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(04/25/97 9:00am)
The Quakers feel they can benefit from a fast-paced game, since the Elis don't have the depth to keep up. After being evicted from their home for the past week due to the Penn Relays, the Quakers men's lacrosse team will return to Franklin Field on Sunday to face Yale. A win for the Quakers (5-5, 2-2 Ivy League), who have spent the week outside on the grass fields, would guarantee them a .500 winning percentage in the Ivy League and in their overall record for the season. The Elis (3-8 , 1-4) are hopeful the carnival atmosphere doesn't continue into Sunday, because they will have a difficult time matching the Quakers' top offensive unit in an up-tempo game. If the contest starts to look like Michael Johnson should be competing, then Yale will watch its disappointing season continue and will strengthen its claim to the Ivy League cellar. "We can get into [a fast-paced game], but we don't have the depth," Yale coach Mike Waldvogel said. "Penn can do that. We are going to try and control the ball, because we just don't have the firepower. Their front guys are multi-talented." Penn coach Marc Van Arsdale would disagree with Waldvogel's assessment of the Elis' offense. Van Arsdale is watching out for Yale's senior offensive leader, Shawn O'Rourke, and a couple of midfielders who might come up into the Elis attacks. If he needs to, Van Arsdale said he will move an extra long-stick defensemen onto the turf to control the defensive side of play. Penn shouldn't need much help on the offensive end despite facing sophomore goalie Jamie Pilch, last year's Ivy Rookie of the Year. Paced by Ivy overall scoring leader and senior co-captain Jon Cusson, Penn's starting three attackmen are all among the top five in overall league scoring. "If you take good shots, they are going to go in," Cusson said. "I don't know that there has been a goalie that has made that much of a difference. If we execute they can't stop it." With only next Wednesday's game with Princeton left to follow Yale, the seniors are beginning to reflect on the close of their careers. Van Arsdale is pleased with the effort he has received all year from his handful of seniors, expects that their level of play will only increase now that the end is in sight. "I've been playing for so long, sometimes I wish I had another year," Cusson said. "I feel I could be so much better. It is a little hard to deal with." On the opposite side of the age spectrum, freshman Pete Janney still has two games left to make his bid for Ivy Rookie of the Year. Already named Rookie of the Week twice this season, Janney is in close competition with a small number of others, most notably Cornell goalie Rich Yost. "The best way for him to win the award is for us to play well," Van Arsdale said. "We won't go out of our way to get him extra looks. Efforts like that are superficial." While it will take more than a superficial effort to beat Yale, this is a game which Penn should have in control from the outset. Yale is coming off a win at Delaware on Wednesday, but Waldvogel admits that with the academic pressure of ensuing finals, his guys haven't been sleeping much and are tired from mid-week games. "This weekend we are the more talented team, but that doesn't guarantee a victory," Quakers attackman John Ward said. Ward's cliche is right, but in all likelihood Penn will get to do its own relay victory lap by the end of Sunday afternoon.
(04/24/97 9:00am)
What's the point of holding a track meet if the meet's greatest athlete is crowned before the competition begins? The crowds may not begin filling the Franklin Field stands until this weekend, but the Penn Relays decathlon and the traditional title of greatest all-around athlete was awarded in the light rain yesterday afternoon. In an odd juxtaposition of events, the various maintenance crews waited until after the first event was finished to begin making last-minute preparations for this weekend's Relay Carnival. "I would love to compete in front of everybody," Penn decathlete Eric Hyde said. "It's a little frustrating, but I like to get it out of the way and then I can just check everything out." There weren't 30,000 people in the stands -- in fact, there may not have even been 30 -- to cheer on the athletes, but that didn't stop nine men from spending 10 hours over the course of two days contesting the title eventually won by Penn State's James Cook. Cook piled up 7,458 points on the way to his second consecutive Penn Relay decathlon title. The No. 1 seed, Cook was second after the first five events on Tuesday, but stormed back yesterday with wins in the discuss and javelin events. Cook's lead was large enough after nine events to withstand second-place Phil McMullen's superb time of four minutes, 15 seconds in the 1,500, which gave him 842 points and nearly drew him even with Cook. McMullen, out of Western Michigan, finished with 7,414 points, and Greg Johnston from Dartmouth finished third with 7,160. Penn's entrant, Hyde, finished sixth with 6,717 points. Dissatisfied with his second-day events, Hyde managed to hold onto his sixth-place standing after the first day. "Yesterday was all right, but today was pretty much horrible," he said. "I started off real bad in the hurdles, and, from there until the pole vault, it was really bad." · It's a Carnival! No, it's a track meet! Carnival! Track meet! This is the tug on Penn's athletes this weekend. The excitement of the crowds, events, TV cameras and festival atmosphere will make it difficult for the Quakers to focus. There is a temptation to enjoy the activity too much and lose concentration, especially for athletes who have to wait until Saturday to compete. Another confusing aspect of the weekend is its relative proximity to the Heptagonal Championships, which are just two weeks away. While many of the schools look at the Penn Relays as their most important meet, Penn has to keep one eye on its looming league championship meet. "For our kids, it is a chance to show that we are a national-caliber team and can go out and knock heads with the big shots," Quakers men's track coach Charlie Powell said. "You have the Heptagonals coming up in a couple of weeks and the the Easterns, so you have to look at those as being the ending. But the excitement and the enthusiasm that goes on around campus? you can't take that away." Picking the Quakers out of the crowds on the track will be difficult with nearly 300 colleges competing, but there are definitely a few events to note. Dan Nord will throw himself in the mix in the jumping events. But it is called Penn Relays, not Penn Leaps or Penn Jumps, so the relay squads will receive the marquee attention. The 4x400 team has already qualified for the Heptagonal championships, and Powell expects to field a strong group for the crowd favorite 4x100 as well. "We are putting together four to five really good relays," Powell said. · Perhaps the most tired man at the end of the weekend will be Powell, who not only has to coach his team, but also has to serve as the host coach for the week. To get through it, he will rely on his veterans to serve as shepherds for the younger guys and to make sure everyone makes it to his race on time and keeps focused during what is always a chaotic and draining weekend. "My guys will tell you right before Relays I'm totally stressed out because I'm what they call the fireman," Powell said. "There are a million things that we think are done, but maybe aren't completely done and my job in the last couple days is to make sure all the little parts have people to do them. But as soon as Thursday starts rolling around, I put all my attention on my team and what goes on inside the track." · The rain didn't keep the teams that arrived yesterday from getting in final workouts. Cincinnati, Texas Christian, Long Island and Florida State had all made appearances on the track by early evening, as had some high school teams. By this morning, over 1,000 high schools and colleges will have descended on University City. · The most exciting competition of the weekend may actually take place on the Lott Tennis Courts, where Nike has set up its own track meet for kids. The standout of the layout, however, is a monstrous silver-polished 18-wheeler with a single black Nike swoosh painted on its side. The truck was being continually cleaned and polished as small green leaves knocked out of nearby branches by the rain pelted the side of the truck. · Mary Decker Slaney, known to most 18-to-24 year olds as the runner who fell down and cried during the 3,000 meters at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, has announced she will be here on Saturday to run in the women's open mile. The event, which will be featured during CBS's broadcast from 2 -4 pm on Saturday, should feature one of the meet's toughest and most internationally recognizable fields. Also included is Juli Henner, the U.S. Olympic Trials winner in the 1,500 and Sonia O'Sullivan, who was selected as Women's Track Athlete of the Year in 1995 by Track and Field News.f
(04/21/97 9:00am)
The Penn men's lacrosse team was overwhelmed by Syracuse and its 7,300 fans. The Penn men's lacrosse team has made great strides towards rebuilding itself this year, but Syracuse provided a harsh lesson on Saturday, as the Quakers learned that they aren't ready to do battle with the nation's elite. In front of an astonishing 7,339 people at the Carrier Dome, the Orangemen (8-2) used their dominating offense to down the Quakers, 19-10. The loss dropped the Red and Blue (5-5) back to the .500 mark with two games remaining on the schedule. The result was to be expected when facing a Syracuse team which boasts a frequently used chat group on its official World Wide Web page, but the Orangemen left no doubt of their elite status after dominating most every aspect of the game. Paced by Casey Powell's five goals, the Orangemen pummeled Quakers goalie Matt Schroeder with 72 shots. The nation's leading scorer, Powell had shoved home three scores less than 11 minutes into the game to put the Orangemen up 5-2. Quakers coach Marc Van Arsdale said that Powell, who notched his 100th career goal on Saturday, is playing at a level above everyone else and is likely the best player in the country right now. To compound Penn's troubles, Powell is joined by linemates who are also among the nations best, creating an offensive unit for the Orangemen that provides non-stop offense. Penn hoped to slow down the tempo, but Syracuse's potent front line refused to be controlled on its home turf. Penn's best slow down tactic was forcing the referee to stop play with his whistle and penalty flag. Eight penalties gave Penn chances to catch its breath, but it also led to four Syracuse extra-man-advantage goals. Akin to the Alamo, Penn never gave up and went to its death shooting the whole way. John Ward played Davy Crockett, recording a hat trick while spending the 60 minutes being hacked by Syracuse's defense. Before the ammunition ran out, Penn had taken 45 shots of its own, but the Carrier Dome crowd would settle for nothing less than a carnivorous finish. "John Ward was the guy who I think was reflective of the heart that we played with all day," Van Arsdale said. "John was getting beat all over the place, but he continued to fight and kept coming hard to the goal. He gave us a lift and never dropped his head over the course of the entire game trying to keep other people up. That is the kind of thing that you would want from a leader and one of your better players." Syracuse left its starting unit out on the field the whole way thanks to their distrust of the voters of the national lacrosse poll. After last week's 19-7 thrashing of Rutgers, Syracuse dropped from No. 5 to No. 6 in the polls, leaving the Orangemen feeling that they needed to pour it on the Quakers to make a bid for a top-four spot. As they prepare for their run at a 15th straight Final Four appearance, Syracuse desperately wants a top-four seeding and a first-round bye. "I'm really torn when I have 25 kids behind me and I turn around and they have that woeful look and those big eyes saying, 'Now, coach?' And I say to myself, they work hard and they deserve a chance, and I owe it to them," Syracuse coach Roy Simmons told the Herald American of Syracuse. "But then, they don't have the experience. I'll clean the bench and because of a lack of defensive experience suddenly I'll regret it because the USILA looks at it and says, 'Syracuse had a tough time with Penn'." Despite the lopsided loss, Van Arsdale was still mostly pleased with his guys' performance. Citing the ability to hang around and make a couple runs after being down 4-1 in the early going, and again in the final two minutes before halftime, Van Arsdale called the event "a positive experience." Penn tried to stem the flow of Syracuse goals, but every time the Quakers cut the lead, Syracuse struck back with another longer run of its own.
