Hockey Welcomes Conference Foes to Lynah

While Lynah Rink is usually almost full around 7 p.m. on any given winter Friday night, tonight, it will probably be almost empty. Anyone looking to see the No. 8 men's hockey team (13-4-2, 9-2-1 ECACHL) will have to wait another hour, as tonight's contest against Clarkson (7-15-2, 3-8-1 ECACHL) will be nationally televised at 8 p.m. on CSTV's Friday Night Game of the Week. Tomorrow, the Red's game against St. Lawrence (13-10-1, 7-5-0 ECACHL) will start at the regular 7 p.m. time.

Despite having a better record than both squads, head coach Mike Schafer '86 thinks the team must be prepared to battle over the weekend.

"They will come in here very, very hungry," said Schafer. "Everyone is fighting for a different place in the standings and you know [St. Lawrence head coach] Joe Marsh and [Clarkson head coach] George Roll obviously did an awesome job last year at coming in here and preparing against us. We will get their best effort like we always do and it'll be two games very similar to the ones we just played against Dartmouth and Vermont this weekend -- tough and physical."

Following the aformentioned four-point weekend last week against the Green and the Catamounts, the Red remained unbeaten at home, posting a 9-0-0 record this season.

Overall, Cornell has won nine of its last 11 games, and currently sits in second place in the ECACHL standings, one point behind Colgate, and both squads have each played 12 games. Freshman Topher Scott was named ECACHL Rookie of the Week for the first time this season after tallying one goal and five assists in last weekend's games. He is currently tied for third on the team in scoring with 12 points.

This weekend marks the first time since the 2000-2001 season that the Red has first faced its North Country rivals at home. Cornell has faired well recently in the regular season against both Clarkson and St. Lawrence at home, going 5-0-1 against the two in the past three seasons. While the Red ended the regular season last year with a 2-1 win against the Golden Knights, the two teams faced off in the second round of the ECAC Playoffs. After Cornell won the first game 5-1, Clarkson rebounded to win the next two games 5-4 and 5-1, prematurely ending the second-seeded Red's season.

"I dont think [there will be any added juice to the game]," Schafer said. "Year by year things are so much different. Some players will hold on to that and some wont and Ithink it is more important to focus in on right now and this year. It is something that the fans will probably remember a lot more than our players. Our players obviously remember playing and losing here. It is something that is embarrassing and diappointing and upsetting and angry and all the emotions that we went through at that point in time. It is a whole different year and a whole different environment now."

The Golden Knights come into tonight's contest with a 3-3 record since the beginning of the new year. Clarkson began the season by losing 11 of its first 16 games. The team is paced on offense by seniors Jay Latulippe and Chris Blight, who are first and second on the team in scoring with 23 and 21 points respectively. Latulippe and freshman Steve Zalewski are tied for first in goals with 10 each. In goal, junior Dustin Traylen and sophomore Kyle McNulty have each seen significant time this season, with Traylen compiling a 3-9-1 record and McNulty posting a 2-5-1 record. 

Last weekend, one Clarkson player was kicked off the team and four others were suspended for undisclosed violations.

"Well I don't know anything about their situation," Schafer said. "It always takes a a strong coach to defend your athletes and it is so easy to sweep some things under the rug and not pay attention. It just shows [Roll] is made of strong character and he stands by what he says. I'm sure it will do nothing but benefit the hockey team."

St. Lawrence has been on a tear of late, winning six of its last seven games. The Saints had its five-game winning streak snapped by Rensselaer last weekend at home, but rebounded to beat Union the following night. Junior T.J. Trevelyan leads the league in goals scored with 16 and is second in scoring with 31 points. Goalie Mike McKenna has played all but 191 minutes this season, posting an 11-9-1 record, a 2.94 goals against average, and a .904 save percentage.

