Unknown Cornell Sporting Acheivements

It's been quite a year on the East Hill for Cornell athletics, but if you only attended the hockey games, you've missed a lot. With that said, I'd like to present the 1st Annual I Never Kid Awards which honor the sporting events and achievements that you may not be aware of.

Disclaimer: These awards were selected based only on the games I have personally attended and nominees were screened through a very strict process (read: whatever I was able to remember from the past nine months). If you feel there was some play or game that was left out, feel free to submit your nomination in the feedback section at the bottom of the online edition of this column.

Now let's get to the awards...

Best Comeback that Nobody Saw -- Women's Basketball vs. Harvard: While most of you were watching the men's hockey team lose to Colgate, the lady cagers were pulling off one of the most exciting comebacks I have witnessed here at Cornell. The Red played neck and neck with the two-time defending champs until the last few minutes, when the Crimson jumped out to an eight-point lead. Down by five with 10 seconds left, sophomore Sarah Brown banked a three-pointer off the glass and in, to cut the deficit to two. After the ensuing foul, Harvard missed both shots, giving senior Karen Force one last opportunity to tie the game.

Driving down the court, Force spotted an open lane, and drove to the basket for the lay-up. The ball went off the glass, and, with 0.9 seconds left on the clock, fell through to tie the game. Senior Lauren Kilduff's free-throw shooting in overtime iced the victory for the Red, and the team ran onto the court in celebration. Unfortunately, the Sun sports photographer was next door at the hockey game, so we have no picture to show you today.

Best Near-Comeback Nobody Saw -- Football vs. Colgate: The football team found itself down 24-7 at halftime on a cold, October afternoon, then the heavens opened up and unleashed a barrage of rain, driving away most of the Schoellkopf crowd. Those of us who remained witnessed a remarkable comeback against the national runner-up. Late in the third quarter, Colgate tried to convert on third down, but the ball got loose near the Cornell sideline.

Emerging from the pileup was cornerback Sean Nassoiy, who returned the fumble 38 yards for the score.

With the Red only down three, a victory was clearly in sight. The momentum had severely shifted over to Cornell, and a 24-yard field goal would tie the game in the fourth quarter with 6:32 left to play. The comeback ended there, as Colgate used all 6:32 to drive down the field and kick the game-winning field goal as time expired.

Busiest Spring Semester -- Ian Pilarski, Men's Soccer: Pilarski became the first ever Cornellian drafted by an MLS team when he was selected by the Chicago Fire in January's draft. This semester, he has been juggling training for his team and finishing his courses here at Cornell. After training in Florida and Portugal with the Fire, Pilarski is on loan to the Rochester Rhinos of the A-League. For those of you who have trouble getting to your 10:10 class (including myself), imagine training with a professional sports team during your free time and having to commute two hours to get to class. Maybe you'll be on time tomorrow.

Worst Weather -- Tie, Women's Lacrosse vs. Columbia and any evening soccer game: Rain and lightning do not make for a good lacrosse game. The flash storm Ithaca experienced last Sunday delayed the lacrosse team's game against Columbia a good two hours, leaving this reporter stuck in the Schoellkopf press box re-reading the game program several dozen times. As for the evening soccer games, I only wish someone would donate money to build a press box at Berman Field so that my hands wouldn't suffer from frostbite during each game. Kudos to the men's and women's soccer team for playing through the horrendous conditions that I merely had to sit through.

Best Crowd Atmosphere (Top Two) -- 1. Men's Basketball vs. Georgia Tech, 2. Men's Basketball vs. Princeton: The Lynah Faithful were totally outclassed by the Red Zone during these two games. During the first half of the Tech game, the bleachers were literally shaking, at which point I thought they were going to collapse and we would all die. The Princeton game's atmosphere was nearly as electrifying, as fans left Lynah and flocked to Newman Arena to watch the basketball team battle for control of first place in the league (some of you only came to the game to win the Land Rover, you know who you are).

Best Lesson Learned by a Member of the Lynah Faithful -- Men's Hockey vs. Harvard: If you taunt Noah Welch in the penalty box long enough, he will dump water from his water bottle onto your head, and then you will be yelled at by the Associate Athletic Director.

