The men’s soccer team (5-4-2, CAA 2-0) moved above .500 for the first time since their opening day victory over Elon University, opening league play with two momentum-building victories at Albert-Daly Field. The first win came in a 1-0 victory over Hofstra University (1-6-2, CAA 0-2) Friday night, followed by a Sunday afternoon 2-1 overtime thriller against Northeastern University (2-7-0, CAA 0-2). Tribe sophomore midfielder Price Thomas recorded goals in each game while redshirt freshman goalie Andrew McAdams led the defense, allowing for only one score.

p. “It was good to get a shutout and a win,” Head Coach Chris Norris said. “It is good to get off to a good start in the league and important to have a good performance and get some confidence.”
Sunday’s victory over the Northeastern Huskies required overtime to determine the outcome. The College claimed a 2-1 victory when Tribe senior midfielder Doug Ernst buried his own rebound in the second minute of the first overtime.

p. Ernst took a pass from Koger and ripped a shot that was blocked by a Northeastern defensemen near the 18-yard box. After gathering his own rebound, Ernst placed the ball into the net behind helpless Huskies’ goalie Mahmoud Talaat to secure the victory for the Tribe.

p. “[Thomas] played a nice through ball to [Koger] who was running side by side with a defender. Alan got me the ball at the top of the 18. I took a shot, which was blocked by a defender and it popped over the goalie’s head and I was able to walk it in,” Ernst said. “It was very lucky.”

p. The only other score for the College came off of the foot of Thomas in the 20th minute after he cut back on a Northeastern defender, freeing himself up in front of Talaat before shooting the ball to the far post for the goal. Thomas now has four goals in his last five games.

p. Thomas’ goal against Hofstra came in the seventh minute of the match, when redshirt freshman goalkeeper McAdams kicked the ball most of the length of the field to redshirt freshman forward Alan Koger, who flicked his head, directing the ball to a streaking Thomas who beat a Hofstra defender and then the goalie.

p. “The ball came off of a long serve,” Thomas said. “Alan did all of the work to win it and I was able to beat the defender and slide it by the far post.”

p. The goal was the third of the year for Thomas, who tied Koger for the team lead before passing Koger with his fourth goal against Northeastern.

p. “It was a great win for us,” Thomas said. “They beat us in New York 3-0 last year. It is a dream scenario to get a win off the team that won the league last year.”

p. McAdams turned in his third shutout of the year while recording four saves, including a stop with 17 seconds left off of a Hofstra corner kick to preserve the win.

p. “Our defense has played so well. Guys are blocking shots and sacrificing their bodies,” McAdams said. “All three shutouts have been a team effort. Everyone is doing everything to keep the ball out of the net.”

p. The Tribe returns to the field Friday at 7 p.m. when they welcome James Madison University to Albert-Daly Field.

The women’s soccer team recorded a 2-0 win over Hofstra University and a 0-0 draw to Northeastern University in two games on the road over the weekend. The College’s weekend performance moved the Tribe to 8-3-1 (3-0-1 in CAA) thus far.
In Sunday’s matinee with the Northeastern Huskies, the Tribe had 28 shots to Northeastern’s seven and a 7-3 advantage in corner kicks; however, the College could not capitalize on its advantage. With neither team scoring, the game went to two overtime periods before ending in a 0-0 tie. The Tribe brought a lot of pressure in the second half, outshooting Northeastern 15-1, but the attempts could not get past Northeastern’s goalkeeper Annie Petrofsky.

p. Despite little offensive production, College junior goalkeeper Meghan Walker had another impressive performance, earning her sixth shutout this season.

p. “It’s always hard to stay focused when there is little action out there, but I just made sure I maintained my concentration because there is always that one moment when they can break through,” Walker said.

p. Junior forward Claire Zimmeck led the team with seven shots, and junior Danielle Collins and sophomore Sarah Quinlan tallied four tries each.

p. Prior to facing the Huskies, the College headed to Hempstead, N.Y. Friday to take on the Hofstra Pride. Reigning CAA Player of the Week Zimmeck continued her dominance, scoring two goals in the second half to beat the Pride. After a slow first half, Zimmeck provided the spark for the Tribe, recovering a loose ball close to the goal before scoring in the 53rd minute. Her shot from six yards out glanced off the underside of the crossbar before finding the net.

p. “Claire had an awkward angle and it looked like she had no chance of scoring, so when she did it turned the game around and got us all fired up,” Walker said.

p. Zimmeck kept up the intensity and tallied another goal less than three minutes later. Sophomore Krissy Vornadore found Zimmeck downfield after intercepting a Hofstra throw-in, and Zimmeck capitalized, scoring from the top of the box. Her shot found the lower left corner, giving her a team-high nine goals in the last nine games.

p. Walker also had a fine performance, stopping the Pride’s eight shots to record another shutout. The weekend shutouts give her a goals-against average of 0.49 goals on the season and give the Tribe a total of eight shutouts.

p. The College continues its conference road swing Friday at 7 p.m. when it travels to Harrisonburg, Va. to meet James Madison Univeristy.