(04/16/97 9:00am)
The class of 2000 is filling the void left by the class of 1995, but the expectations of matching its feats can be a burden. In the early fall of 1991, a bunch of confident and talented freshmen walked out onto Franklin Field and beat the returning varsity players in an intra-varsity women's field hockey scrimmage. Those freshmen then led a march to the worst season in Penn's field hockey history. They proved that the rebuilding year was worth it, however, by rebounding from a fifth-place finish and capturing Ivy League titles the next two years. "We didn't feel comfortable as freshmen, because I don't think the upperclassmen were as devoted as we were," then-senior Amy Pine told The Daily Pennsylvanian in 1994. There are no reports of freshmen beating upperclassmen in scrimmages this year, but that does not lessen the tremendous influence the freshmen have had on their teams. And it is that influence which makes the future filled with raised expectations for Penn's athletic teams. Mediocrity was expected and acceptable from many of this year's teams, but that will not be the case in upcoming years. Teams that are on the upswing will be predicted to move to the elite ranks, and those that finished near the bottom are expected to snap out of rebuilding processes. The result of an athlete's early success would seem to be a mixed blessing, because while experience gained and starting spots earned are lasting benefits, success also destroys the patience that should be accorded to athletes making the adjustment to college. "People call college the next level of play, but it is way beyond that," Quakers men's soccer coach George O'Neill said. "It is a high-level conference of play. This year the Ivy Group was the second-toughest conference. Once you get through the freshmen year, you look back and say, 'How did I get through this?' The expectations are going to be raised." "It is a long process. Success is a journey," Penn men's cross country and track coach Charlie Powell said. "You have got to look long term because college is so different from high school in terms of the length of races." The pressure to perform in the future is fueled not only by the class of 2000's success, but also by Quakers from the past. Each subsequent class is silently asked to match the titles compiled by the freshmen who entered in 1991. Their newly minted ghosts hang around the gyms and fields next to the banners that bear their title years. There are few ghosts bigger than that of five-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week winner Jerome Allen and fellow freshmen starter LaShawn Trice, who were the dynamite freshmen in 1991-92. Their first season, like that of 1997, saw mixed results but flashes of brilliance as they paced themselves to second in the Ivies. By the time they were seniors, three classmates had joined them in the starting lineup, and Penn was winning its way towards an undefeated Ivy season and a third straight Ivy title. Asked to carry on Penn's basketball dominance in the '90s, Geoff Owens and Michael Jordan say that expectations they have for themselves dwarf those that anyone else has for them. "I think one of the keys is consistency, as we move from freshmen year to sophomore year and past that," Owens said. "I think we've all shown in one game or more what we can do. In a couple games I played real well and in the next game went out and played like crap." "I think you have to play to your own expectations," Jordan said. Expectations have been raised, but to hear the men and women of the class of 2000 tell it, they either: A) long ago set their own measuring stick, or B) don't really care what people outside of their teammates expect them to accomplish. It is tempting to make conjecture about the possible accomplishments that lie ahead of these dynamic freshmen, but maybe it is best left to the athletes themselves. Most are reserved when asked and say that they only hope to keep improving, but give credit to men's soccer which openly thinks it is Ivy League title material next year after winning five of six to close out this fall's season. The athletes swear that internal drive to succeed is all they need, but if self-doubt ever creeps in, there are a bunch of pre-frosh who will be more than happy to become the Savior of the Week starting next fall. Women's soccer coach Patrick Baker reports that 142 girls applied to Penn hoping to make the women's soccer cut next fall. "If there are freshmen that come along that are better than me that's fine, because it will help the team," softball player Suzanne Arbogast said. "It may happen, but there is great room from improvement when you get to college because of weightlifting and conditioning programs. It is more difficult to perform well in college than in high school." Will these freshmen be carrying the brunt of the athletic burden for the rest of the decade? It has been argued that Ivy League recruiting is cyclical, with players choosing between academically equivalent schools based on the potential to fill a void and earn a starting role. The 1991 freshmen made their mark, left in 1995 and made room for rebuilding time that led to the landing of a bumper crop of talent in the class of 2000. There will be future talents, but what cross-country runner is honestly going to come to a school which has enough quality freshmen to fill a varsity team? Rarely is the success of a team dependent on a single person or a single class, but as older classes graduate, the current freshmen will need to prove themselves capable leaders and mentors for Penn athletics to flourish. Using recent history as guide, there is no definitive pattern that describes the eventual career of standout freshmen or the teams they play for. Whatever the result, they provided a wide-ranging grouping of interesting successes and stories this year that sparked interest in an otherwise monotonous year of mediocrity for Penn sports.
