Princeton Upends Harvard at the Buzzer; Penn Wins

By | February 14, 2006

It’s past the halfway point in Ivy League basketball, and things are starting to fall into place. Penn remains unbeaten in the top spot after sweeping its road trip against Dartmouth and Harvard. Princeton also picked up two wins on the weekend and remains just a game behind Penn in second place. The Quakers and Tigers will square off tonight, in a pivotal game for the Ancient Eight. Meanwhile, things heated up within the middle of the pack as Yale and Cornell are now tied for third, with Harvard close behind.

Princeton 60, Harvard 59

For the second straight weekend, Harvard (12-9, 4-4 Ivy) lost a game at the buzzer, this time as Tigers’ Noah Savage hit a baseline jumper over the hands of the Crimson’s 7-0 center Brian Cusworth with just 0.2 seconds left on the clock to seal the 60-59 victory. Harvard was up by six with 1:17 to play, but two turnovers in the final minute set up Savage’s game-winner. Cusworth led the Crimson in scoring with 20 points, and Michael Beal was one rebound shy of a double-double with 11 points and nine boards. For Princeton (7-12, 5-1), Kyle Koncs had 20 points, 18 coming from behind the arc. Savage and Scott Greenman both had 10 points apiece for the Tigers.

Penn 70, Dartmouth 51

Dartmouth (3-18, 1-7) hung around for as long as it could with the Quakers (14-6, 6-0), trailing by only eight at the half, 31-23. But a second-half surge from Penn pushed the game out of reach for the Green. Penn benefited from 10 steals on the night, forcing 18 turnovers from Dartmouth while giving up an uncharacteristic 19 of its own. Penn’s Ibrahim Jaabber led all scorers with 21. David Whitehurst also had 15 points and Eric Osmundson added 11 for the Quakers. Mike Lang was the Green’s only scorer in double digits with 14 points.

Yale 74, Columbia 67

The Bulldogs (13-10, 5-3) have firmly marked their territory in John J. Lee Amphitheater, emerging from the weekend with wins in 15 of their last 16 home games. Victory No. 14 came against the Lions (8-13, 1-7) on Friday night, as Dominick Martin scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Yale to a 74-67 decision. The Bulldogs jumped out to a 14-0 lead, but Columbia fought its way back, pulling to within four points with 1:49 remaining. However, two turnovers from the Lions and six made free throws iced the win for Yale. Ben Nwachukwu led Columbia with 18 points, while John Baumann chipped in 17. The Bulldogs, which connected on a season-high 10 3-pointers, also got 14 points from Eric Flato and 13 tallies from Caleb Holmes.

Brown 86, Columbia 75

The Lions second league win looked to be within reach on Saturday night in Providence, R.I., but the Bears (7-14, 3-5) used an 18-4 run in the middle of the second half to pull away for an 86-75 win. Columbia connected on 59 percent of its field goals in the first stanza to take a 43-39 lead into the break, but the Bears came out roaring after the break and pulled ahead, 72-56, on a three-point play by Nathan Eads with 5:14 left on the clock. Eads finished with a career-high 12 points for Brown, while Keenan Jeppesen had a team-high 25 points. Baumann paced the Lions with career highs of 19 points and five assists, while Dragutin Kravic added 16 points in the losing effort.

Princeton 52, Dartmouth 49

Perhaps the down-to-the-wire win over Harvard the night before was a little too draining for Princeton, or maybe it was the freezing temperatures of Hanover, N.H., that iced the Tigers – either way, the second-place team in the Ancient Eight narrowly held on for a 52-49 win over the last-place Green on Saturday night. After holding a 10-point lead with 10 minutes left in the game, the Tigers endured a scoring drought for eight minutes before Justin Conway hit a jumper in the lane put Princeton ahead, 46-40. Free-throw shooting and a steal by Conway with one minute left and Dartmouth trailing by three ensure that the Tigers finished the weekend with a sweep. Scott Greenman and Luke Owings had 16 points apiece for Princeton, while the Green was paced by Michael Lang’s 13 points.

