Orange Spotlight: February 23, 2009
2/23/2009 10:46:21 AM | Tennis, Track and Field, Men's Swimming / Diving, Women's Swimming / Diving, Ice Hockey
The men's and women's lacrosse teams improved their overall marks to 2-0 and 3-0, respectively, as the men took care of business at the Carrier Dome on Friday night with a 17-6 victory against Army while the women journeyed West for a couple battles with Stanford and Cal. Head coach Gary Gait and his squad escaped a stern test from No. 17 Stanford, 15-10, before dismantling the Golden Bears, 18-2. The women's ice hockey team completed the regular season portion of its inaugural season with its sixth consecutive victory, polishing off St. Anselm this weekend by scores of 3-0 and 4-1. The Orange's victory on Saturday marked Syracuse's first victory at the Onondaga County War Memorial. The SU tennis team usurped UMass on Friday afternoon, 6-1, at the Drumlins Tennis center before suffering its first setback of the season to Iowa State on Sunday in a tightly contests 4-3 final. The track & field team began its indoor championship section of the schedule as the men's squad finished in fourth place at the BIG EAST Championship, its highest placing in 16 years, while the women came in 13th. Senior sprinters Ramon Sosa and Michael LeBlanc each captured BIG EAST crowns in the 60-meter hurdles and 60-meter dash, sequentially. The Orange swimming team concluded its season at the BIG EAST Championship at the IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI as the lineup combined to break seven school records over the course of four days. The men's and women's basketball team both came up on the short end of a close game on Sunday as the men were slighted by Villanova, 89-86, while the women came within a point of topping rival Georgetown, 73-72.
Track & Field
The Syracuse men's track & field team wrapped up the BIG EAST Indoor Championship at the Armory Track with its best showing in 16 years by finishing in fourth place out of 13 conference challengers. In 1993, the Orange posted the same mark before winning the indoor championship in 1992. The women's contingent put forth a 13th place showing at the two-day event. The Orange displayed seven All-BIG EAST performers in the conference culmination. Seniors Ramon Sosa and Michael LeBlanc were Syracuse's two victors with crowns in the 60-meter hurdles and 60-meter dash, respectively, while junior Jon Buice, sophomore Sham Lewis and senior Kyle Heath enjoyed second-place performances. Third-year harrier Brad Miller took third in the mile race while sophomore Flings Owusu-Agyapong was SU's lone female to garner all-conference laurels with her third-place time in the 60-meter dash. Sosa, who set the school record in the 60-meter hurdles at the very same track two weeks ago with a time of 7.75, acquired the Orange's first individual league championship with a first-place, NCAA-Provisional time of 7.87. LeBlanc, who was paired up with three other Orange to constitute half of the 60-meter dash finals, dusted the competition with an IC4A-qualfying mark of 6.77. LeBlanc set the school record at the 2007 BIG EAST Indoor Championship by reaching the tape in 6.71. Lewis finished five one-hundredths of a second behind his teammate in second place with an IC4A-eligible clip of 6.82. Heath turned in Syracuse's third silver showing with an IC4A-eligible time of 8:08.31 in the 3,000-meter, 0:01.25 seconds behind David McCarthy from Providence. Miller, who broke the SU indoor mile record in Boston in the last week of January, picked up all-conference honors with a third-place, IC4A-qualifying time of 4:07.06 in the mile race. Buice came within 61 points of claiming the men's heptathlon championship, posting an NCAA-Provisional total of 5,399 points, just a few notches behind UConn's champ, Aaron King. Buice tallied first-place finishes in the 60-meter dash (7.09), high jump (1.99m) and 60-meter hurdles (8.27) along with a second-place mark of 7.01m in the long jump to aid in his strong performance over the course of two days. Owusu-Agyapong qualified for the ECAC Championship in two weeks by picking up third place for the Orange with her time of 7.46 in the 60-meter dash. SU's solo female to yield all-conference honors has thrice smashed the 60-meter school record this season, as it currently rests as 7.38.
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Last Week
February 21 – BIG EAST Indoor Championship
February 22 – BIG EAST Indoor Championship
This Week
No Event Scheduled
2008-09 Indoor Track & Field Schedule
Women's Ice Hockey
The Syracuse ice hockey team stretched its program-best winning streak to six games with a 3-0 and 4-1 triumph against Division II challenger St. Anselm. Saturday's victory marked the Orange's first victory downtown at the Onondaga County War Memorial as sophomore Rebecca Gordon delivered her first-career game-winning goal. On Friday night, the Orange blanked its third opponent of the season, 3-0, in the final regular-season showing at Tennity Ice Pavilion. Freshman winger Megan Skelly notched her first-career game-winning goal early in the first period to secure SU's fifth consecutive victory. Skelly's game-clincher was done in powerplay fashion, marking her second straight game with an extra-man marker. The Taber, Alberta native had potted a team-best four powerplay goals this season. First-year center Jessica Frump stayed hot from her four-point showing last weekend with the Orange's second goal of the game. The Saugus, Calif. native chalked up five points in three games. Freshman Lisa Mullan the tacked on two assists to bring her season total to a team-best 14 through 26 games. Sophomore Cheyenne Bojeski was SU's third skater riding a three-game pointstreak after doling out her third helper in as many games. Bojeski's three-game span with a point is a career high for the second-year transfer. On Saturday afternoon at the War Memorial, seniors Nikki Leone and Rachel Tilford put an appropriate cap on Syracuse's inaugural ice hockey season as the two fourth-year members figured into SU's final goal of the regular season for the Orange's sixth consecutive victory. Sophomore co-captain Stefanie Marty netted her first-career two-goal game, notching her fourth tally in as many games to fuel the Orange in its program-best sixth straight win. The Nussbaumen, Switzerland's fifth two-point game of the season confirmed her as the regular-season point leader with 21 overall (9 G, 12 A). Marty charges into the playoffs riding her second four-game pointstreak of the season. Syracuse's other captain, sophomore Julie Rising, coordinated both of Marty's goals for her first two-assist outing since Sacred Heart on Oct. 31. Rising finished fourth on the team with 17 points (6 G, 11 A) and attempted a team-high 84 shots through 27 games. Sophomore Keeta Koalska recorded her third point in four games by aiding on Gordon's game-winner, including her first career pointstreak with a goal in the final showing at Tennity Ice Pavilion in the program's first season. Freshman Janelle Malcolm attained her third assist of the year on the same goal. Junior goaltender Lucy Schoedel finished the weekend with 27 saves while freshman goalkeeper Steph Jones relieved Schoedel in Friday night's game and made seven stops.
