Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Field Hockey '06: Going Bear Huntin'

Austin
The 10 other Centennial Conference field hockey teams are going Bear hunting this fall in hopes of ending Ursinus' 30-game regular-season CC win streak and UC's consecutive title run at two. Ursinus reached the national semifinals last season before being ousted by eventual champion Salisbury. Can the Bears' streaks continue? Here are some teams and players to watch as the new season begins Friday.

Returning 1st team All-Centennial players
B-Karen Wendler, Ursinus, Sr. (Burlington, NJ / Burlington)
F-Katie Austin (pictured), Dickinson, Sr. (Warwick, RI / The Wheeler School)
GK-Jess Lamina, Ursinus, Jr. (Doylestown, PA / Central Bucks West)

Returning 2nd team All-Conference players
B-Nikki Rhodes, Muhlenberg, Jr. (Fleetwood, PA / Oley Valley)
M-Leah Horton, Johns Hopkins, So. (Wayne, PA / Upper Merion)
B-Katie Madron, Washington, Sr. (Rising Sun, MD / Rising Sun)
B-Summer Spicer, Swarthmore, Sr. (Laurel, DE / Laurel)
B-Allison Doutt, Ursinus, Sr. (Willow Street, PA / Lampeter-Strasburg)
F-Lindsay Cappa, Ursinus, Jr. (Oley, PA / Oley Valley)
GK-Karen Lorang, Swarthmore, Sr. (San Diego, CA / University)

Returning Honorable Mention All-CC players
F-Adair Landy, Johns Hopkins, So. (Montclair, NJ / Montclair)
M-Colleen Nugent, McDaniel, Sr. (Lancaster, PA / Lampeter-Strasburg)
F-Jess Rogers, Ursinus, Sr. (Selinsgrove, PA / Selinsgrove)
B-Amy Johnson, Bryn Mawr, Sr. (Bernardsville, NJ / Bernards)
M-Brenna Dolphin, Franklin & Marshall, Sr. (Wilmington, DE / Archmere Academy)
GK-Katherine Corkhill, Gettysburg, Jr. (Paoli, PA / Academy of Notre Dame)
GK-Erin O'Brien, Washington, Jr. (Havre de Grace, MD / John Carroll)

New Coaches
Beth Walkenbach takes over for Melissa Reiss at Franklin & Marshall. She was an assistant coach at Cornell in 2003 and 2004. Colleen Quinn takes over for Maryann Schiller at Haverford. She joins the Fords after serving for two seasons as an assistant at her alma mater, St. Joseph's. Finally, Melissa Miranda takes over the reins at McDaniel, replacing Muffie Bliss. She was an assistant at Washington and Lee from 2002-04.

Top Scorers
Ursinus' Lindsay Cappa scored 18 goals last season - 2nd best in the Conference ... teammates Karen Wendler and Jess Rogers added 15 and 13 tallies, respectively ... Dickinson's Katie Austin also notched 13 goals a year ago.

Miss Assist
Ursinus' Kait Sutherland (Perkiomenville, PA / Perkiomen Valley) led the CC with 13 assists last fall.

Right Place, Right Time
Cappa and Wendler were tied for second in game-winning goals with five ... Muhlenberg's LisaAnn Polt (Somers Point, NJ / Mainland Regional) had four game-winners to her credit.

Last Line of Defense
Gettysburg's Katherine Corkhill, Muhlenberg's Lauren Schram (Bethesda, MD / Winston Churchill) and Ursinus' Jess Lamina were 1-2-3 in goals against average last season at 1.28, 1.52 and 1.53, respectively. Corkhill had eight shutouts.

Notebook
Bryn Mawr's Amy Johnson was the winner of the Centennial Conference Women's Sportsmanship Award last spring ... Gettysburg is making the move from the grass field at Memorial Field to the turf at Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium ... also making the move to turf is Washington, as the new Roy Kirby Jr. Stadium is complete ... seven of Johns Hopkins' opponents were ranked in the 2005 final top 20, including five teams that made the NCAA tournament ... F&M and Gettysburg renew their rivalry for the 39th time (longest in the CC) on Oct. 4.

Games to Watch
Sept. 13 - Salisbury at Johns Hopkins. The defending national champion comes to Homewood Field.
Sept. 30 - McDaniel at Ursinus. The Green Terror took the Bears to OT in Westminster before falling, 4-3.
Oct. 15 - Ursinus vs. Middlebury (at Skidmore). The Bears lost 2-1 to the Panthers last fall in Vermont and will be out for revenge.
Oct. 18 - McDaniel at Gettysburg. The Orange and Blue defeated the Green Terror twice last season with both games determined in overtime.
Oct. 21 - Ursinus at Gettysburg. The Bullets lost just six games last season, including two to the Bears.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I don't like this format, I think the old weekly reports were better.