By wpengine
The women’s rowing team will race a tough spring schedule in the months ahead, but the team has the depth and strength to bring its best to each weekend. “We have more people than seats,” said head coach Melanie Onufrieff. “It’s a really deep group, which makes it challenging for everyone. Everyone is pushed every day in practice.” The team will begin its season on March 27 with a race that is new to the schedule in 2004. The Red will travel to Redwood City, Calif. for the Windermere Classic. Besides Cornell, the competition will be west coast schools such as Stanford, USC, and UC Davis. Tough east coast competition will also be represented, with Penn, Michigan, and Navy traveling west to compete. “It will be schools we don’t usually see,” Onufrieff said, “and won’t see again until [the] national championships.” Between the Windermere Classic and the Eastern Association of Women’s Rowing Colleges Sprints, the Red will face the likes of Yale, Syracuse, Harvard, and Princeton. Onufrieff thinks the combination of a strong contingent of experienced seniors and freshmen that are still on the steep part of the learning curve will add up to success for the Red. “The fall was okay,” she said. “We would have liked to be faster, but it showed there’s a lot here. We just have to figure out how to get the most out of it.” The Red is prepared for the consistently tough competition in the regular season schedule, but will keep one eye on the Eastern Sprints at the end of the season. “Championships are what we gear towards,” Onufrieff said. “To be fast and win medals at [Eastern] Sprints is our goal.” The team’s performance at Eastern Sprints will determine how it finishes in the standings for the Willing Point Trophy. This trophy is awarded to the team that earns the most collective points during competition at the Eastern Sprints. Last year, the Red finished fifth in the final standings out of a field of 18 while Harvard went home with the trophy. “This year we’re looking for everyone to come home from Eastern Sprints with a medal around their necks,” said Neuman. “And we’re looking to get invited to the NCAA championships.” The Red’s performance at Eastern Sprints, along with regional rankings and head-to-head results from the season will determine whether or not the team will earn an invitation to the NCAA Women’s Rowing Championship. Only 12 teams are invited to compete in the national championship. The team will be led by a strong senior class. Seniors Amelia Siani and Siobhan Steyn earned first-team Mid-Atlantic honors in 2003 from the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association. Classmate Neuman was a second-team CRCA honoree. Siani and Neuman will provide leadership and direction to a young squad this year as co-commodores. The team also returns all four varsity coxswains. Onufrieff believes that the Red’s ability to stay focused and determined for each race as it comes up will take the crew far this year. The intense rivalries that will come alive on the water each weekend will also give the team an extra incentive to win. “Every race has something,” she said. “A different reason to step up.”Archived article by Olivia Dwyer
By wpengine
Senior pitching phenom Sarah Sterman’s discman has been on repeat lately, blaring the high energy beats of Republica’s 1996 hit “Ready to Go.” It’s a song that might as well have been playing the moment she took the mound for Cornell three years ago. As a freshman, Sterman made an instant impact on a team that was already laden with talent. Winning 14 games, with an ERA of 2.02 she was a valuable component of that 2001 Ivy League Championship team. Yet the transition from high school to college was far from easy for her. Eager to get the job done on the mound, Sterman found out the hard way that she couldn’t just blow right by batters at the college level. In high school, Sterman had been a windmill pitcher whose best pitch was a nasty drop ball, but in college, she had to redefine her game by adding a curve and rise-ball to her repertoire while virtually abandoning the drop-ball. “It was tough my freshman year because I just wanted to get up there and get everyone out and not waste any time, “Sterman recalled. “I learned the hard way that the hitters are faster than you are and you’ve got to be able to finesse and to throw some other stuff.” Under the guidance of head coach Dick Blood, and the mentorship of fellow pitcher Nicole Zitarelli ’01, Sterman made the necessary adjustments to jump from a promising prospect to a full-blown ace. 2002 was a breakout year for the sophomore, as she won 22 games and set four Cornell records. She also strung together an amazing 39 1/3 shutout innings, to which Sterman says most of the credit goes to the defense that plays behind her. After a 19-4 2003 season in which the Red fell one game short of the Ivy crown, Sterman enters her last year at Cornell with one thing on her mind: an Ivy championship. Also in her thoughts will be the defending Ivy champion, Princeton, which Sterman has yet to beat in her three years at Cornell. “Winning the Ivy title my freshman year was probably the single greatest moment we shared as a team,” Sterman said. “I definitely want to win the Ivy title this year, and I definitely think we can. We have a really solid team back from last year.” Sterman has come a long way from the eager freshman who wanted to sit down the opposition 1-2-3. She now works regularly deep into the counts, feeling comfortable going 2-2 or even 3-2 with any hitter. “Sarah has been rock solid for us for the three years she’s been here,” head coach Dick Blood said of his star pitcher. “She has impeccable control and works every pitch that she throws. She comes to play everyday.” Sterman herself sees the transformation in her pitching. “I understand now that the first pitch I throw in a count is important. I throw a lot deeper into counts. I don’t waste anytime, but I also concentrate more on each pitch,” she said. As a senior, Sterman has also seen another transformation, this time off the field. The girls on the team have a nickname for her — it’s “Mama Sterm.” She has assumed her role as team mother with pleasure, answering the little things like how many aspirin to take, or what equipment to bring on road trip because, as always, Mama knows best. If there’s a player to watch for in 2004, it’s Sarah Sterman because, with eight returning starters around her, and her lucky game socks washed and clean, “baby, she’s ready to go.” Archived article by Paul Testa