Laxers Play Host to Brown on Senior Day

By | April 30, 2004

The men’s lacrosse team has been the Ivy League champion 18 times in the 48-year history of the Ancient Eight. Tomorrow, Cornell can solidify its claim on No. 19, when it welcomes No. 15 Brown to Schoellkopf Field on Senior Day.

The No. 9 Red will hope to improve on its 27-15 lead in the all-time series, coming off last Saturday’s emotional overtime win at Princeton. Junior midfielder Justin Redd scored his second goal of the game 1:03 into the overtime session to give the Red its first win against the Tigers since 1995.

“I think there’s always a possibility for a defeat if we don’t do a job. I don’t think it’s going to be a letdown because of our focus not being thoroughly on the Brown Bears,” said head coach Jeff Tambroni. “This team has done a good job of letting go of the Princeton game. On Monday’s practice, I felt like their focus was directly pulling towards Brown, and this week, there’s been absolutely no mention, no film, no discussion about Princeton. We’ve tried to just pack along with us the confidence that we gained with that victory. We’ve tried to clean up the things that we didn’t do so well.”

A win tomorrow would give Cornell at least a share of the Ivy League title, which would be its second in a row. Last season, the Red tied for the title with Princeton and Dartmouth, but missed out on postseason play when Dartmouth won the drawing for the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Brown, though, will not lie down easily. The Bears enter tomorrow’s game after last weekend’s 9-6 victory against Dartmouth. The Bears have performed very well in a difficult schedule this year, also earning victories over challenging opponents such as Loyola, Massachusetts, and Yale.

“Any team that beats Loyola 14-3, regardless of what kind of year Loyola’s having, is an extremely dangerous lacrosse team,” Tambroni said. “It’s a team that handled Dartmouth fairly easily, when we went right down to the wire and beat them with four seconds left. Our guys have a healthy dose of respect. They understand what’s on the line, it’s the same thing that’s been on the line for the last two weeks.”

Attack Chazz Woodson will be the toughest challenge for Cornell. Woodson, who scored three goals in Tuesday’s victory over Providence, is an explosive scorer and one of the most athletic frontmen in the country. He leads a very capable, dangerous Brown offense.

“We think he’s the best athlete that we’ve faced all year, certainly the best athlete in the Ivy League,” Tambroni said. “At the midfield, they just bring five, six guys at you. So I think that we’re really going to have to do our job and play some defense so that one or two of these guys don’t have a breakout game and start to give us fits defensively.”

On the other end of the field, Bears goalie Mike Levin is also among the best in the nation.

“Their goalie, without question, is by far their best player. We think he’s the best goalie in the Ivy League. He’s given us fits in the past,” Tambroni said. “I think he has 37 saves in his first two games against us his freshman and sophomore years. After last year’s performance, I’m sure he’s very excited to come up here and play against us and prove it was a fluke last year.”

Levin recorded 11 saves in last week’s victory against Dartmouth. In Cornell’s 14-4 win last year in Providence, R.I. Levin saved only 11 of 25 shots on goal, and was lifted in favor of a backup with just under six minutes remaining in the game.

Prior to tomorrow’s game, the team’s 10 seniors will be honored for their service to the program. Immediately following the game, Cornell will retire the uniform number 21 in honor of George Boiardi ’04, the team’s captain who died during a game earlier this season.

Archived article by Owen Bochner
Sun Sports Editor

Baseball Falls to Princeton in Three Out of Four

By May 3, 2004

Four games, four wins. This statement summed up the baseball teams’ only hopes for a Gehrig Division crown prior to this weekend’s four-game set with Princeton. Indeed, the Red had four games, but just one win as the Tigers took home their second consecutive Gehrig title. The first of two doubleheaders between these two ballclubs was played Friday on Hoy Field, with Princeton (24-18, 12-8 Ivy) taking the first game, 14-2. Princeton came out swinging in the seven-inning contest, scoring three runs in the first inning, with the big blow coming from Will Venable’s single to drive in two runs. The Red (12-29, 6-13) tacked on two in the bottom half of the inning, as freshman Kaleb Hutchinson drove in sophomore Seth Gordon, and then senior co-captain Dan Parant scored on shortstop Matthew Becker’s error. Yet, that would be all the scoring for the Red, as the team mustered just six hits in the contest. Gordon led the Red at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a walk, a run scored, and a stolen base, while Hutchinson and senior Ned VanAllan tallied RBIs. The Princeton lineup torched the Red for six runs in the second inning off senior Dan Gala, who started the game and lasted just 1 1/3 innings. Gala gave up seven hits and eight earned runs while walking two and striking out three. Gala took the loss to fall to 1-5 on the season. Gala was relieved in the second by sophomore Michael Hudson, who lasted just 1/3 of an inning, after allowing one earned run on two hits and two walks. Senior Sam Sinkavich closed out the second inning for the Red, but he too needed relief, after giving up two unearned runs in the top of the fourth. Sinkavich left after giving up four hits and one walk, while striking out one Princeton hitter. Junior Matthew Light, the Red’s fourth pitcher of the game, finished up the fourth inning with no problem. However, he was tossed around by the Princeton lineup for a run in the fifth inning and another two in the sixth. The growl in the Tiger offense came from B.J. Szymanski, who contributed five hits to Princeton’s 20 overall in five at-bats, scoring three runs and driving in four. The Red bats came alive in the second game of the doubleheader as the lineup smacked 10 hits in a 7-5 victory. The Red took an early 1-0 lead as sophomore William Pauly hit a sacrifice fly to score Gordon, and then went up 3-0 in the fourth on senior David Bredhoff’s double which plated two. Junior Tad Bardenwerper, who got the win to improve to 2-4 on the season, went 6 2/3 innings, giving up two earned runs in the top of the sixth. He allowed eight hits and three walks in the game. Freshman Blake Hamilton pitched 2 1/3 innings in relief — giving up three runs in the top of the ninth — but it wasn’t enough as the Red plated one in the seventh and two in the eighth to make its lead 7-2. The Red was led at the plate by Parant, who was 3-for-4 with two runs scored, and an RBI, and VanAllan, who was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a walk. The Red had less success in its doubleheader with Princeton yesterday on Clarke Field in New Jersey. In a 4-1 loss in game one, the Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead after three innings, before Hutchinson scored the Red’s only run of the game off a stolen base and a wild pitch. Senior Luke Staskal suffered the loss, dropping him 1-5 on the season, after going six innings and giving up four runs — three of them earned — on four hits and five walks. He struck out four Princeton batters. At the plate, the Red, who tallied just five hits in the seven-inning affair, was led by VanAllan and Pauly, who were each 2-for-3. The Red managed 12 hits in the second game, a 3-2 loss, but left 10 runners stranded on base. The Tigers scored all three of their runs in the fourth and fifth innings, and held a 3-0 lead before the Red tallied a run after three straight singles in the top of the sixth to score VanAllan. The Red made it a 3-2 ballgame in the seventh on a double by Gordon and a Princeton error. Yet, that is the way the game would end as the Red couldn’t push another run across the plate. The leaders for the Red at the plate were VanAllan, who was 2-for-4 with a run scored, Gordon, who was 2-for-4 with two doubles, a walk, and a run scored, Bredhoff, who was 2-for-4 with an RBI, and junior Matt Miller, who was 3-for-5 with a stolen base. Gala fell to 2-5 after six innings, as he gave up three runs — two of them earned — on seven Tiger hits, and four walks. Sinkavich struck out two in his two no-hit innings in relief. The Tigers will travel to face Red Rolfe Division champion Dartmouth next weekend in the Ivy League Championship Series, after a game with Rider on Wednesday. The Red will close out its season today, as it plays host to Columbia in a make-up game. Archived article by Chris MascaroSun Assistant Sports Editor
M. Lax Wins Second Straight Title