Penn 81, Harvard 68

Penn tightened its grip on first place and Harvard fell to .500 in the league after the Quakers held off a second-half surge by the Crimson in Cambridge, Mass., for an 81-68 win. The Crimson trailed by 18 points at halftime, but cut the Quakers’ lead to 11 points repeatedly in the early going of the second half. Jaaber and Mark Zoller led a Penn offense that had an answer for every Harvard run, however, and the Quakers led by as much as 21 points as the minutes ticked away. Harvard had one last shot left, mounting a 10-0 run that came to a halt with a turnover under the its own basket. Zoller led the Quakers with a career-high 26 points, while Jaaber added 23 points. Matt Stehle had an heroic effort for the Crimson in the losing cause, ending the night with career-highs of 28 points and seven steals to go with 15 rebounds.

Archived article by Olivia Dwyer
Sun Assistant Sports Editor

Green Wins Two, Settles Into Tie for Second Place

By February 15, 2006

While No. 6 Cornell (16-5-4, 11-4-3 ECACHL) was only able to get one point from its weekend in North County, it was fortunate because second-place No. 20 Colgate was unable to gain ground. But, the Red will surely watch out for Dartmouth, which earned a four-point weekend. The Green, which is tied for second place with the Raiders, travel to Lynah Rink on Friday to face Cornell.
Union 2, Brown 1
Jonathan Poirier scored the eventual game-winning goal at the 4:44 mark in the third period as the Dutchmen (15-11-6, 8-6-4) edged out the Bears (3-16-6, 2-12-4) at the Achilles Center. Union took the lead with a goal from Augie DiMarzo, but Brown’s Jeff Prough answered back a little over a minute later. Union goaltender Kris Mayotte made 25 saves in the win.
St. Lawrence 3, Colgate 2
The visiting Raiders (15-9-6, 11-5-2) were unable to get a shot off for 19 minutes in the third period, as Saint Mike Zbriger broke a 2-2 tie with a power-play goal in the frame to lift St. Lawrence (16-12-2, 10-7-1) to the win. St. Lawrence took 44 shots on goal compared to Colgate’s 12, and took the lead in the first when Kevin DeVergilio scored. Kyle Wilson and Liam Huculak then gave the Raiders a 2-1 lead before the Saints’ leading scorer T.J. Trevelyan knotted the game up. Raider goaltender Mark Dekanich made 41 saves in the loss.
Harvard 5, Princeton 4 OT
Princeton (9-15-1, 6-11-1) was unable to claim another top ECACHL scalp at Bright Hockey Center, as Jon Pelle scored an overtime game-winner at the 1:46 mark. Harvard (14-9-2, 10-7-1) had a 3-2 lead going into the third period before Seamus Young tied the game with a goal at the 5:12 mark. Over four minutes later, Harvard’s Kevin Du earned a hat trick off the power play, before Grant Goeckner-Zoeller put the teams even at four with a man-advantage tally of his own. Princeton’s Eric Leroux stopped 52 of Harvard’s 57 shots in the loss.
Dartmouth 5, Quinnipiac 4
The Green’s (13-10-2, 11-5-2) offensive prowess came to the forefront again on Friday, as it fought back from a 3-1 deficit to defeat Quinnipiac (15-15-0, 6-12-0) at Thompson Arena. Goals by Dan Shribman and Mike Ouellette helped tie the game in the third before Mark Van Vliet handed the Bobcats the lead again at the 8:35 mark. But, Tanner Glass knotted the game up just two minutes later before Nick Johnson scored the game-winner later in the period.
Rensselaer 2, Yale 1
A solid 28-save performance by Rensselaer goaltender Mathias Lange kept Yale (8-14-3, 6-10-2), one of the top offensive teams in the league, at bay on Friday. The Engineers (13-14-4, 7-7-4) got power-play goals in the first and second period from Matt Angers-Goulet before Yale’s Jeff Hristovski pulled one back for the visitors at the 17:31 mark in the third.
Rensselaer 4, Brown 2
The Engineers earned a four point weekend after defeating the Bears at the Houston Fieldhouse. Kevin Croxton and Jeff Prough exchanged power-play tallies in the first before Ryan Swanson put the Engineers up for good at the 14:30 mark. Andrew Lord scored Rensselaer’s third in the second period and despite the fact that Matt Vokes pulled the Bears to within one with a minute left in the game, an empty-netter from Kurt Colling sealed the result.
Colgate 1, Clarkson 1
Colgate netminder Mark Dekanich and Clarkson goaltender David Leggio both made 24 saves as the Raiders and Golden Knights played to a tie. Shawn Weller put Clarkson up on the power play in the first period, but Kyle Wilson was able to tie the game in the third. Colgate remains tied for second place in the ECACHL, one point behind Cornell.
Dartmouth 2, Princeton 1
Tanner Glass scored his second goal of the weekend, as the Green earned a four-point weekend after beating the Tigers. David Jones put the Green up in the first period at the 17:04 mark before Christian Read scored the Tigers’ first in the third period. With the pair of wins, Dartmouth is tied with Colgate in second place in the ECACHL.
Union 5, Yale 1
A three-goal spurt within the last two minutes of the first period lifted Union past the Bulldogs at the Achilles Center. Olivier Bouchard scored the first at the 18:23 mark before Brendan Milnamow and Scott Brady added tallies moments later. Yale was able to score one in the third period, but Bouchard completed his hat trick with a pair of goals later in the frame.
Harvard 5, Northeastern 0
Behind a 41 shot-on-goal performance, Harvard destroyed Northeastern (2-20-6, 2-13-6 Hockey East) in the consolation game of the Beanpot Tournament. Ryan Maki put the Crimson up in the first period before Steve Rolecek, Nick Coskren and Jon Pelle made it a four-goal lead going into the third period. Justin Tobe made 24 saves in the shutout win.
Archived article by Brian TsaoSun Assistant Sports Editor
Andeberhan Steps Down