(04/15/97 9:00am)
First in a series First in a seriesThis year's freshmen have had a greater impact on Penn athletics than any in recent memory. Sarah Dominic is partially right. The freshman softball player commented that upperclassmen contribute a lot more to her team than the freshmen, but the freshmen get more of the attention because they are new. Dominic is only partially correct because the freshmen are not just new, they are also talented and abundant. Eight freshmen make up the 18-person softball roster, and many of them hold starting roles. One of the overriding themes of varsity athletics at Penn this year is the pervasiveness of freshmen standouts. The rookie softball players are making headlines now and there were nothing but diaper dandies covering the basketball media guides. But that just hits the proverbial tip of the iceberg. From the moment University President Judith Rodin mentioned that one of the freshmen had been a junior world luge champion at Convocation, freshmen began rampaging through Penn sports. Before the frisbees had stopped raining down from the balconies of Irvine Hall, Mike O'Connor was already working his way towards Ivy League Rookie of the Year honors as the starting goalkeeper for the men's soccer team. What made the men's soccer team such a surprising success this year -- challenging for the Ivy title after years of marginal performances -- was not just O'Connor's 1.36 goals against average, but also the contribution made by nine of his classmates, five of whom started each game on the field with him. "It was great to see five or six starting every game," O'Connor said. "We had 10 solid freshmen, so I think our class is pretty special. This could have been a successful senior season. This is really great to achieve this and still have three years left." O'Connor's story is hardly unique, which -- with apologies to the men and women who arrived in 1991 -- is what makes the class of 2000 the most impressive entering class of the decade. For every Jerome Allen and Shelly Bowers that sparkled six years ago, there is a Michael Jordan and a Chelsea Hathaway that has shone as brightly this year. In some cases, the freshmen who earned starting spots in 1991 might not have made the team this fall. When Patrick Baker started his first recruiting year as coach of Penn's women's soccer team, he wasn't able to pull in recruits because of the home field disadvantage of playing on Franklin Field's artificial turf. "We were behind the eight ball everywhere," Baker said. "We were the last Ivy to have women's soccer and the last to have a full-time coach. Now we try to take care of people. People have left the program because of talent. We cut two-year starters. They wouldn't have been recruited now. For us to have landed the players we have landed is great." Women's soccer's brief history makes it new to the world of high powered recruits, but it doesn't lessen the pressure that Baker's rookies or any of the other fresh faces were shouldered with when they arrived on campus. Some had the opportunity to quietly earn starting jobs, but it is hard to hide when you are in an individual event or your name is Michael Jordan. "I expect a lot out of myself, and I expect to get better," said Jordan, who started most of the Penn men's basketball games at point guard en route to the Ivy League Rookie of the Year award. "If I don't have a good year next year, then I'll be upset myself. You can't come out and have a great game one night and be horrible the next night. People expect you to play well. That is why you are here." While Jordan, Matt Langel and Geoff Owens were trying to maintain the Quakers consecutive title streak, Kyle Goldbacher was standing alone at the diving board, alternating between hero and goat for the men's swimming team. With just one other diver on the team, Goldbacher was asked to pull out wins for a senior-laden swimming contingent. "Definitely my mistakes were magnified," Goldbacher said. "They expected a lot out of me. When we won by a little they gave me all the glory, and when we lost it was because I didn't contribute. I knew I had to come through for them." Not every freshman was asked to be the hero, but their on-field talent left crowds' eyes firmly pointed in their direction. The year's only significant controversies both involved freshmen -- Brian Russell becoming the football team's quarterback and Jordan stealing hoops captain Jamie Lyren's starting role. In both cases, a freshman began holding down positions ahead of seniors in their respective sports. There was a time when freshmen were not allowed to compete in varsity athletics -- for football it lasted until 1993 -- but there isn't a lot of interest in returning to those times. It seems silly to think that Penn fencer Cliff Bayer wouldn't have been eligible to win his NCAA championship until next year. As long as freshmen can compete, coaches will use recruiting to overcome limited offseason practice time in their efforts to continue previous seasons' triumphs or provide hope after poor performances. "For the percentage of kids who are good enough to be varsity football players as freshmen, it has been very helpful in allowing the kid to have four years of eligibility as opposed to three," Quakers football coach Al Bagnoli said. "It has provided a lot more instantaneous depth than we have had." The breadth and magnitude of the start to the careers of the class of 2000 does not belong to the athletes alone. Each player has earned his or her starting role, but the numbers of teams experiencing the phenomenon simultaneously is the doing of the coaches. Going after players that they think can provide immediate help to fill areas of the team has helped teams amass a possibly unprecedented level of instant contributors. There is little reason to wonder why revamped programs like women's soccer love having the Callaghan twins around, and established programs like football go after athletes who can provide an instant spark. "I think you try to get the very best players you can and hopefully a percentage of them can contribute right away," Bagnoli said. Even programs such as wrestling which rarely feature freshmen in important competitions look for athletes who can fill needs. "We are looking for impact athletes where we have a weight need, but drive and desire to achieve is more important," said Penn wrestling coach Roger Reina. The freshmen who have shone this year have provided interest in what has been a blasZ year in Penn athletics. The attention that has been showered down on them has been earned. Maybe it was an opportunity given by the departure of past champions, many of whom were part of another exceptional freshmen class -- the class of 1995. Watching Pete Janney slam home goals on an otherwise all upperclass starting offense for men's lacrosse makes one realize that the freshmen are not the recipients of a gift, rather they are making headlines for themselves through the gift of their athletic talents.
(04/11/97 9:00am)
The Quakers have not won three consecutive Ivy games in the 1990s, but have a chance to do so at Brown. A few weeks ago, tomorrow's men's lacrosse matchup between Penn and Brown had the appearance of a David versus Goliath showdown, but after two Ivy League wins by the Quakers and two loses by the Bears, the game has become key in the Ivy League title chase. Penn (5-3, 2-1 Ivy League) arrives at Providence, R.I., feeling confident this will not be the Bears' opportunity to heal their wounds. Third in the league, a win for the Quakers will not only count for pride but will keep them in the hunt for a top-two finish. "This is game where if we take this game, we are setting ourselves up for a shot at the Ivy title," Penn midfielder Pete McGill said. "We feel we can win every game we go into." The Bears are looking for consistency that has eluded them so far. True to their mascot, they have alternated between hibernation and ferocious dominance as the winter has intermixed with spring. Early in the season, Brown beat Syracuse, ranked No. 2 nationally at the time, 20-12, and also turned away No. 4 Duke. The strong non-conference wins, however, don't count in league standings where Brown finds itself at the bottom after a loss to Princeton on Saturday and a 7-6 defeat Wednesday night by Harvard. Quakers coach Marc Van Arsdale recognizes, however, that a win for his squad would still be an upset, even if it no longer would be one of biblical proportions. "They are clearly one of the more talented teams in the league," Van Arsdale said. "I know they are disappointed after the Harvard game. They will have a certain fire in them to get a chance to get on the Ivy win side. I think it is important for us to dictate the pace of the game. We are looking to have a controlled running style." A third loss by the Bears would suit the Quakers just fine. No Penn team this decade has won three straight Ivy games, and the last time Penn beat Brown was in 1988, the year the Quakers reached the Final Four. Before laying the supernatural number fetish to rest, it should be also pointed out that three is the number of Quakers senior co-captain Jon Cusson, whose ball distribution talents will be key in their possession offense, and that freshman Pete Janney will be shooting for Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors for the third straight week. If the Quakers have their way, it'll be a mix of speed and patience on offense tomorrow. In last week's game against Dartmouth, the Quakers ran out to a 10-4 halftime lead by capitalizing on an up and down style of play. On the flip side, Van Arsdale also said he hopes to watch his guys use control in their passing when transition opportunities don't present themselves. "On offense, the ball has been moving around freely, and we've dealt with what's been thrown at us the last couple of games," Penn co-captain John Ward said. "If we get fast breaks we are definitely going to take the breaks, but we do want to control the ball because we match up pretty good with them offensively. "We still haven't beaten a nationally ranked opponent, but we feel real confident that we can play with these guys." For fans looking to pick apart every intricacy of the game, it should be noted that Brown not only has home field advantage but it also has a field -- as in natural grass. Yes, Brown's Stevenson Field, unlike Penn's Franklin Field, sports the genuine live grass that is popular among people looking for fields to frolic in. In lacrosse, however, frolicking doesn't count for much and neither will the shift from turf to grass. The Quakers have practiced on grass all week, and as Van Arsdale pointed out, all of his players spent their whole careers on grass before coming to Penn. "It a little different on your legs with the grass," Ward said. "It's a little softer and you've got to get used to your spikes digging in, but we've been on grass all week." The long bus ride home tomorrow night will be a lot more enjoyable for the Quakers if they are in possession of a 3-1 league record and a solid hold on third place in the league. A loss won't diminish Penn's accomplishments for the season, but before they can be counted among the elite teams, Penn will have to prove it can beat higher caliber teams than they have done thus far.
(03/31/97 10:00am)
After defeating Cornell on March 30, 1994, the Penn men's lacrosse went on a three-year, 17 game conference winless streak, which ended on March 29, 1997 with an 11-7 win over the Big Red in Ithaca, N.Y. The resurrection of the men's lacrosse program has begun. On Saturday, the Quakers ended a span of 17 straight Ivy losses and won their first league game in three years with an 11-7 victory over Cornell. The Quakers (4-3, 1-1 Ivy League) used a dominating first half effort to throw the Big Red (2-5, 1-1) out of its traditionally slow-paced offensive rhythm. Forced to play catch-up, Cornell fell further behind, as the Quakers pounded out eight straight goals to amass a lead that no fateful losing streak could stop. "It was important for us to come out fired up," Penn co-captain John Ward said. "We really jumped all over them. It felt good. There was relief and excitement after the final horn had sounded." Leading 2-1, Penn scored a staggering six times within five minutes to break the game open. After the Quakers scored two of the six in the final minutes of the first quarter, Quakers freshman Peter Janney took control of the start of the second quarter by scoring three goals within one minute, 49 seconds. Pete scored another goal 30 seconds later, but this time it was Quaker Pete McGill who found the back of the net to give Penn an 8-1 lead. "We had a burst of energy and wanted to put the game out of reach," Janney said. "The other guys found me and I got the looks. I don't think they expected us to come out so fired up." After watching the barrage of Quaker goals, 29-year Cornell coach Richie Moran decided that his starting goalie, Rich Yost, had served as a wicket long enough and replaced him with Greg Zorella who helped settle his team and recorded a respectable 15 saves over the final 43 minutes. Up 8-1 at halftime, Penn reminded themselves to stay in control and not give Cornell an opportunity to get back into the game. Last year, the Quakers squandered a 7-1 halftime lead against Cornell en route to a 12-11 overtime loss. "That we were up 7-1 last year was in the back of everyone's minds," John Ward said. "We didn't want to change what we had been doing because we were getting goals out of the normal flow of our offense." The team that decided to change its approach in the start of the second half was Cornell which decided that they were tired of being scored on at even strength and chose to give the Quakers goals off of extra man opportunities. A Big Red holding penalty at 4:35 of the third and a slash at 8:45 led to two Jeff Zuckerman goals and a 10-1 Quakers lead. Cornell did make its expected comeback in the third quarter, but their run of four goals only served as a band-aid on what had become a fatal flesh wound. Ward picked up his second goal of the game for the Quakers 3:32 into the fourth to end Cornell's fantasy of a comeback. Two more Big Red goals in the final minute improved its final statistics, but not its win-loss record. The victory doesn't clinch an NCAA tournament berth or vault Penn into the national rankings, but it is a big step mentally for the team as they head into their remaining four Ivy contests. "The win was something we needed," Ward said. "There have been games where we've been the better team and haven't shown it on the field. We are ready to go again next weekend." The significance of the win wasn't lost on Quakers coach Marc Van Arsdale, but he would rather count it as a single game rather than the culmination of a crusade. The first year coach's commitment is to the present season and his current players and not to rectify the struggles of years past. "It's a special one for the seniors to go up to a place like that with their tradition in lacrosse and get one on the road. I haven't really made any big deal about this streak that's been going on. This is one group and one season and we are 1-1 in the league now." Senior co-captain Jon Cusson led the Quakers with two goals and four assists. Ward credited Cusson with being the catalyst in their second quarter spurt, saying that the Cornell defense could not handle his ability to distribute the ball around the offense. Matt Schroeder, who has established himself as the Quakers number one goalie after sharing time with Shane Lavery to start the season, recorded 23 saves in goal for Penn including 10 in the third quarter. Next week is another league game against Dartmouth with the result counting the same as the Cornell game, but for first time in a while no player will enter the game with questions about the past and the weight of a losing streak tying them down. Given up for dead, men's lacrosse has been reborn.