Gymnastics Heads Down to Towson for Dual Meet

Coming off its first win of the dual-meet season last weekend, the gymnastics team travels south to face Towson tomorrow at 7 p.m. After finishing sixth at the George Washington Invitational on January 16, the Red defeated Rhode Island at home last Saturday 184.550-180.975.

"Our focus this weekend is filling in some gaps from last weekend," said head coach Paul Beckwith. "Last weekend, we lost our top gymnast to injury, Randi Bisbano, so we are trying to fill in bars and vault. She's an all-arounder, so we need to fill in all four events for her, which is hard to do."

Behind top-five finishes from senior Larissa Calka and freshman Megan Gilbert, the Red avenged its loss last season to the Rams. Junior Shellen Goltz placed third on beam with a 9.425, while freshmen Madison Kucker and Colleen Davis tied for first place on vault, each scoring a 9.450. Gilbert and Bisbano tied for third with a 9.400. Senior Andrea Mavro finished first for the Red on bars with a 9.450, while Calka and junior Cathy Schnell tied for third with a 9.125. Finally, on floor, Calka and sophomore Kari Kucera tied for second with a 9.450.

Gilbert, with a 9.4 on vault and floor, was named ECAC Rookie of the Week on Tuesday. "She's going to be a real big factor for us," Beckwith said. "She's going to add beam this weekend, and she'll make a real impact. [Megan's] got one of the two top vaults."

At the George Washington Invitational, Cornell scored a 183.425 in its sixth place finish, while Towson finished second with a 188.375. The Tigers improved on that score last weekend against Maryland, earning a season-high 191.425, but still lost to the Terps.

"We're going in as the underdog. They're a perennial powerhouse and they're just joining the ECAC this year," Beckwith said. "[Towson] has been scoring about five points higher than us, but I know we can come up. It's like any other sport, one day you have a bad day, and one day you have a good day, and the underdog can win. We're going in with the attitude that we are every bit as good as them."

While the Red set a school record with a 193.475 last year at the Ivy Classic, Cornell has not topped the 185 mark yet this year. This is not because of a decline in performance, but rather a big shift in the judging this season.

"All the scoring is low this year, our team is better than we're scoring. It's just a change in the judging system," Beckwith said.

With a national judge assigning system, judges are scoring much tougher this year. Twelve regional assigners replaced the individual assigners at each school, and the result of this effort is to make judging more consistent around the country.

"Right now, the northeast is the lowest-scoring area in the country. Over the course of the year, all the scores moderate somewhere, but we're not sure where," Beckwith said. "If the scoring was as it was last year, we would be at 193-194 this year. If we end up scoring in the high 180's, we'll be in great shape."

With the season about to kick in to high gear, the Red is refining its routines, as the players settle in to the start of the spring semester.

"Right now, we're still really polishing up routines, but in the next couple of weeks, we'll focus on working more with the difficulty again," Beckwith said.

