its games this weekend, the women’s basketball team (8-11, 3-3 Ivy) used strong second halves to gain the split against Brown and Yale . The Red was unable to comeback from a 14-point halftime defect against Brown (10-9, 3-3), falling 68-56. In the game against Yale (3-16, 0-6), senior Lauren Kilduff delivered her best performance of the season, scoring 21 points to lead the Red to a 70-63 victory. “We’ve talked about the first four minutes being really important every game,” said head coach Dayna Smith after the loss to Brown. “We’re getting really good looks in the first four minutes, but we’re not hitting them. Maybe it’s our preparation, our pre-game warm-up, what [the players] are thinking before the game, but people need to show up and play.” Despite outscoring the Bears 29-27 in the second half, Cornell fell too far behind in the first 20 minutes, and was unable to overcome Brown’s early lead. The Bears came out roaring, taking four shots before the Red even had one. Within the critical first four minutes in which the Red has struggled, Brown had taken a 7-0 lead, with five points coming from the hot hand of guard Tanara Golston, who had 17 total on the night. The Red battled back and came within two to make the score 7-5, but this was as close as the team would get for the rest of the game. Cornell struggled to hit shots, and, by the 10-minute mark, Brown was up, 21-10. The Red matched baskets with the Bears from this point on, but still found itself down, 43-29, when the halftime buzzer sounded. “I think Brown came out very aggressive,” said Smith. “I think we gave into it. We were tentative. We weren’t looking aggressively at the hoop. When we took the ball in, a couple of times we missed some easy lay-ups. We’ve got to find a way to score no matter how the defense is playing. You’re not going to win any games shooting 23 percent.” The Red came out strong in the second half, led by senior tri-captain Karen Force, who had 16 on the night. With 8:49 remaining in the game, the Red was within six points, down only 50-44. However, this proximity seemed to only awaken the sleeping Bears, as Brown surged ahead, never allowing Cornell to get any closer. After Brown’s Ragan Kenner scored her only point of the night from the charity stripe to make the score 51-44, Brown center Holly Robertson forced a turnover, and the Bears resumed their first-half form, as the game ended with the score 69-56. “It’s the same thing that happened in the Dartmouth game,” explained Smith. “We cut it to six, and then in the next three possessions we [made] really poor decisions — two turnovers and a shot that we shouldn’t have taken. We’re making poor decisions in crucial moments