(03/28/97 10:00am)
When the Penn men's lacrosse team steps onto Schoellkopf Field to face Cornell tomorrow, it will be exactly three years since its previous Ivy League win. Come tomorrow at 1 p.m. however, the Quakers think a new streak will have begun -- an Ivy win streak. The streak. It has become a tiresome albatross for the Quakers who have seen the word plastered across headlines in many a paper since March 30, 1994. This weekend, however, there are too many ironies present not to continue to flog the phrase at least one more time. The last Ivy win for Penn came against Cornell in a two-overtime marathon that ended with a 10-9 Quakers win. Since then, the Quakers have reeled off 17 straight Ivy losses, including two heartbreakers to Cornell. Two years ago, Penn faded in the final minute to lose 18-17, and last year the Big Red pulled out a 12-11 triumph in overtime. The Quakers (3-3, 0-1 Ivy League), hope to play a more complete game than they did during their victory over Lafayette on Wednesday, when they used a dominant second quarter to overcome sluggish and sloppy play. In the Big Red (2-4, 1-0), the Quakers find a team that struggled in the early stages of the new season but has won twice in the last week, including an 8-3 victory over Yale. "I think the turnabout is because we are playing much better as a team," said Cornell coach Richie Moran. "We have a lot of new personnel and we just weren't clicking, but over spring break we had some excellent workouts." The two programs are both coming off of unsuccessful seasons from a year ago and need a victory to gain credibility in the league. Neither school has experienced a winning league season in the 1990s after having built strong teams through much of the previous decade, and both schools expect to end their plunge into Ivy obscurity. Both teams enter the game in similar situations, but the men running the show are markedly different. Penn has changed coaches twice in the last four years looking for new guidance, but Cornell has stuck with Moran through the tough times. Quakers coach Marc Van Arsdale will see his first Penn-Cornell clash from the sidelines, while at the same time Moran will be standing a few yards away leading his team against Penn for the 29th time. Having brought three national titles to Cornell in the 1970s, Moran has been a member of the Lacrosse Hall of Fame since 1983. The Penn-Cornell rivalry will begin the Van Arsdale chapter tomorrow, and the Quakers certainly hope that it has a successful opening chapter, but the new coach doesn't see this game as a way to exorcise the demons of the past. Instead it is a chance for his team to show a renewed confidence level and a new expectation for success. "We go in expecting to win; it is the approach we need to take," Van Arsdale said. "We have to expect to win in order for it to happen. It is time for us to realize what we need to do." "It will mark that we are standing up to a solid team and beating them. It is important that this 1997 team will have stepped up to a challenge," he added. Moran, too, agrees that he isn't worrying about streaks when preparing for tomorrow. Nevertheless, he expects the contest to flesh out the same way as the other 28 contests against Penn. "Cornell-Penn is always a tremendous game," Moran said. "No matter what our records are, it has always been a very strongly contested game. They will come ready to play, and we will definitely be ready to play."
(03/27/97 10:00am)
Penn coach Marc Van Arsdale did not see his squad's best in the 13-8 victory over Lafayette. After witnessing the Penn men's lacrosse team's 13-8 win over Lafayette, one coach left Franklin Field Tuesday night pleased with his team's performance while the other left questioning his team's focus. Strangely enough, however, it was victorious Quakers coach Marc Van Arsdale who strolled off the turf unimpressed and unenthusiastic about his team's play. "We didn't have enough fight in us tonight, and it was all-around a pretty sorry performance other than a couple minutes," Van Arsdale said. The numerous fans who left at halftime had certainly been impressed enough after watching Penn rattle off nine straight goals in the final 18 minutes of the half to take an insurmountable 10-3 advantage. Those who did stick around through the cold night were treated to a lazy and sloppy third quarter from the Quakers who seemed content to hang on to their lead rather than extending it. Only after the Leopards had run off four straight did Penn right itself and score three more times to seal its win. "We're not a bad lacrosse team, and we wanted to demonstrate that tonight and I think we did," Leopards' coach Bill Lawson said. "We had that lapse in the second period when it got away from us, and those things happen. We got back into it and I thought we did a nice job. I'm very happy." The game started much the way the second half did, with Lafayette more emotional on the sidelines and more in control of the action on the field. Turnovers and a holding penalty on Quaker Brian Dobson allowed Lafayette to jump out to a surprising 3-1 lead 12 minutes into the action. Jon Cusson almost single handedly held the Quakers close by scoring the first two goals and adding an assist on the third goal. But on a night when Cusson picked up another five points to add to his team-leading total even his play was considered of mixed quality by Van Arsdale. "Every single time we picked the ball up we'd throw it away or else we would miss it before we picked it up," Van Arsdale said. "It was incredibly sloppy to start with. Lafayette was flying all over the field putting pressure on us and I don't know what our problem was. We rectified a little bit for the second quarter, but in the second half we reverted." "Jon played hard tonight, but even in the first couple minutes of the game we had two four-on-three fast breaks and he just dropped the ball at the point where we have opportunities to score, and he's too good a player for that to happen." Penn grabbed a lead it would never relinquish by scoring three goals in the final two minutes and 36 seconds of the first quarter to take a 4-3 advantage. It was all Quakers in the second quarter as they piled on six more goals to quiet the once-enthusiastic Leopards sideline. The Quakers defense also cleaned up its first-quarter turnover troubles and forced Lafayette turnovers which led directly to quick transition goals. "The big turnaround for us was that we started playing more from the waist down," Van Arsdale said. "And I also thought the defensive group we put in in the second quarter shored things up." The second quarter spurt gave Penn a lead that was never in doubt, but the team was more concerned with its first and third quarter sluggishness than its 15 minutes of excellence. "Sometimes we don't come out ready to play, and I think that happened tonight," Cusson said. "We were lucky that we could get it together and bounce back. We played hard and we played well in spurts, but I don't think the level of concentration was there for the whole game." Freshman Peter Janney, who led the home team with four goals, continues to be a big boost to the Quakers offense. John Ward picked up three scores, including one with 10:09 left in the game which stopped Lafayette's string of four unanswered and ended the Leopards' hope for a miraculous comeback.