Coming off its first win of the dual-meet season last weekend, the gymnastics team travels south to face Towson tomorrow at 7 p.m. After finishing sixth at the George Washington Invitational on January 16, the Red defeated Rhode Island at home last Saturday 184.550-180.975.
"Our focus this weekend is filling in some gaps from last weekend," said head coach Paul Beckwith. "Last weekend, we lost our top gymnast to injury, Randi Bisbano, so we are trying to fill in bars and vault. She's an all-arounder, so we need to fill in all four events for her, which is hard to do."
Behind top-five finishes from senior Larissa Calka and freshman Megan Gilbert, the Red avenged its loss last season to the Rams. Junior Shellen Goltz placed third on beam with a 9.425, while freshmen Madison Kucker and Colleen Davis tied for first place on vault, each scoring a 9.450. Gilbert and Bisbano tied for third with a 9.400. Senior Andrea Mavro finished first for the Red on bars with a 9.450, while Calka and junior Cathy Schnell tied for third with a 9.125. Finally, on floor, Calka and sophomore Kari Kucera tied for second with a 9.450.
Gilbert, with a 9.4 on vault and floor, was named ECAC Rookie of the Week on Tuesday. "She's going to be a real big factor for us," Beckwith said. "She's going to add beam this weekend, and she'll make a real impact. [Megan's] got one of the two top vaults."
At the George Washington Invitational, Cornell scored a 183.425 in its sixth place finish, while Towson finished second with a 188.375. The Tigers improved on that score last weekend against Maryland, earning a season-high 191.425, but still lost to the Terps.
"We're going in as the underdog. They're a perennial powerhouse and they're just joining the ECAC this year," Beckwith said. "[Towson] has been scoring about five points higher than us, but I know we can come up. It's like any other sport, one day you have a bad day, and one day you have a good day, and the underdog can win. We're going in with the attitude that we are every bit as good as them."
While the Red set a school record with a 193.475 last year at the Ivy Classic, Cornell has not topped the 185 mark yet this year. This is not because of a decline in performance, but rather a big shift in the judging this season.
"All the scoring is low this year, our team is better than we're scoring. It's just a change in the judging system," Beckwith said.
With a national judge assigning system, judges are scoring much tougher this year. Twelve regional assigners replaced the individual assigners at each school, and the result of this effort is to make judging more consistent around the country.
"Right now, the northeast is the lowest-scoring area in the country. Over the course of the year, all the scores moderate somewhere, but we're not sure where," Beckwith said. "If the scoring was as it was last year, we would be at 193-194 this year. If we end up scoring in the high 180's, we'll be in great shape."
With the season about to kick in to high gear, the Red is refining its routines, as the players settle in to the start of the spring semester.
"Right now, we're still really polishing up routines, but in the next couple of weeks, we'll focus on working more with the difficulty again," Beckwith said.
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M. Cagers Ready for Rematch With Lions

With students filing back into Ithaca for the start of the spring semester this weekend, the men's basketball team opens its home Ivy season with a rematch against its travel partner, Columbia (10-4, 1-0 Ivy) tomorrow at 3 p.m. at Newman Arena. The Red (5-9, 0-1 Ivy) dropped its first conference game to the Lions 70-61 last Saturday, and compiled a 4-5 record since the end of fall classes. While the Red has had a week to prepare for this game, head coach Steve Donahue does not anticipate any major changes to the game plan from last week.

"I think we learned a few things about what [Columbia does] and how to make adjustments," Donahue said. "In all honesty, in these games, people think you can make a drastic change in what you do, and they'll be some little things that we're going to try to do on each individual guy who hurt us."

One of those players who especially hurt the Red last week was Jeremiah Boswell, who netted 14 points and was one of three Lions in double figures. After a back-and-forth first half, the Red scored six straight points in the final two minutes of the half to grab a 36-34 lead at the break. After Cornell increased its lead to five at one minute into the second, Columbia answered with an 11-1 run, grabbing a lead it would not relinquish. The Lions were hot from beyond the arc, shooting 10-of-13 from three-point range. Senior captain Eric Taylor led the Red with 15 points, while the team combined for a season-high 13 steals.

Columbia's second-year coach, Joe Jones, is continuing the team's turnaround this season, after the Lions rebounded from an 0-14 conference showing in 2003 with a 6-8 record last season. The Lions have already equalled their win total from last season, earning their tenth victory over Navy on Tuesday.

"[Joe]'s doing a great job, and I say this, and I think Joe would agree, [former Columbia coach] Armond [Hill] always did a good job when he was there. They made a run at it, and they had a bad year when those kids were [freshmen and sophomores], and he was rebuilding." Donahue said. 

"Unfortunately, in this business, when you rebuild and lose too much, you get fired, but those kids were young when [Hill] had them. Matt Preston, Dragutin Kravic, Dalen Cuff, Jeremiah Boswell, Matt Land, that's the heart and soul of the team. They're Armond Hill's guys and Joe's done a great job integrating his young guys with those guys."