Thank You Award: Thanks to the graduating seniors, the sports editors, my beat partners, the coaches, players, and the readers for your help and support this year.

Women's Lax Falls to No. 14 Yale

A late rally was not enough for the women's lacrosse team, as it fell to No. 14 Yale, 11-8, on Saturday at Schoellkopf Field. The Red (3-9, 2-4 Ivy) was unable to clamp down on all of Yale's offensive weapons, as the Bulldogs (12-4, 5-2 Ivy) went on a 4-0 run 15 minutes into the second half to pull away.

"I think in general, we had a lull in the second half there where in a matter of four minutes, [Yale] scored four goals. That lull ultimately cost us the game because they got enough cushion where they could start stalling and slowing things down, and then the clock worked against us," said head coach Jenny Graap '86.

Cornell got on the board first thanks to a great effort by senior co-captain Kate Hirschfield. Double-teamed to the right of the goal, Hirschfield lost both defenders and put the ball home on an open look. Junior Lindsay Steinberg made it 2-0 after firing a fast shot from the top of the arc at 8:26.

Yale struck back two minutes later, as Katherine Sargent scored after getting the feed from Lyndsay Levin off of a free position shot. Miles Whitman, one of the fastest players in the nation, demonstrated her speed early, as she outran the Cornell defense after a restart to score her first of three goals in the game.

The Red did a good job of shutting down the Yale offense early, limiting the Elis to two goals in the first 20 minutes of the game.

"In the beginning of the game, we had some really good strategy defensively. We were marking their leading scorer, Miles Whitman, really closely, and that may have taken Yale a little bit of time to regroup and reorganize and try to figure things out," Graap said.

The task of marking Whitman throughout the game fell to freshman Anne Riordan, the Red's fastest player. Riordan excelled in guarding her mark and put forth her best effort of the year, according to Graap.

"[Whitman] was really fast and quick, though when I got on her after a while, she just stopped moving. We were sort of spectators for a lot of it," Riordan said.

After junior Kristen Smith scored two straight to give the Red a 4-2 lead, Yale's Sarah Driscoll responded with two goals of her own to even the game at four all with six minutes to play in the half. Driscoll's second tally came after she knocked the ball out of sophomore goalie Maggie Fava's stick. The Bulldogs took their first lead of the game at 25:47 of the first half on a goal by Sophie Melniker.

Sargent extended Yale's lead at the start of the second half, but freshman Margaux Viola closed the gap for Cornell after she scored on a wraparound six minutes into the half. Unfortunately for the Red, it would not score another goal for another 10 minutes, as four different Yale players scored in four minutes to put the Bulldogs up, 10-5.

The Red rallied back, as senior co-captain Jaime Quinn started a 3-0 run with 13 minutes left in the game. Smith and Hirschfield both added goals on free position shots to close the gap to two. But that would be as close as Cornell would get, as Yale successfully ran out the clock. Whitman added another tally in the closing seconds of the game to give Yale the 11-8 win.

Cornell's offense was dominated by solo efforts during the game, as all but one the team's eight goals came unassisted.

"That's kind of unusual for us to have so few assisted goals. Some of it was that they face-guarded [sophomore] Allison Schindler, who's normally our assister, and it took her out of the game a little bit," Graap said. "I think that we weren't necessarily looking for so many feeds in the second half, we were looking more for the solo drive."

Yale finished the game with 41 shots to Cornell's 19, while Fava recorded a career-high 14 saves in goal.

"Our defense was really doing a great job in forcing them to take some bad shots and off-angle shots, and though they ripped a lot of shots, they were missing high, missing wide," Graap said. "When it came down to it, they were a taller team than we were, they were a little bit faster than we were, and some of those things ultimately play into the outcome."