(03/25/97 10:00am)
The senior attackman is one of two four-year lacrosse players. One would have to figure that having more coaches -- three -- than Ivy victories -- one -- during his Penn career would be a frustrating experience for senior captain Jon Cusson. Although admitting there have been some tough times, Cusson maintains a positive attitude on the field as he leads the Penn men's lacrosse team in pursuit of respect for a program that has fallen a step behind its Ivy counterparts in recent years. The ratio of coaches to wins is not the only burdensome set of numbers for Cusson. He and senior Ed Hanover are the only two four-year players on the Quakers roster. Contrasted with the number of Penn freshmen, 12, Cusson has a heavy responsibility for leading the improvement of a youth-filled squad. "Jon comes out and practices hard each day," Quakers coach Marc Van Arsdale said. "He isn't overly boisterous, but he demonstrates that 'I'm going to do the drill and I'm going to do it right.' It is what you want to see out of an older guy." Cusson and the Quakers (2-3, 0-1 Ivy League) meet Lafayette tonight at 7 p.m. Franklin Field Cusson is more than a practice player, however, as he currently leads both the team and the Ivy League in scoring with 25 points. Those points give him 126 for his career, vaulting him to fifth on Penn's all-time scoring list. If he continues to score at his present pace, he could catch fourth-place Billy Morril, who accumulated 164 points from 1982-85. Cusson said that he doesn't focus on numbers and assumes they will come if he keeps improving his play. "I want to be the best player I can be at any time, and I think there are games where I haven't played the best," Cusson said. "So my personal goals are just every time I go out there to get better. Anything else will come from that. At the same time, everyone looks at the stat sheet, so that would be a factor, but those things pretty much take care of themselves." Things didn't take care of themselves in Cusson's freshman season when he struggled and clashed with then-coach G.W. Mix. Expected to perform right away for a team that did not post a winning record during any of Mix's years in charge, Cusson said his performance didn't meet the hopes of Mix or himself. "Although I got along very well with G.W. on a personal level, sometimes on the field there would definitely be clashes," Cusson said. "He wanted me to play right away and I wasn't living up to his expectations or my expectations. It was just kind of difficult." While many players on the team went through the coaching change this past summer from Terry Corcoran to Van Arsdale, Cusson also had to experience the transfer from Mix to Corcoran. Cusson saw the change as not only a good personal opportunity, but also credits Corcoran with changing the negative attitudes which pervaded the team under the final year of Mix's tenure. "Corcoran was a really great guy. He'd get so enthusiastic," Cusson said. "The team went through a lot of changes. When I was a freshman, the older guys had an attitude of as soon as something goes wrong rather than trying to persevere, it was easier to just give up. It's easy to do in light of the way the program has gone." Cleansing the program of that attitude did not produce victories, however, as Corcoran posted a cumulative record of 10-18, including 0-12 in the Ivy League. Lasting a scant two seasons, he was replaced last summer with current coach Marc Van Arsdale, who has added confidence to the locker room and tough opponents to the schedule in an attempt to boost Penn's image. While youth pervades on the Quakers' sideline, Cusson is out to make sure that his senior season is not thrown away to the gods of rebuilding. Van Arsdale concurred, saying that he made sure that Cusson knew that the seniors would not be overlooked in the new direction of the program. "I really wanted to touch base with some of the key guys [before the season]," Van Arsdale said. "I told them the time for us was now." Cusson is optimistic about the changes under his third coach in four years. "You want to work for him and you want to play for him hard. He makes you feel very much at ease which I think is a good situation. "The consensus (among the veterans) was that this is Penn lacrosse 1997. It doesn't matter what has happened in the past years. It's a new team, a new year. Looking back is not going to get us any further. Why should we dwell on that when we have a chance to progress in the future?" Cusson may not ever taste victory over an Ivy opponent the way he did in the early stages of his freshman year, but his leadership by example on the field will likely help create victories for the young and improving team in future seasons.
(03/07/97 10:00am)
A game with national runner-up Virginia highlights three spring break contests for Penn. While the rest of the student body flees the campus for a week of relaxation, the men's lacrosse team will face the intensity of two top-10 teams. Instead of heading to some tropical location, the Quakers look to gain experience and maybe even a couple of wins as they battle No. 10 Navy, second-ranked Virginia and Bucknell. First-year coach Marc Van Arsdale has brought a new level of confidence to a Penn team that has fallen from respectability in the last two years. With Van Arsdale at the helm, Penn (1-0) got off to a positive start last week with an offensive explosion and a win against St. Joseph's. Realistically, however, the Quakers will have to come up with at least one win in the next 10 days to give the program any credibility before it heads into the Ivy season. Even with Virginia and a matchup against the team he used to help coach, lying just over the horizon, Van Arsdale is trying to keep himself and his team focused on Navy. "The goal right now quite honestly is to get through Navy," Van Arsdale said. "It sets up well for us. I think this team is ready to face a big challenge and find out how good we really are against one of the better teams in the country. We're a young team and really haven't found our way yet." No matter how the Quakers fare at home, they will have to quickly regroup and head to Charlottesville, Va., for a meeting with the second-ranked Cavaliers on Wednesday. The match will be a homecoming for Van Arsdale as he returns to the site of his home matches for the past six years. The chance to take on Virginia head coach Dom Starsia is something Van Arsdale is trying to separate from his team's game preparation. "The personal side you try to separate a little bit," said Van Arsdale. "There's no question that we are going down there to find out how good we are. I don't want to try and focus too much on the personal side of it, I think that could be a little bit of a distraction." In the spirit of spring break, the Quakers goalies will continue their time-share agreement on the field. The nicely crafted orange pipes and net currently have two tenants, sophomores Shane Lavery and Matt Schroeder. While 10 days from now it is possible that one will have earned a more permanent home on the bench, for now the two will continue to share equal time without any animosity between them. "It doesn't warrant a situation right yet where one guy is a 100 percent player and one guy is a zero percent player," Van Arsdale said. "If coach decides to pick a starter now or if he keeps splitting time, as long as we keep winning that's all that is important," Penn goalie Matt Schroeder said. "As long as [Van Arsdale] tells you in the middle of the week, you can get yourself prepared to play the first half or the second half." The three games between now and when classes resume will be key for the maturing of the freshmen and sophomores who comprise the majority of the roster. Fortunately for them, upperclassmen are putting effort into getting the younger players conditioned to the team's tradition. "We can show them on the field how much harder you have to work that you did in high school, and how every day is important," said Penn senior Jon Cusson, who led the Quakers with six goals. In a season that is one of transition for Penn lacrosse team, spring break will itself be a time of transition for the young team. Ten days from now the Red and Blue will be tired, not tan, but they hope that it is a sacrifice worth making as they try to turn around a program that was once one of Penn's finest.
(03/05/97 10:00am)
Jeff Brown ended his career with the Quakers with arms raised in exaltation as he stood on top of the victors stand one final time. The senior co-captain left the sport of swimming a winner this past weekend, but only after the final chapter of his career took an unexpected route. The Eastern Championships, held last weekend in Princeton, were supposed to be Brown's time to add three more titles to the four he already owned, but an unexpected defeat on Friday night in the 200-yard freestyle altered the complexion of the meet. After winning the 500-yard freestyle with ease on Thursday night, Brown's third-place finish in the 200-yard free on Friday left Quakers coaches, teammates and spectators standing in near silence. Beaten by a foe he had floated by in the 500, the hoard of titles with Brown's name practically already inscribed had just been cut by one-third. "I figured in a shorter race like the 200 that it would just happen like it had with the 500," Brown said. "And it didn't happen, and I had big expectations. I was forced to reconcile my expectations with what had happened. I had an up and I had a down, and the key was to respond well Saturday night in the 200-fly." The loss set the stage for a triumphant closure to Brown's career when he returned Saturday night to show the league why "he far surpasses any swimmer we ever had in many ways," according to the Quakers' 14-year coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert. In his morning qualifying swim, Brown darted out to a quick lead during the first 100 yards, and then coasted to the finish. Even with his untaxing effort, Brown qualified as one of only four swimmers to finish in under 1:51. As he walked to his starting block Saturday to the roar of the Penn faithful, Brown looked focused and ready while his expected rival, J.P. Norvell of Princeton, shouted to him from the lane next to him, "Let's do this right here, right now." One minute, 47.09 seconds later, Brown had gotten it on to a tune of a pool record and a sixth-career Easterns title. "I realized that when I was relaxed I did really well," Brown said. "In the 500 I was very relaxed. The 200-free I got into what I needed to do first 50, second 50, third 50, and I got so into that, that I was scared that what I wanted to happen wouldn't happen. It backfired on me. "So Saturday night I was really relaxed. If that came off as intense or focussed, it wasn't. By not being so focused on the specifics of the race? I think I did myself a big favor. I learned something profound in the last hour of my swimming career. It's not a topic that you can sit down and write a paragraph on how to win, it's such a broad thing, but I took a big chunk out of what it was to win and how to win. This year I just relaxed. The real dividends paid off in the second hundred. It came down to me having a body-length lead and it was a hundred butterfly, and I held on to it. It was a victory over self-doubt, over the 200-loss." Before the night was over, Brown had also won the Phil Moriarty Award as the meet's highest individual point scorer and the Harold S. Ulen Award as highest four-year, cumulative point scorer. "Jeffrey winning those awards makes us all very proud, and the University of Pennsylvania should be very proud," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "In the past I probably would have been pretty reserved, pretty humble about it, and for a long time I really didn't respect that award," Brown said. "If I couldn't get enough out of the swim outright, then a high point award wasn't going to make swimming great. "This year I didn't worry about the ethical implications of it, just go out there and let the emotions flow. If people think you are a cocky guy, this isn't about them. This year I let the emotions go." Brown leaves the Quakers program as a four-time All-League and Academic All-League selection. Brown leaves his career at peace with how the final weekend of his season culminated. "Beforehand I would have said, yeah, I want to win three events, but in retrospect I realize that down period made the end even better," he said. "To have it turn out the way it did, I was able to walk away a winner in a bigger sense, I was ineffably happy."