Preston, who netted 23 against Navy, leads the team in scoring and rebounding with 14.7 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, and Boswell is second in scoring with 10.9 points per game. After shooting 54 percent against the Red, the Lions shot only 37.5 percent against Navy, but still came away with a 69-63 win.

"We've got to run a real good offense against them. We've got to defend in the transition, which we did a decent job of, and we obviously have to guard the three-point shooters. They really hurt us," Donahue said.

With the non-conference season behind it, the Red looks to gain momentum with a win tomorrow as it heads into the bulk of its Ivy schedule. Last year, the Red jumped out to a 5-1 start in conference play, before losing seven of its last eight games of the season.

"The matchups in our league are very critical to your success. Obviously, this is a critical game for us, and I'm sure Columbia feels the same way," Donahue said. "We both have four home games after this; that's the way that we do it, a 14-game tournament. Every team in our league can beat any other team."

With students filing back into Ithaca for the start of the spring semester this weekend, the men's basketball team opens its home Ivy season with a rematch against its travel partner, Columbia (10-4, 1-0 Ivy) tomorrow at 3 p.m. at Newman Arena. The Red (5-9, 0-1 Ivy) dropped its first conference game to the Lions 70-61 last Saturday, and compiled a 4-5 record since the end of fall classes. While the Red has had a week to prepare for this game, head coach Steve Donahue does not anticipate any major changes to the game plan from last week.
"I think we learned a few things about what [Columbia does] and how to make adjustments," Donahue said. "In all honesty, in these games, people think you can make a drastic change in what you do, and they'll be some little things that we're going to try to do on each individual guy who hurt us."
One of those players who especially hurt the Red last week was Jeremiah Boswell, who netted 14 points and was one of three Lions in double figures. After a back-and-forth first half, the Red scored six straight points in the final two minutes of the half to grab a 36-34 lead at the break. After Cornell increased its lead to five at one minute into the second, Columbia answered with an 11-1 run, grabbing a lead it would not relinquish. The Lions were hot from beyond the arc, shooting 10-of-13 from three-point range. Senior captain Eric Taylor led the Red with 15 points, while the team combined for a season-high 13 steals.
Columbia's second-year coach, Joe Jones, is continuing the team's turnaround this season, after the Lions rebounded from an 0-14 conference showing in 2003 with a 6-8 record last season. The Lions have already equalled their win total from last season, earning their tenth victory over Navy on Tuesday.
"[Joe]'s doing a great job, and I say this, and I think Joe would agree, [former Columbia coach] Armond [Hill] always did a good job when he was there. They made a run at it, and they had a bad year when those kids were [freshmen and sophomores], and he was rebuilding." Donahue said. "Unfortunately, in this business, when you rebuild and lose too much, you get fired, but those kids were young when [Hill] had them. Matt Preston, Dragutin Kravic, Dalen Cuff, Jeremiah Boswell, Matt Land, that's the heart and soul of the team. They're Armond Hill's guys and Joe's done a great job integrating his young guys with those guys."
Preston, who netted 23 against Navy, leads the team in scoring and rebounding with 14.7 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, and Boswell is second in scoring with 10.9 points per game. After shooting 54 percent against the Red, the Lions shot only 37.5 percent against Navy, but still came away with a 69-63 win.
"We've got to run a real good offense against them. We've got to defend in the transition, which we did a decent job of, and we obviously have to guard the three-point shooters. They really hurt us," Donahue said.
With the non-conference season behind it, the Red looks to gain momentum with a win tomorrow as it heads into the bulk of its Ivy schedule. Last year, the Red jumped out to a 5-1 start in conference play, before losing seven of its last eight games of the season.
"The matchups in our league are very critical to your success. Obviously, this is a critical game for us, and I'm sure Columbia feels the same way," Donahue said. "We both have four home games after this; that's the way that we do it, a 14-game tournament. Every team in our league can beat any other team."
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