By May 3, 2004

On a day set aside to honor Cornell’s seniors, it was a freshman who stood out. Red goaltender Matt McMonagle made four crucial second-half saves as he and the team held on for a 10-9 victory over Brown. The win earned Cornell the league’s automatic NCAA tournament bid, and at least a share of the Ivy title. “[McMonagle] did a great job. At the end, I thought they were taking some tough shots on them,” said head coach Jeff Tambroni. “He made some huge saves down the stretch, one on a extra man when he made a foot save, and he did enough to give us a win. Hopefully that’s going to give him the confidence he needs for the rest of the year and hopefully for the rest of his career.” “I couldn’t be happier to get this win for the seniors,” McMonagle said. “I’m feeling pretty good, I feel I’m starting to get on a role. I have a lot of high expectations for myself, and at times I haven’t felt like I’ve given myself a chance to get there.” Cornell quickly got off to a torrid pace, earning the first goal of the game at 0:52 when senior Tim DeBlois fed junior Sean Greenhalgh to catch Brown off guard while transitioning to defense. Sophomore Joe Boulokos made it 2-0 a few minutes later as Cornell continued to cycle the ball in Brown’s end. The Bears evened things up with a late first- and early second-period goal, but then Cornell began to pull away. Five different players combined for a two-period, seven goal run that put Cornell ahead 9-2 by the early third quarter. Brown, however, was not ready to concede defeat. The Bears quickly began chipping away at Cornell’s lead. “I thought we took good shots. [Brown goalie Mike] Levin made some nice saves early, and then I just asked them to stay the course,” Tambroni said. “We didn’t want to get away from what we’re doing. The key with Brown is if you take five-to-seven-yard shots, you’ll have success. If you take anything more than that, Levin is too good of a goalie to give him that long to see the ball because he’ll make saves. At the end, he made some tight saves, and we were taking some three- or four-yard shots.” Senior Andrew Collins scored on an assist from classmate Dave Pittard, but the lone fourth-quarter goal was not enough to swing the momentum back to Cornell. Brown senior Chazz Woodson later scored two goals in three minutes to make the score 10-8, yet with 3:13 left to play Cornell remained confident. “Our last four games have ended the same way,” DeBlois said. “I think we’ve just shown the kind of courage and tenacity that our team has shown throughout the year. It’s no coincidence that we bounced back after something so traumatic like that. When we get in those situations, I look around and there’s no panic. We’ve been there before.” Brown tallied a final goal with 12 seconds left to make the score 10-9, but Cornell smothered the ball, and any chances of Brown forcing overtime, as the clock wound down. “I think it was great that we put ourselves in a position to be able to still pull out a victory after that comeback they made,” Collins said. “They happen to be a very good team and good teams are going to go on runs like that. I thought that we handled ourselves well, and the defense was able to get a good stop and we pulled out a win.” While Cornell has secured the league’s NCAA tournament bid, it’s hopes for an outright Ivy League title rest with the Bears. Brown plays Princeton next weekend, and a Tiger loss would give Cornell it’s first outright Ivy championship in 17 years. The team will focus on preparing for Hobart on Friday. A win over the Statesmen would greatly improve the Red’s chances of hosting a first-round NCAA tournament game in two weeks. The team will then await the result of the Brown-Princeton matchup on Saturday and the identity of its eventual opponent in the first round of the national tournament. “The 2002 year gave this group an opportunity to be in the position to be successful. They never were in that game before, in that situation to understand how to prepare to be successful,” Tambroni said. “This team has had that great fortune. I think that might be a big part of why we won today, we’ve been there before and they dug in and got a stop when they needed it, and the rest is history.” Archived article by Matt JanigaSun Senior Editor