By February 15, 2006

The Cornell Athletic Department announced on Feb. 13 that Gretchen Zigante will step into the position of interim head coach for the women’s soccer team until the end of next season. This announcement follows the resignation of former head coach Berhane Andeberhan on Jan. 5.
“We support Berhane’s resignation,” said Cornell Athletic Director Andy Noel. “I think it’s best for everybody involved. The decision came after lengthy discussion at many levels of the administration about the women’s soccer program, and I think this is best for everybody involved.”
Andeberhan leaves the Red after six years at the helm, during which he compiled a 34-52-11 record overall, including a 7-31-4 mark in Ivy League play during that span.
“It wasn’t voluntary,” Andeberhan said. “I’m very happy and very proud of my work at Cornell.”
Noel said the decision to accept Andeberhan’s resignation came following an annual review of the team’s performance and in-depth consideration of many facets of the program, including its ability to compete within the Ivy League and the quality of experience it was providing for student-athletes.
Zigante will take over the reins after four seasons as an assistant coach under Andeberhan, and she hopes to develop the team into an Ivy League challenger.
“I think we’re going to continue on the same course we’ve been heading. We’re looking to improve, especially in the Ivy League in terms of results,” Zigante said. “The challenge that our students have as athletes and Ivy League students is a great one, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be competitive and get results.”
Noel is confident in Zigante’s abilities to help the Red improve on its ability to challenge in the Ancient Eight.
“[Zigante] has a very positive attitude and a soccer resume that is impressive,” Noel said. “Beyond her playing excellence, in our discussions with her, she has a very strong, confident handle on our program.”
The first notable achievement on Zigante’s resume is the 1986 NCAA national championship, which she won with the storied North Carolina program as its starting goalkeeper. She was a member of the U.S. national team from 1986-90, where she first worked with Andeberhan, who was a coach for the national team.
“I think it’s a natural transition,” Zigante said. “Berhane is an excellent coach and an excellent mentor, so I’ll look to implement what I’ve learned from him.”
After her time with the national team, Zigante moved on to Japan, where she played two years of professional soccer for Shiroki FC in Toyokawashi.
Zigante began her coaching career stateside at Cal State University at San Bernadino, a Division II heavyweight that reached a No. 4 ranking in the nation during the 1995 season and produced four national scholars and two All-Americans. After the ’95 season, Zigante was named the California Collegiate Athletic Association Coach of the Year.
Zigante moved on to Division I soccer when she became an assistant coach at San Diego in 1998, a team she helped take to the NCAA tournament in 1998 and 1999, including a Sweet 16 berth in 1998. The Aztecs reached the top-10 in national polls that season, and won the first of two conference championships.
Zigante earned a bachelor of sciences degree in biological sciences at Idaho State in 1999, and also earned a United States Soccer Federation National “A” license the same year.
“[Zigante] has a clear path in mind for the current team and newcomers next fall,” Noel said. “We feel she’ll do an excellent job in transition.”
After the 2006 season, Noel said the Athletic Department will conduct a national search for a head coach for the Red. He said that Zigante will be considered as a candidate for the position on a permanent basis at that time.
Archived article by Olivia DwyerSun Assistant Sports Editor