A late rally was not enough for the women's lacrosse team, as it fell to No. 14 Yale, 11-8, on Saturday at Schoellkopf Field. The Red (3-9, 2-4 Ivy) was unable to clamp down on all of Yale's offensive weapons, as the Bulldogs (12-4, 5-2 Ivy) went on a 4-0 run 15 minutes into the second half to pull away.
"I think in general, we had a lull in the second half there where in a matter of four minutes, [Yale] scored four goals. That lull ultimately cost us the game because they got enough cushion where they could start stalling and slowing things down, and then the clock worked against us," said head coach Jenny Graap '86.
Cornell got on the board first thanks to a great effort by senior co-captain Kate Hirschfield. Double-teamed to the right of the goal, Hirschfield lost both defenders and put the ball home on an open look. Junior Lindsay Steinberg made it 2-0 after firing a fast shot from the top of the arc at 8:26.
Yale struck back two minutes later, as Katherine Sargent scored after getting the feed from Lyndsay Levin off of a free position shot. Miles Whitman, one of the fastest players in the nation, demonstrated her speed early, as she outran the Cornell defense after a restart to score her first of three goals in the game.
The Red did a good job of shutting down the Yale offense early, limiting the Elis to two goals in the first 20 minutes of the game.
"In the beginning of the game, we had some really good strategy defensively. We were marking their leading scorer, Miles Whitman, really closely, and that may have taken Yale a little bit of time to regroup and reorganize and try to figure things out," Graap said.
The task of marking Whitman throughout the game fell to freshman Anne Riordan, the Red's fastest player. Riordan excelled in guarding her mark and put forth her best effort of the year, according to Graap.
"[Whitman] was really fast and quick, though when I got on her after a while, she just stopped moving. We were sort of spectators for a lot of it," Riordan said.
After junior Kristen Smith scored two straight to give the Red a 4-2 lead, Yale's Sarah Driscoll responded with two goals of her own to even the game at four all with six minutes to play in the half. Driscoll's second tally came after she knocked the ball out of sophomore goalie Maggie Fava's stick. The Bulldogs took their first lead of the game at 25:47 of the first half on a goal by Sophie Melniker.
Sargent extended Yale's lead at the start of the second half, but freshman Margaux Viola closed the gap for Cornell after she scored on a wraparound six minutes into the half. Unfortunately for the Red, it would not score another goal for another 10 minutes, as four different Yale players scored in four minutes to put the Bulldogs up, 10-5.
The Red rallied back, as senior co-captain Jaime Quinn started a 3-0 run with 13 minutes left in the game. Smith and Hirschfield both added goals on free position shots to close the gap to two. But that would be as close as Cornell would get, as Yale successfully ran out the clock. Whitman added another tally in the closing seconds of the game to give Yale the 11-8 win.
Cornell's offense was dominated by solo efforts during the game, as all but one the team's eight goals came unassisted.
"That's kind of unusual for us to have so few assisted goals. Some of it was that they face-guarded [sophomore] Allison Schindler, who's normally our assister, and it took her out of the game a little bit," Graap said. "I think that we weren't necessarily looking for so many feeds in the second half, we were looking more for the solo drive."
Yale finished the game with 41 shots to Cornell's 19, while Fava recorded a career-high 14 saves in goal.
"Our defense was really doing a great job in forcing them to take some bad shots and off-angle shots, and though they ripped a lot of shots, they were missing high, missing wide," Graap said. "When it came down to it, they were a taller team than we were, they were a little bit faster than we were, and some of those things ultimately play into the outcome."
- See more at: http://www.cornellsun.com/node/11897#sthash.sZjYbZI3.dpuf

W. Lacrosse Hopes To Halt Eli Streak

After getting its first two Ivy wins of the season last weekend, the women's lacrosse team aims to up its conference record to .500 when it faces off against No. 14 Yale (11-4, 4-2 Ivy) tomorrow at Schoellkopf Field at 1 p.m. The Red (3-8, 2-3 Ivy) can spoil the Bulldogs' hopes of getting an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament by getting the upset.

Cornell snapped a five-game losing streak last Friday with an 11-9 win at Brown, buoyed by hat tricks from juniors Lindsay Steinberg and Kristen Smith. The Red's game on Sunday against Columbia was interrupted near the end of the first half due to lightning. When play resumed, the Lions mounted a comeback in the second half, but Cornell held on for the 10-8 win. Senior co-captain Jaime Quinn recorded four points on the day, while freshman Lindsey Moore came off the bench to net two goals and an assist.

This weekend, the Red will need to shut down Yale's prolific offense, which is averaging 12.53 goals per game.

