Fall Sports

A small roster hindered the field hockey team from matching their satisfactory 10-11, 4-8 in the conference record of last year. Despite senior Ellen Scott's unrelenting offense, which earned her a fifth-place ranking among all NCAC scorers, the team only managed a 3-15, 2-10 conference final record.

The minimal numbers, a slow start and several close losses left the team with only two regular season victories and they managed to double this number in the post-season. One memorable victory was the decisive shut-out over Hanover College, who beat second-place Kenyon College.

With five graduating seniors there will only be ten returning players next year, though these ten should have gained valuable experience this season. The team will be built around junior Elizabeth Breakstone in goal and her stellar defense. Good recruiting is definitely in need to restore the team to their former status.

In spurts and slumps the men's soccer team flew precariously through a season that left the team tighter and closer than even the most fraternity based football team. With five graduating seniors, no juniors and 26 returning first-years and sophomores the team is definitely young, but just as definitely has extensive depth to draw upon for next season.

After a Fall Break trip to Vermont and a grueling schedule against many nationally ranked schools the team would come together for a few games of very good soccer. A good half here and an intensive 15 minutes there made the team exciting to watch. Inconsistency kept the team at 2-14-1 for the season though, with no conference wins.

Coach Chris Barker sees the team hitting .500 next season and the host of returning players combined with talented recruits should support this vision. If the spurts are any indication then the team is as good as any team out there. If they can keep this intensity up over the whole season then Barker's goal will be easily reached.

Women's Soccer Coach Blake New called his team of soccer stud-ettes the best team he's ever been around. With a 8-11, 2-6 in conference record, this statement could be born out as the team bettered their record from the previous year and were amazing compared to the year before that.

Though the team has a solid squad of juniors and underclassmen, seniors Atsuko Sakurai, Alina Potrzebowski and Katherine Roberts will be sorely missed. Junior Lisa Novins should continue her season-long string of goals scored at will as she was ranked second in the NCAC among scoring leaders with 14.

One thing the team will need to work on is finishing as they lost just about every game by the score 1-0. If the team can keep up the defense and just make that extra jump towards a dominating offense then they should be able to turn these scores to their own favor.

While the women's cross country team managed to finish their season with a showing at regionals, the men's team, plagued by injuries, only managed to send senior Harsha Thirumurthy and first-year John Rogers.

Undoubtedly the most-missed runners will be seniors Thirumurthy and Trista Thornberry. Both runners garnered All-NCAC honors and racked up a string of impressive wins. Thirumurthy finished second out of all NCAC competitors at Regionals and Thornberry finished 51st, having run the final 1000 meters hand-in-hand with teammate first-year Jenni Huelsman.

Rogers, sophomore Rebecca Grossman, Huelsman, first-year Beth Spalding and sophomore Mark Sasaki should provide a kick for the team next year as they seek to improve on yet another improved season.

The football team snapped a 40-game losing streak with their first win in four years as they opened their season with a bang. Jubilation was short-lived as they then dropped their remaining games to finish the season 1-9

The team feels like the season could have easily gone a different way and thinks that they could have won three close games that they lost. In spite of this optimism, games like the 75-16 loss to Allegheny University seem to dampen the prospects of any serious Yeomen competition at this level.

The team will be losing a small army of seniors, including James Parker, Chris Lavin, Garth Stidolph, Gerald Blankson, Brian Salter and James Quinn. Parker set school records in career yards and completions while Salter led the team in rushing, Quinn set a career mark in interceptions and Blankson played five different positions over his career and acted as the teams' best defensive player.

With good, fresh talent next year and a season behind them that saw the defeat of the 40-game monster, the football team should be able to bump their record up even further next fall.

A lack of focus and a depressing number of what the team refers to as "mental lapses" kept the women's volleyball team from realizing their potential as they slogged through a 2-29 season.

Inexperience was unquestionably an issue as the team started players with little to no volleyball experience, such as setter senior Cerissa Tanner who had never set before. Tanner and company improved dramatically over the season as they learned quickly, put together some very hard-earned points and perpetuated long rallies. Sadly, they could never play consistently at this level and so the losses accumulated.

Serious recruiting seems to be key for the team to be more successful next season. While junior Katie Ruth will continue to deliver big kills, seniors Tanner and Carissa Bennett will be among those not returning. This season should have honed many of the rough edges of off the less experienced and this, combined with new talent, will be crucial in improving the record.