(03/03/97 10:00am)
Plenty of Quakers swimmers set lifetime bests, but Harvard won. PRINCETON, N.J. -- After the 400-meter relay final, an overflowing and deafening crowd rose to its feet Saturday night at Princeton's DeNunzio Pool, and all the participants walked out of the Eastern Swimming Championships knowing they had staged a compelling and enjoyable three-day festival of swimming. The Penn men's swimming team did more than its share to add to the festivities with nearly every swimmer doing lifetime bests in his events. The effort did not always translate into points for the Quakers, who finished sixth out of 10 teams, but the final team score was Penn's highest ever and was a source of pride. After feeling frustration over watching its swimmers narrowly finish out of event finals and consolation finals during the first two morning sessions, Penn roared back Saturday night. The night was led off by Matt Reilly's fourth-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke, in which he set a personal best time of 1:49.80, and climaxed by two seniors swimming their final races in the 200-yard butterfly. Leading from the sound of the starter's horn, Jeff Brown showed he was the class of the field in setting a pool record with a time of 1:47.09. Ken Fletcher finished sixth in the event to add key points to the Quakers' surge to overtake Brown for sixth, which had passed them earlier in the evening. "We swam superbly," Penn assistant coach Mike Schnur said. "We've never scored 300 before. It is probably the best meet that Penn has ever had. It does somewhat lessen the frustration because we swam so well tonight. Relative to our ability, we swam better than any other team here." The Quakers' diving season also ended on a high note Saturday night when freshman Kyle Goldbacher finished sixth in the three-meter event. In becoming the first Penn diver in 20 years to finish among the top eight at Easterns, Goldbacher also put away memories of a disappointing showing in the one-meter event on Friday. His first two dives in Saturday night's final were slow and looked lazy in the air, but in an effort indicative of the overall meet for the Quakers, Goldbacher's fourth dive brought improved scores of sixes and sevens and led to crisper dives in the rest of the event. Goldbacher's finish showed signs that he may eventually improved to compete with sophomore William Dobbins of Navy, who swept the diving events. "I can't tell you how pleased I am," Penn diving coach Phil Bergere said. "It's quite an accomplishment for diving at Penn. He was a little bit conservative, but finally he came around and really went after his inward two-and-a-half and nailed it for sevens. He's done a tremendous job." Just as the coaching staff had stressed before the meet, Saturday night was a demonstration in the relative unimportance of scoring points when compared to putting up personal best times. Quakers senior Jon Levine won the bonus final of the 100-yard freestyle, and while his time of 46:71 earned him no points, it was his first time ever under 47 seconds. The lifetime best, posted in his final competitive meet, was enough to bring Levine to tears as he was congratulated by his family in the stands. Penn's personal bests were satisfying, but not anywhere near the level of Harvard and Princeton, which dominated the meet like two Godzillas in Legoland. Event after event featured Harvard claiming the top two spots with Princeton finishing third. Harvard's 838.5 points more than doubled every other team's total except for Princeton, which posted a healthy 701.5. Saturday night also capped off this rivalry as the 200-breaststroke final ended in a duel between Harvard's Dave Schwartz and Princeton's Dave Quinn. The race added to both schools' war chest of points as six of the top eight finishers call one of the two schools home. "I think we did a fantastic job," Crimson head coach Michael Chasson said. We've got a great rivalry with Princeton so anytime we can beat them it's always exciting. The guys felt very confident with the training they've done." The Quakers' finish would have improved with a few more qualifiers in both the consolation and championship finals and higher relay finishes. While Penn never finished below sixth in any of the five relays, their only top-three finish came in 800-freestyle relay on Friday night. The dozens of Penn supporters, including the Penn women's swim team, which continually delayed starts of races with their cheering, were oblivious to and obliterated the importance of these minor shortcomings. While Harvard was hopping into the pool for a victory lap Saturday night, the Quakers left Princeton with an equal number of smiles after achieving their pre-meet goals. "It started out as a fun meet and ended up being more fun," Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert said. "I can't ask for anything more when people do their lifetime bests. Every single person did one lifetime best. That's my attitude no matter what."
(02/27/97 10:00am)
Even though personal times are the priority, Penn knows Harvard in unbeatable. After six months of hard training and two weeks of rest, the Penn men's swimming team will hit the water at the Eastern Championships this morning, hoping to come up with a slew of season-best performances. While Penn will get most of its points from a handful of top swimmers, the rest of the 17-man roster must grab points along the way in order for the team to challenge for a top-four finish. Coming off a sixth-place finish one year ago, Penn argues that its focus is directed toward its individual finishing times. When the meet starts, Penn will be scoreboard watching, but in pre-meet interviews both coaches and swimmers downplayed the importance of team place, saying they just hope everyone swims their best. "If everyone swims the way they are capable of, that will make a good meet," Penn senior Jon Levine said. "The place and the points will take care of themselves. We are going to go all-out in the morning and then go all-out even faster at night." "They sure looked good yesterday. They are very ready to swim," said assistant coach Mike Schnur. "How you swim at Easterns is determined by the first six months of the season, and they've worked hard. They've rehearsed all the right things, and they've done everything the right way." One Quaker who will take care of a lot of points is senior co-captain Jeff Brown. Swimming in three individual events and four relays, Brown will be counted on, as he has been all year, to come up with first-place finishes in his events. Other Quakers who figure prominently will be freestylers Ryan Kafer and Ken Fletcher and freshman backstroker Matt Reilly. A win by one or more of them is needed to put the Quakers in position to capture third or fourth. Penn may run into difficulty because points are awarded to swimmers in each event all the way down to 16th place. The top Quakers swimmer in each event has an opportunity to grab a high finish, but Penn's second- and third-tier swimmers have struggled against the EISL's best teams' reserve swimmers. With points being awarded left and right like cheap frequent-flier miles, Penn will need swimmers to swipe points from their league rivals. "In order to do well, you really have to have a lot of people score points," Schnur said. "You've got to have a very deep team. Our top guys, we know what they are going to do." Fortunately, fans at the meet should be entertained by close team results for third through 10th place because the top two places were decided about 15 years ago. Only some sort of Tonya Harding-esque freak accident would stop nationally-ranked Harvard from winning Easterns. Even Princeton, which like Greg Norman is stuck in second place, readily admits that they will spend more time watching their tails then they will trying to catch the Crimson. "I anticipate Harvard walking away with it," Tigers coach C. Rob Orr said. "Depth-wise they are fairly deep. There will be some close battles but if we do what we are capable of [we'll finish second]. At least I hope so, but you never know." Princeton's home-pool advantage will make anything less than a second place finish a disappointment, but the team order after that is tough to handicap. Navy looks to have an edge due to its overwhelming strength in diving which it used to knock off Penn in their dual meet, but Quakers freshman Kyle Goldbacher has looked much-improved in the month since that meet and should challenge the Midshipmen for league supremacy. Ten schools, three days and 21 events will add up to a climactic finish to the Quakers' season. Harvard and Princeton will continue their two-decade hegemony, but Penn has the opportunity to continue its rise up the league ranks.
(02/20/97 10:00am)
The 1996 Ivy League Rookie of the Year hopes to enjoy the same success in college he experienced for DeMatha High. When Quakers freshman Michael Jordan steps onto the court Saturday night at Harvard, he will come up against a player who knows all about being a high-profile, first-year point guard. Crimson sophomore Tim Hill, last year's Ivy League Rookie of the Year, will be ready to show Jordan that he still has a lot to learn about playing basketball. Hill has had a strong, if not exceptional, sophomore season. After an impressive rookie year, he has been given control over the offensive flow of his team this season, playing nearly 40 minutes each and every night. His time on the court has translated into six assists a game -- second in the Ivy League -- and also one of the Ancient Eight's best assist-to-turnover ratios. "It's definitely a challenge to play nearly 40 minutes. It gets a little tiring," Hill said. "I definitely think that playing as much as I did last year really helped. As long as I'm contributing, then the minutes are a good thing." While Hill and Jordan are sure to square off directly for most of the night, Hill downplayed any sense of growing rivalry between them. With another two years left to play after this season, though, Ivy fans would benefit from friendly competition between these two young and talented point guards. In their first meeting, Harvard looked at Jordan as more of a shooting guard, which meant that Hill only guarded Jordan about half of the time. That night, Jordan and Hill both finished with 18 points, but Hill had five assist and no turnovers while Jordan's six assists were mitigated by five turnovers. With Jordan firmly planted as Penn's floor leader, defensive matchups should be different this time around. "I guess I'll be guarding him the whole time," Hill said. "He's obviously an excellent player and the top rookie, but I really haven't thought about it. The only correlation is that he is the probable Rookie of the Year." In addition to dishing the ball, Hill has also been given the freedom from coach Frank Sullivan to shoot more. These extra shots haven't all gone down, as noted by Hill's sub-40 percent field goal percentage and a three-point field goal percentage that barely hovers above 25 percent. The numbers, however, are brushed aside by Sullivan as being typical of a sophomore looking to be more aggressive on offense. "I think we've been trying to let him have a little more freedom generating shots," Sullivan said. "He's taken some quick shots while he's trying to settle in. He'll tell you he's disappointed with it, but it's a classic sophomore season." After watching Hill's first game against Penn at the Palestra earlier this year, one has to wonder why he shoots anything other than layups, given the ease with which he continually drove through the Quakers defense for easy scores. Hill's quickness off the dribble is one of his top assets and is what helps him free himself for his increasing number of outside jumpers. "He's that quick that he can keep people on their heels," Sullivan said. "He'll beat people off the dribble to drive to the basket which makes him able to have a pull-up game. He's similar to Matt Maloney in that way." Being compared to Maloney, or becoming locked into a rivalry with Jordan, shouldn't bother Hill, because he has faced tough foes since the start of his high school career at nationally-ranked Dematha Catholic High School in Maryland. Led by Hall of Fame coach Morgan Wooten, who has won more high school games than any coach in history, Hill's team finished in the top 10 nationally and was the preseason No. 1 team in the country his senior season. With seven seniors going on to play Division I college basketball the following season, Hill's high school team probably could have given Harvard a competitive game. "I had never thought about attending Harvard," Hill said. "Coming from a big-time high school, I was prepared to think about bigger basketball schools. In the long run this was a wise decision, and I'm really happy here." Hill hopes that he can transfer the tradition at his high school, at least in part, to Harvard, a school which has no basketball tradition and has a total of zero Ivy League titles. "Something I'm most proud of is that Harvard will have its first back-to-back winning seasons since World War II," Hill said. "I'm really happy that the program is going in the right direction. The goal is to win our first-ever Ivy League title." That title will not arrive this year, but Hill and his teammates have the opportunity to make up for their two most embarrassing losses of the season. Sullivan and Hill both expressed hope that their defense will improve over its first outing against Penn and Princeton. Calling the upcoming weekend "a real challenge for us," Hill's ability to move the ball and play intense defense against Jordan will be central to Harvard's success.