"Yale has three really significant scoring threats, and two of the three are very tall, one is six foot tall and the other is 5-11," said head coach Jenny Graap '86. "In preparing for [Yale], we're trying to get our defense ready for denying some of these feeds to the tall girls inside and lots of communication on the defensive end so that we can be really solid in our effort in the backfield."

The trio of Miles Whitman, Sophie Melniker, and Katherine Sargent has combined for 135 of the Yale's 188 goals this season. Melniker is the reigning Ivy League Player of the Week after scoring 16 goals in Yale's three games last weekend.

The Red has struggled in the past few games in shutting down its opponents' fast break scoring chances, which it will need to do tomorrow if it hopes to win.

"Yale does play a fast break transition offense at times, and so definitely we have been working on that, stopping the team's fast break off of the draw control, off of a clear, or any broken situation," Graap said. " Yale actually has one of the fastest players in the country in their leading scorer, Miles Whitman. She's wicked fast."

Whitman is the fourth leading scorer in the nation as of last weekend, and has recorded 52 goals and 26 assists on the year. Last year against the Red, Whitman found the back of the net seven times in the Bulldogs' 11-5 win. Shutting down Whitman will not be enough, as Sargent and Melniker are also big threats in the attacking end.

" Yale presents multiple challenges, so I think it's going to take a whole team effort in the backfield to contain those players," Graap said. " Just like in any game, there's just one ball so you just have to figure out how you can get multiple defenders on the ball without leaving dangerous people wide open. It's a matter of shifting and adjusting and working together."

With four games left in the season, the Red has a chance to end the spring on a positive note by extending its winning streak.

" I think for us to have a great showing against all the remaining teams would be wonderful. By the eleventh, twelfth game of the season, the freshmen that have been playing for us and even the upperclassmen who are first-time starters, they're not so young anymore because of all the games we've played and all the experience they've had. We need to show in the remaining four games what we've learned," Graap said.

Animals Provide Baseball Knowledge

If there is one thing that is lacking today in America, it's a general knowledge of animals. Conveniently, several baseball teams have animal nicknames, giving us the opportunity to take a look at the 2004 MLB season and learn some new and completely factual information about animals. Here's a breakdown, division by division:

American League

AL East: There is nothing more frightening than a devil ray. These fearsome beasts feed on helpless plankton and have been known to swallow up small fish in a single gulp. This ferociousness is exemplified by the 2004 Tampa Bay Devil Rays and their skipper Lou Piniella. Last season, Piniella resorted to drastic measures to inspire his team to win, proposing that if the D-Rays won three games in a row, then the team could dye his hair. Tampa finally won three in a row by early July, and Lou's hair changed from gray to a radiant blond. Will Piniella make another crazy proposition to his team this season? Hopefully, as it will give us something to talk about other than steroids and the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry.

AL Central: The solitary tiger roams the jungle, snacking on termites but avoiding its rival, the elephant. If there is one team in baseball this season that is most similar to the tiger, it must be the Detroit Tigers. If the season ended today, the Tigers would be in -- that's right, say it with me -- first place. As of yesterday, the Tigers have already won five games. Compare that to last season when it took Detroit over a month to get five wins, and you know the Tigers are the real deal. I mean they'd have to be, right? Why else would Pudge Rodriguez leave the sunny confines of south Florida? For the money? Do you think he's that selfish? I mean, c'mon. This division is the equivalent of the NBA's Atlantic Division, so the Tigers might be able to finish under .500 and still make the playoffs. Take that, 1962 New York Mets!

AL West: The elephant is very stingy. It will not spend money on overvalued players, preferring instead to buy lots and lots of peanuts. It also has an excellent memory. However, when it comes to remembering what team dominates this division, people seem to forget that the Oakland Athletics have made the postseason four straight seasons and that the team's mascot is the elephant (three out of four Sun editors polled failed to make this identification). Sure, they've yet to win a postseason series, but they're getting closer and this could be the year that the A's break through to the World Series. Billy Beane's book, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, created quite a stir last season (actually, he didn't even write the book, people like Joe Morgan seem to have a hard time remembering this). With the losses of shortstop Miguel Tejada and overrated closer, Keith Foulke, the A's have once again have given up their big-name talent. If Theo Epstein had been paying attention while reading Moneyball, then maybe he would have known that Beane's strategy is to hype and overvalue a closer, and then sell him off for a draft pick.