The College had a very successful two-game road trip this weekend as they took down two CAA opponents. The Tribe traveled to Towson University Friday night and shutout the Tigers 3-0, behind the strength of freshman Erin Skipper’s team-leading 11 kills and junior Kim Mount’s match-high 43 assists.

p. The team then traveled farther north to take on the University of Delaware Saturday night and came away with another win, this time by a score of 3-2. Skipper was once again a key contributor for the Tribe, tallying 20 kills and 19 digs. Her efforts over the weekend garnered her first career CAA Rookie of the Week award. The victory moved the Tribe into a tie for first place in the CAA standings, as they now possess a 4-1 conference record and 9-9 overall record.

Senior Alex Cojanu and sophomore Keziel Juneau knocked off the no. 2 Stanford University team of Matt Bruch and Blake Muller by a score of 9-7 last Thursday in order to advance to the round of 16 of the All-American Tennis Doubles Championship. The duo, ranked 11th in the nation, then fell in the round of 16 to the 20th-ranked team of Jonas Berg and Erling Tveit of the University of Mississippi. Cojanu and Juneau are now 2-2 on the year.

The Tribe’s no. 1-ranked doubles team of senior Megan Moulton-Levy and junior Katarina Zoricic caused their own elimination in the quarterfinals of the Riviera/ITA All-American Tennis Championships Friday in Pacific Palisades, Calif. The tandem was set to face Louisiana State University’s 13th-ranked doubles team of Megan Falcon and Hannah Robinson, but according to TennisNews.com, Moulton-Levy and Zoricic arrived late for the match, allowing Falcon and Robinson to advance to the semifinals.

p. Last year Moulton-Levy and Zoricic entered the tournament ranked 22nd and earned a trip to the semifinals before falling to Notre Dame’s third-ranked team of Catrina Thompson and Christian Thompson 8-6. The College’s fall season continues this weekend in Newport News at the Hampton Road Collegiate Invitational as the Tribe prepares for the ITA East Regional Championships to be held Oct. 19 to 23, also in Newport News.

The Tribe suffered two losses during their two-game CAA road trip this weekend. After losing 2-0 to Drexel University Friday, the Tribe fell to Hofstra University 2-0 Sunday afternoon, dropping to 6-7 overall and 1-4 in the CAA. In both games, the team relinquished a goal less than seven minutes into play and despite good efforts in the second halves, the College could not recover from the opposition’s early offensive runs.

p. Seniors Kim Hedley and Gwen Hunter performed well this weekend as the forward Hedley took five shots between both games to make the Tribe transition game possible, and goalkeeper Hunter made 11 saves against the Drexel Dragons and five against the Hofstra Pride.

p. “Gwen is an exceptional athlete with years of game experience and a tireless work ethic,” Head Coach Peel Hawthorne said, according to TribeAthletics.com.

p. The College’s Sunday 2-0 loss to Hofstra extended the Tribe’s losing streak to four games. Seven minutes into play, a Pride forward stole the ball from a Tribe defender, making a breakaway and rifling a shot past Hunter for the game’s first goal. Hofstra scored again only moments later off a rebound.

p. In the second half, the College increased the intensity of play, creating several opportunities to score and claimed a commanding 10-5 lead in shots on goal after being outshot 7-1 in the first half. The Tribe could not finish, however, and went scoreless for its second straight game.

p. The Tribe had a chance when a deflected shot from Tribe freshman forward Liz Loudy won a penalty corner. Unfortunately, senior Laura Kastelic’s strong shot did not convert the corner to a goal. Despite the shots, including one from Hedley off a solid pass in front of the goal, and a penalty corner, the Tribe could not put one away. Hofstra ended the game on the attack, but Hunter kept the game at 2-0 with two saves.

p. Friday’s match with the Drexel Dragons saw the College struggle offensively as Drexel led the College in shots on goal 15-10 and in penalty corners 6-4. Less than five minutes into play, the Dragons scored their first goal. Hunter kept the College in the game, making four saves in the beginning of the game, and the Tribe had its first scoring opportunity with three minutes left in the half, but the Drexel goalkeeper denied the shot.

p. After halftime, the Dragons came out with a vengeance, taking three shots on goal within the first six minutes, but Hunter stopped each attempt. The College earned its first penalty shot 43 minutes into play, but could not convert on the scoring chance. The teams traded empty possessions until Drexel found the cage for the second time with less than four minutes left in the game to secure its 2-0 victory.

p. The College steps outside the conference when the no. 1 ranked University of North Carolina — Chapel Hill visits Busch Field Friday at 4 p.m.