(02/17/97 10:00am)
Both Penn's and Harvard's men's swim teams took time out from training for their Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League championships to honor their seniors at Sheerr Pool on Saturday. In what was less a swim meet and more a social gathering, the senior Quakers got to take their final competitive laps through their home pool. That Harvard won the meet by a resounding score of 201-75 was of little importance to the swimmers, coaches, family and friends who gathered to laud the class of 1997. The individual races brought out few yells from either sideline, as most were more engaged in conversations with each other or the crowd. The 200-yard freestyle relay –– the day's final race –– epitomized the atmosphere of the weekend. Both Harvard and Penn entered all senior teams into the race. The Quakers' seniors enjoyed their final laps in the pool by coasting to a sixth-place finish. Jon Levine even added a twisting dive entry into the water for his lap, amusing the crowd further. "It was fun to do," Levine said. "It wasn't a great dive, but it was a real relaxed meet. We just wanted to do something different. It was fun to sit down and watch a swim meet." The seniors also opened the meet by being introduced in a pre-event ceremony. The five Quakers seniors –– Jeff Brown, Robert Brown, Ken Fletcher, Jon Levine and Matt Robon –– have been considered one of the deepest senior graduating classes in years and have been the backbone of the leadership behind this year's team. "When I was a freshman these were the guys that showed me the ropes, how to swim a dual meet, how to train hard everyday," Penn junior co-captain Colin Robinson said. "It's a team that has changed a lot and improved a lot and it started with their class. It's kind of sad to see them go. I felt good to be able to say that stuff about them. They will be missed a lot." Robert Hassett's performance in the 500-freestyle highlighted another focus of the day –– giving swimmers the opportunity to swim different events. Hassett, normally a breaststroker and individual medley swimmer, went out and coasted through a lazy 500 yards in which he was lapped by both Harvard swimmers. Hassett's time of 5:13.96 made the event similar in speed to a water ballet. "We have no chance of winning so we are just enjoying ourselves," Hassett said as he breathlessly exited the water. "I go 5:02 in practice, I just made it kind of fun. It's a lot different than the last three meets against Navy, Army and Columbia. We can relax and then refocus for Easterns." The relaxed attitude of the participants and the spectators flowed into the diving events as well. The officials were prompted to quiet the light hearted conversations in the stands on numerous occasions. The divers then proceeded to look less than interested in their dives. As the competitors twisted, spun, flopped and performed without consistency, the dives received scores which made it clear that none of the competitors was at its usual levels of crispness. "It was kind of crazy. We're focussed on Easterns more," Penn diver Kyle Goldbacher said. "At Easterns I have an 11-dive list, so I've been practicing all my dives and not really focussing on these exact ones that I did today. I'm not pleased with my performance today, but I'm looking forward to Easterns. "People might think [the crowd noise] is distracting, but it's really not. There's really nothing to blame a poor performance on except your own lack of concentration." The coaches were pleased with the lax attitude of the day and with the opportunity to let the swimmers try new events. The meet was also seen as a good way to honor the seniors. "It was relaxed. I thought one of the best things was the things that Robinson expressed for the team about the five seniors," Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert said. "The guys enjoyed themselves. It is an exercise really to finish the dual meet season. At another point in the season we wouldn't be approaching it this way, but it worked out that Harvard's our last meet and that's our approach." After their meet with Harvard on Saturday, Penn jumped right back in the water yesterday to continue their taper in preparation for their final meet -- one that will have a much more serious atmosphere than the family day feeling that dominated on Saturday.
(02/14/97 10:00am)
Former Quaker Steve Kuster returns as a Harvard assistant coach. This Saturday, when Harvard visits the Penn men's swimming team at Sheerr Pool, there will be plenty of time for hellos and goodbyes because there will be little in the way of competition to disrupt the festivities. Saturday marks the final home meet for Penn's five graduating seniors and the first return visit of former Quakers All-American Steve Kuster, who is now an assistant coach at Harvard. The five graduating seniors will have a relaxing meet to finish off their career. They will get a chance to swim alternative events and get some rest for most of the meet, but will end the meet together as four of them swim as a team in the 200-yard freestyle relay. It will mark one of the few times in their careers that they will compete as a group. "There are certainly better scenarios our class could have for a final meet," Penn senior Jon Levine said. "We are all focused on Easterns --that's our one goal. [Swimming as a relay] should be fun. We will have more of a fun time with it than anything else." With the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League championships beginning a week from Thursday, the top swimmers on both sides will not compete in their stronger events, but will rest their bodies by swimming in alternative races. They might as well pull out the lane lines and have a water fight since fast times and tight races will be unlikely Saturday as neither team is putting any emphasis on their performance. "It's a difficult meet to focus on because Easterns are in a week and a half," assistant coach Mike Schnur said. "It is a league meet and another opportunity to compete, but we don't care what Harvard does." It's probably just as well that the Quakers don't care if they win or lose against the Crimson because they are nearly assured to lose. Harvard is ranked in the top 20 nationally and will still feature a strong team despite rearranging their swimming lineup. "The outcome of this meet is not in doubt and we know who's going to win," Schnur said. "It's difficult to get up for a competition where you're not going to win. The objective for Saturday is to swim some off events for our Eastern team, and for our men who are not going to Easterns this is their last meet of the season." While most of the swimmers frolic, two groups of swimmers will be trying to keep their focus on competing well. One group is those Quakers who did not qualify for the Eastern traveling team, and the other is a handful of Harvard men who are still trying to qualify for their league championship squad. "We are still trying to figure out who we are taking to Easterns," Kuster said. "There are guys we need to swim some things, but our top guys will swim in off events. There are people focusing on different things, but we are trying to sell to the team that this is the last opportunity to swim before Easterns." Kuster hopes however that none of his swimmers goes fast enough take down any of the four pool records which he currently holds. Kuster was an All-Eastern league and All-American swimmer while at Penn from 1989 to 1991 and in 1993. Kuster took a year off from school in 1992 to train for the Olympic Trials. "I think it will be kind of neat to be back at the place where I spent four years," Kuster said. "Other than the results that have crossed by my desk I haven't seen much of [Penn] this year. It'll definitely be a little different perspective being back as a coach." Penn's current coach, Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert, was also Kuster's coach and ranked Kuster as one of the best to ever come through Penn. "He did what I asked him. You can't ask for anything more," Lawlor-Gilbert said. With the oncoming Eastern championships taking away the focus from their meet against Harvard, Penn will use the meet to thank their seniors for what they have given the program, and watch some of their non-championship team swimmers finish off their seasons. It will be a day of fun before getting back to serious preparation for league championships.