National League

NL East: The blue marlin is a graceful beast, using its bill to stun fish and then eat them. It is envious of its cousin, the striped marlin, which impales fish and boats alike with its spear. The Florida Marlins are not envious of any fish because they recently received the largest championship rings in baseball history. These eyesores include 229 diamonds and weigh 3.5 ounces. Marlins owner Jeff Loria got a $20,000 per ring price break because he bought so many for the team. Loria spent the offseason meticulously designing these rings, coming up with 100 prototypes. Maybe this is why he was too busy to cough up the extra money to resign Pudge.

NL Central: The cardinal is the idiot of the bird kingdom. If it sees its reflection, it will try to fight itself for hours. The St. Louis Cardinals are not that stupid, signing their superstar, Albert Pujols, to a seven-year, $100 million contract. Other than that, there is nothing more to say about the Cardinals, except that they were completely overshadowed by their division rivals -- the Houston Astros and the Chicago Cubs in the offseason. The over-under for the number of times that phrases Pettitte-Clemens and a Cubs-Red Sox World Series have been mentioned since November is somewhere around five million. It's nauseating. Can't the media come up with something else to talk about in baseball? Well, there's A-Rod going to the Yankees...

NL West: The diamondback rattlesnake is the largest venomous snake in North America, so beware! They are known to eat small mammals, but do enjoy a good steroid injection once in a while. The Arizona Diamondbacks let their ace Curt Schilling sign with the Red Sox, and then proceeded to trade six players (including "Worst Swing in Baseball" nominee Craig Counsell) to the Brewers for Richie Sexson. Will Arizona regret giving up Junior Spivey? Only time will tell. The remaining ace, Randy Johnson, is back from playing dodgeball with Jim Breuer, and should help the D-Backs contend for the division again. But they'd better look out for the Padres. Thanks to the new cavernous Petco Park, the Padres will effectively shut down all the power hitters in this division. Their own players, meanwhile, need some Prozac after their homerun totals will plummet. What season preview column would be complete without some postseason picks? Thanks to my amazing accuracy in my NHL season preview column (I told you the Mighty Ducks were going to win the Stanley Cup), I'm going to try it again.

ALDS:
Oakland over New York, and Boston over Detroit.

ALCS:
Oakland over Boston.

NLDS:
St. Louis over New York, and Philadelphia over Arizona.

NLCS:
Philadelphia over St. Louis.

World Series:
A's over Phillies.

Freshmen Prove Valuable for W. Lacrosse

After fielding senior-laden teams the past few seasons, the women's lacrosse team entered this year with one of the youngest squads ever coached by Jenny Graap '86. The 10 members of the class of 2007 outnumber the seniors and juniors combined, and they have already become key contributors on the field. The newcomers have gelled into a cohesive unit, and have made the jump to the college game with ease.

"We spend a lot of time together off the field. We go to dinner after practice, and we kind of just bonded, which really helped with our chemistry on the field," said freshman Lindsey Moore.

Moore got off to a quick start at the beginning of the season, scoring two goals in her collegiate debut in the team's first game against Georgetown. This was the first time a freshman scored two goals in her first match since 2001. Classmate Margaux Viola started the game against the Hoyas, and three other freshmen saw playing time in the game as well.

"I was really nervous, I remember lining up for the national anthem, and it felt so much more important than a high school game," said Viola. 

Moore echoed those sentiments about their first game.

"I think there's a lot more to think about when you're on the field. I know I was subbing in for the two co-captains, and I think those are really big shoes to fill, and I was kind of nervous about that," she said.

Despite their nerves, Moore and Viola have shined so far this season. Moore has netted seven goals and three helpers, while Viola has three goals and two assists.

The rest of the freshmen have been getting into the act as well. Freshmen Anne Riordan and Ashleigh Smith both started last week against Princeton, and Smith has started in six of the team's eight games. Riordan is the fastest player on the squad, and her speed will help her excel in the midfield, while Smith's stickwork and positioning will be an asset for the team's defensive unit.