For the past several seasons, the Major League Baseball playoffs have been sadly devoid of thrilling storylines. With the exception of the 18-inning Astros-Cardinals instant classic in the 2005 National League Championship Series, the chief plots of the last two postseasons have largely revolved around the big game struggles of the $200 million New York Yankees and the extreme mediocrity of the various National League representatives. By contrast, the 2003 and 2004 playoffs served up such iconic moments as the Pedro Martinez-Don Zimmer brawl, the infamous Steve Bartman’s misguided attempt to catch a foul ball and the Boston Red Sox’ incredible comeback to win the 2004 World Series and end their 86-year championship drought. However, if the events of the past month are any indication, the baseball postseason is back, with several riveting stories to follow.

p. Baseball’s 2007 stretch run was one of historic proportions. While the American League’s playoff qualifiers were decided early with little drama, the National League offered two pennant races for the ages. September 12th, the New York Mets sat comfortably in first place, leading the second place Philadelphia Phillies by 7 games for the NL East title. Conversely, the Colorado Rockies sat a distant 2.5 games out of the NL wild card, trailing the red hot San Diego Padres for the final playoff spot. After that date, however, the Mets simply could not win; and the Phillies and Rockies were unbeatable. Down the stretch, New York lost an abysmal 12 of their last 17 games, blowing the largest September lead in baseball history (the 1934 New York Giants and 1938 Pittsburgh Pirates both blew equal September leads), allowing Philadelphia to draw even in the division with a game to play in the season. On the final Sunday afternoon, the Mets sent future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine to the mound, only to watch as he surrendered seven runs in the first inning to the Florida Marlins, dooming New York to what is possibly the worst regular season choke in the history of the game.

p. In Colorado, the Rockies punched their ticket to the postseason in even more dramatic fashion, winning an incredible 14 out of their final 15 games to tie the Padres for the Wild Card at season’s end. This earned them the right to host San Diego in a one-game playoff to determine the winner of the NL Wild Card berth. The situation seemed dire as the Padres sent probable Cy Young winner Jake Peavy, with his league-leading 2.54 ERA, to the mound. However, Colorado persevered and eventually sent the game into extra innings, only to watch the Padres score two runs in the top of the 13th to take a seemingly insurmountable lead. Yet the Rockies still refused to surrender, scoring three runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a wild 9-8 victory in one of the best games in recent memory, securing their second-ever trip to the postseason.

p. As of press time, the respective Divisional Series had featured a slew of dominating performances. In the National League, the Rockies continued their hot play by sweeping the Phillies behind strong pitching from their starting rotation. Similarly, the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Chicago Cubs in three games, rendering their $300 million worth of offseason upgrades virtually impotent against the team with the top record in the NL. In the American League, the Boston Red Sox, baseball’s top overall seed, handled the Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim) with ease, riding the hot hitting of Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz to a three-game sweep. In Cleveland, the Indians took the first two from the New York Yankees before falling 8-4 in New York, leaving the Indians with a 2-1 series lead.

p. Over the next few weeks, as the postseason plays out, several intriguing plotlines will resolve. In New York, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, fed up with his team’s inability to win when it counts, has issued an ultimatum, declaring future Hall of Fame coach Joe Torre will be fired if the Yankees fail to advance. While it was rumored that Steinbrenner had decided to fire Torre after last season’s playoff collapse only to undergo a last-minute change of heart, it is unlikely that Torre will be able to save his job a second time, as the Yankees simply do not have the pitching to climb out of their 2-1 series deficit with Cleveland. Look for the Indians to win game four in New York and advance to face the Red Sox in the ALCS.

p. This year’s NLCS features two teams that are no strangers to each other, having faced off 18 times this season. While Colorado has the hot hand at the moment, expect Arizona’s superior starting pitching, led by the sinkerballer Brandon Webb, to quell the Rockies’ momentum and lead Arizona to the World Series in a 4-2 series victory. In the American League, while the Indians have looked strong in taking two of three from the Yankees, the Boston Red Sox played as close to a perfect series as can be reasonably expected against the Angels in the ALDS. While their offense is hitting at prolific levels and Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling and Jonathan Papelbon continue to anchor a dominant pitching staff, there’s not a team in baseball that can beat them. The Red Sox will beat the Indians in six, then sweep the Arizona Diamondbacks to win their second title in four years.

p. __Email Matt Poms at mbpoms@wm.edu.__