(02/10/97 10:00am)
While the Penn men's swim team knows that there are many bright spots to point to after Saturday's meet against Army, the group is nevertheless frustrated and disappointed that it left West Point with a loss. This lesson was handed to them by the rested and ready Cadets who held off the Quakers, 127-116, on Saturday at West Point, N.Y. The frustration in the meet was most clearly seen in the final and decisive event, the 400-yard freestyle relay. The Quakers put up a fast time, but still ended second in the race to a faster Army relay squad. Army out-touched Penn at the wall by less than a second, but that second translated into 11 points for Army and just four for the Quakers. That difference sealed the win for the Army squad and left Penn's seniors a few points from breaking their winless run against Army. "The first feeling is that you're really disappointed," Penn junior co-captain Colin Robinson said. "To kind of have victory in your grasp and have it pulled away is tough. They just swam a little bit better than us. Later you realize that our guys had great races and put up some fast times. It was an exciting meet." Army's climactic win was set up by a dominating performance in the previous race, the 200-yard breaststroke. Outscoring Penn 15-4 in that race gave Army back a 114-112 lead as the Army and Penn teams jumped into the water for the 400-yard freestyle-relay. That Penn was competitive so late in the meet is some consolation. Army had rested and tapered prior to the meet in preparation for Thursday's Patriot League championships. The Cadets also did not have to deal with a four-hour plus bus ride through the snow. "We were somewhat at a disadvantage, but you would never have known it," Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert said. "It was the best meet of the season as far as the toughness and grit." Hoping that this year would finally be the one in which they beat Army, the Quakers jumped out to their usual early lead by winning the first three races. Army ended their backslide by dominating the 50-yard freestyle. The rest of the meet flip-flopped as each team won in their stronger events. The Quakers were paced by Jeff Brown's three wins, while Matt Reilly continued his dominance in his specialty, the 200 yard backstroke, and Ryan Kafer roared to a win in the 200-yard freestyle. In diving, Kyle Goldbacher won both the one- and three-meter events, extending his win streak in diving events to six. While Penn's top-level swimmers dominated their events, it was Army which picked up many of the key second- and third-place points. Lawlor-Gilbert pointed out that the circumstances of the meet dictated that Army would have its second-level swimmers in peak form. "They swim great two meets a year -- it's a pattern," Gilbert said. "The only other meet they get so up for is Navy. With us, we are in the position of swimming them right before they go into their Patriot League championships." While there are many positive statistics to point to from Saturday's meet, the overriding feeling for Penn is a disheartening one. Having fought so hard to give themselves an opportunity to win, the Quakers had to leave West Point with a loss that Lawlor-Gilbert described as, "really, really, really, really tough." "I don't think I've ever had a men's team get off a bus and swim as well as this team did yesterday," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "It was the grittiest, toughest performance I've seen this team do, and we lost. It was very, very difficult. This was a win I really wanted for the team." In addition to gaining a win over Penn, Army's results Saturday erases a season of mediocre performances and lackluster times. The timing of the meet made it a must-win for Army, as they head towards their championships week, but it doesn't lessen the hurt that the loss dealt the Quakers.
(02/06/97 10:00am)
We here at Ivy Roundup feel the nation was abused by Tuesday night's obvious con job pulled by the White House. What justice is there in making an entire nation wait for the O.J. verdict while the President bores the nation with his hour-long speech? Actually, we here at Roundup don't care because we were watching tapes of the Winter X-Games while all of this was going on. Nevertheless, as Beavis would say, "Yeah, um, Justice like um Rules, yeah." So as long as Ivy basketball remains the most under-televised spectacle in the nation we will not cease our purging of injustices throughout the world. So join us on our journey of justice, as we seek fairness for all. Under Appreciated Cheer Of The Week While watching the Penn-Cornell fiasco, one Roundup super-sleuth Hamilton was impressed by the overwhelming wit of the Cornell band. He reports that when the game ceased to be in doubt, the following cheer was repeated, "Hey! (pause) Penn! (pause) Die! (pause) Drop Dead! (pause) You Suck!" The cheer isn't surprising because Roundup is well aware that Carnelians know all-too-well about dropping to their deaths. However Roundup is shocking that the Big Red Splat's cheer was not countered by our own band with yells of "Jump, Jump, Jump." Human Rights Violation of the Week Again, we return to the gorgeous suspension bridge that is Cornell to bring you what is clearly a breach of rights. Upon entering Newman Arena, site of Cornell's basketball games, visitors are greeted with a sign reading, in effect, "Please remove your shoes before entering the arena." What? Where is our liberty? Where would we put our shoes? Who comes up with this crap? Top 25 Injustice of the Week I Roundup sadly admits that Princeton deserves consideration for the Associated Press Top 25. At 14-3, Princeton has dominated the league and made a strong comeback to nearly knock off North Carolina in December. Sue Fabs, a Princeton freshman who has nothing to do with the basketball program whatsoever, called Roundup demanding that we fight against this lack of respect for Ivy League basketball. No, we were not dropped on our heads as children, Princeton's record makes it a definite candidate for the nation's elite. Joe Juliano, Philadelphia Inquirer writer and AP voter agreed with us, saying that Princeton falls in with "the 15-20 teams" that deserve consideration for the 24th and 25th spots in the country. Yeah, Roundup is depressed, who thought we would stoop so low, but justice must prevail. Justice Delayed is Justice Denied of the Week Temple got screwed last week when it didn't make the top 25 after whipping top-20 Louisville 67-44. Temple is strong in strength of schedule, and deserved more than the 23 AP votes, and 0 coaches votes that it got. Juliano had enough sense to vote for them, but the rest of the country couldn't pull their heads out of their asses long enough to vote for the Owls. But Wait! Temple showed us that maybe the rest of the country did know what it was doing when the Owls went out and lost to St. Bonaventure Tuesday night, 73-55. The Bonnies shot 55 percent from three point range, while Temple shot a brick-filled 29 percent from the field. Even our illustrious math department could figure out that these numbers mean that Temple will get zero votes next week in the AP poll. The moral of this story: don't lose to anything called a Bonnie. The Halls of Justice of the Week Bringing you more sobering Princeton news, former head coach Pete Carril was one of seven people "elected" to the Basketball Hall of Fame last week. Our Roundup snoops found the real reason for this, however. No, it wasn't his 29-year tour of duty, his 500-plus wins, his oversized ears or even the re-release of the Star Wars trilogy. To put it simply, the folks at Old Nassau had a little extra cash lying around. "[Finding enough money lying around that hole called the College of New Jersey to fund my election] involves an incredible amount of luck," Carril said.Luck -- yeah right. Those shysters in Princeton have been "using the force" (and using the mob) to get their money since the beginning of time. But come Judgment Day, the Dunphimous will be enshrined and those orange-and-black-striped bastards will burn in mediocrity.
(02/04/97 10:00am)
The Quakers also picked up a victory over Division III power John Hopkins Proving that cats really can't swim, the Quakers left the Columbia Lions clinging to life preservers in a 147-97 win to cap off a busy weekend for the Penn men's swimming team. Led in part by the resurgence of the diving team, Penn added to Saturday's important league win by getting past Johns Hopkins 136-107 in a home meet at Sheerr Pool on Friday. Freshman diver Kyle Goldbacher, saddled with the pressure of leading a young Quakers diving squad that has had a large impact on the success of the team, won both the one-meter and three-meter events on Friday and Saturday. The key victory, though, was his first one. Goldbacher's and sophomore Matt Gries' one-two finish in the one-meter event against Division III powerhouse John Hopkins moved Penn from a 45-48 deficit to a 58-54 lead which the Quakers never relinquished, pulling away to a 136-107 win. The diving wins were especially important because Penn was without the services of senior co-captain Jeff Brown, who, due to illness, swam only in the 200-yard medley relay. "Diving is two events, and they are important, but so are other events," Penn coach Kathy Lawlor-Gilbert said. "Goldbacher and Gries did a fabulous job up at Columbia. Everyone rose to the occasion, swimmers and divers, up at Columbia, and it's really nice to see that happen. "It's nice for [the divers] and for the team," Quakers junior co-captain Colin Robinson said. "They were very consistent and they did a great job up at Columbia." The Quakers also used the busy weekend to show off their dominance in the freestyle races. Against Columbia on Saturday, Penn swimmers were first in four of five individual freestyle events and were a close second in the fifth. A day removed from illness, Brown came up with his usual dominating performance by posting wins in the 1,000- and 500-yard freestyle. Sophomore Ryan Kafer also demonstrated his strength during commanding victories in the 100- and 200-yard free. "Ryan is one of the most talented swimmers in the league," Robinson said. "More importantly he is a great teammate and a good guy for the team to have around. Jeff wins whatever we need him to win -- that's the bottom line. He does whatever the coaches need." Adding in the victory in the 400-yard free relay and their near perfect record in the freestyle races against Hopkins a day earlier, the Quakers showed that there is nearly no hope of competing with them in the freestyle events. Often overshadowed by his all-league freestyle teammates, Penn freshman Matt Reilly is showing that he too is a near guaranteed winner whenever he enters the pool in his specialty, the 200-yard backstroke. He won twice more over the weekend, both times by more than a second. The biggest non-factor of the weekend turned out to be the stress of racing on two consecutive days. Except for resting some of the swimmers on Friday in anticipation of Saturday, neither the swimmers nor the coaches felt it had any effect on their speed in the pool. "I think attitude is everything," Lawlor-Gilbert said. "Another team might make a big deal out of it. Training as hard as they do should prepare you for that." Calling the weekend, "an excellent sign of where we are," Robinson and the Quakers swim team have posted a 4-1 record since winter break and are building up confidence for the final meets of the season.