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Last Week
February 20 – vs. St. Anselm, W 3-0
February 21 – vs. St. Anselm, W, 4-1
This Week
February 24 – at McGill (7 pm – exhibition match)
2008-09 Women's Ice Hockey Schedule
Women's Tennis
The Orange tennis team enjoyed its seventh straight triumph to start off the season as SU took out Massachusetts on Friday afternoon at Drumlins Tennis Center, 6-1. Syracuse notched five singles victories at the No. 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 spots from freshman Emily Harman, Christina Tan, Simone Kalhorn, Ashley Spicer and Chelsea Jones. In doubles action, Harman and Tan obliterated their opponent at the No. 1 doubles post, 8-4, while Spicer and Jones combined for their sixth doubles win at the No. 2 post while freshman Alessondra Parra and Kalhorn endured their test at the No. 3 spot. On Sunday morning, Syracuse faced a stiff test in Iowa State. The previous day, the Cyclones swept UMass, 7-0, before taking on the Orange. The Orange started off all three of its doubles matches in the hole, but each of SU's three tandems banded together and subdued the Cyclones offense, sweeping Iowa State in the doubles portion of the match. Harman and Tan took Erin Karonis and Tessa Lang the distance, coming back to win the No. 1 doubles match 9-8 (6) in tiebreaker fashion for their seventh win at the top spot this year. Spicer and Jones vaulted back against Maria Fernanda Macedo and Marie Christne-Chartier after facing a three-game deficit to win the No. 2 position, 8-6, for their seventh doubles victory of the season, as well. At the No. 3 doubles spot, Kalhorn and Parra clipped Lisa Wischer and Reka Keleman in an 8-6 episode to earn an Orange sweep in doubles action. The No. 3 pairing is now 5-1 in doubles play this season. Tan smothered Lang at the No. 2 spot, 6-2, 6-1, for one of two Syracuse victories in singles battle. Tan is now 4-2 at the No. position and 6-2 overall. Jones blanketed Palen with great all-around play at the No. 6 post, 6-3, 6-2, to improve her singles record to 7-1 on the year.
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Last Week
February 20 – vs. Massachusetts, W, 6-1
February 22 – vs. Iowa State, L, 4-3
Next Week
February 27 – vs. Cornell (6 pm)
March 1 – vs. Rutgers (1 pm)
2009 Women's Tennis Schedule
Softball
The Orange softball took part in an indoor scrimmage where no score was kept against Colgate on Friday night. The team returns to the diamond in Orlando at the University of Central Florida Tournament and will combat five teams in three days.
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Last Week
February 15 – at Colgate (exhibition – no score)
Next Week
February 27 – at Maine (University of Central Florida Tournament) - (1:30 pm)
February 27 – at Central Florida (University of Central Florida Tournament) – (4 pm)
February 28 – at Stony Brook (University of Central Florida Tournament) – (9:30 am)
February 28 – at Eastern Michigan (University of Central Florida Tournament) – (1 pm)
March 1 – Tennessee State (University of Central Florida Tournament) – (9:30 am)
2009 Softball Schedule
Swimming & Diving
Over the course of four days, seven members of the Syracuse University swimming and diving team broke school records at the 2009 BIG EAST Championship in the IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI. Sophomore Kuba Kotynia led the Orange with a fourth place finish in the 200 Breaststroke final on Saturday evening, the last day of competition. Sophomore Berk Kahraman finished in the top five in the 200 Backstroke Final. He placed fourth with a time of 1:47.30. Junior Arda Isiksalan finished soon after Kahraman at 1:47.54, good enough for sixth place. Juniors Alex Taraskin and Boldiszar Kiss both finished in the top 10 in their respective events. Taraksin's time of 44.84 in the 100 Freestyle put him in seventh place, while Kiss' time of 1:47.06 in the 200 Fly earned him a seventh place finish as well. Sophomore Natalie Mazzetta led the SU women during the finals. She placed sixth in the women's 200 Fly, finishing in 2:02.41. Senior Catrina Roth earned an eighth place finish in the 200 Backstroke with a time of 2:02.11 and senior Sarah Manning was 11th in the 1,650 Freestyle at 17:00.92. The final relay event of the championship was the 400 Freestyle Relay. The men's team of Kiss, junior Ryan Corcoran, senior Matt Brock and Taraskin were sixth at 3:01.54. The women's team of sophomore Katlin O'Hara, junior Katelyn Schumacher, Mazzetta and Manning finished eighth with a time of 3:29.54. SUs four-day competition wraps up the 2008-09 swimming & diving.
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Last Week
February 18 - 21 – at BIG EAST Championship
Last Week
Season Completed
2009 Swimming & Diving Schedule