Three members of the class of 2007 were already very familiar with each other when they came to the East Hill in the fall. Moore, Colleen O'Hara, and Kendall Tupper were teammates at West Genesee High School, which is the three-time defending New York State champion. O'Hara is rebounding from tearing her ACL during her senior year and has yet to see playing time this season, but Tupper has been involved in six games in the backfield.

"I know how they play, they know how I play, so we already have an advantage. We can look for each other on the field because we already have that bond," Moore said.

But as good as these freshmen have proved to be, the team's upperclassmen have played a pivotal role in the helping them adjust to the college game and college life off the field.

"The best part about the team is the girls, I can't imagine Cornell without them. [Jaime Quinn] and Kate [Hirschfield] are incredible captains who lead by example on and off the field. All the upperclassmen are amazing and they've helped to make this year as great as it is," Smith said.

While the team's record has not been what it was in past seasons, the freshmen have benefited from the playing time they've seen, and will only continue to improve throughout this year and beyond.

"The record doesn't look so good right now, but I think there's still a chance to turn the season around. We can definitely make it better, I think we have the potential," Viola said "We might be a young team, but that's not really an excuse, and I think that we've started to see it, like in our game at Princeton. We started to see people do things that we hadn't seen before, and I think we can build on that."

Tigers Extend Streak Against W. Lax

The two-time defending national champion proved too much for the women's lacrosse team, which dropped its fourth consecutive game Saturday, falling to No. 1 Princeton, 16-10. Cornell (1-7, 0-2 Ivy) held its own against the Tigers (9-0, 2-0) for most of the first half, but Princeton pulled away in the second half to seal its 18th straight victory. 

This year's game against the Tigers was a stark contrast to the last meeting between the two squads, which saw Princeton jump out to a 6-1 lead to go on to win, 9-2. While it took the Red nearly 20 minutes to score its first goal against the Tigers in 2003, junior Kristen Smith put Cornell on the board six minutes into this game with her 16th goal of the season.

"I think we caught them off guard in the beginning of the game, and it seemed to rattle their defense especially. The Princeton coach called a timeout five minutes into the game, probably because she didn't like what she saw from her defense," said head coach Jenny Graap '86.

After the Cornell goal, Princeton found its stride, going on a 4-0 run over the next seven minutes. Sophomore Lyndsay Robinson cut the lead to two with her seventh goal of the season about 15 minutes in. After Princeton scored its fifth goal with 10 minutes left in the half, senior co-captain Jaime Quinn took over on the offensive end. Quinn scored three of Cornell's four goals in the final 6:24 of the first half, and the Red went into the locker room down 7-6. 

The Tigers wasted no time getting on the board after the break, however, as freshman Kathleen Miller scored her second goal of the game just 1:40 into the half. Smith answered for Cornell 40 seconds later, but Miller added another tally after the successive draw control.

"In the second half, a lot of [Princeton's] goals were fast break, transition goals, where they took advantage of our mistakes in transition, our turnovers, and they just ran end to end," Graap said. "In the second half, we sort of got a little bit away from our game plan, and in the first half we had done a good job of possessing the ball. That was our strategy, to possess the ball and look for the best opportunity, not just run and shoot." 

Lindsay Biles scored three consecutive goals in a span of five minutes to give the Tigers a 12-7 lead with 18 minutes left to play. After Robinson scored her second of the game, Miller found the back of the net twice for her fourth and fifth scores, extending the Princeton lead to 14-8.

"We knew about Kathleen Miller, for sure. She got a couple of free position goals, which were just really nice shots. We were definitely focusing on their leading scorers, Lindsey Biles and Theresa Sherry, and I think we did a nice job on them. They have so many threats out there that you can't contain all of them, and I think that's what eventually happened," Graap said.

Quinn finished the game with four goals on five shots, and, in goal, sophomore Maggie Fava recorded eight saves. The Tigers outshot Cornell, 34-24, and also held a 28-22 advantage in ground balls.

"For a team with a record like we have, we've had a lot of frustration so far this season. We played a great game against Vanderbilt who is ranked in the top 10, and we played a really solid game against the two-time defending national champ and undefeated Princeton, so we do seem to rise to the challenge," Graap said.