Student Blogs #2

Morgan Koopman, McDaniel College Women’s Golf

McDaniel Tournament Fights Through Mother Nature
The weekend seemed to fly by so fast, as it is already Monday and another grueling week lies ahead. A week of many tests and papers awaits, and it was very hard to prepare for them as my weekend was consumed by golf, golf and golf. As I mentioned before, McDaniel College hosted its own golf invitational this weekend at The Bridges Golf Club. Many teams attended the tournament, from Division I, II, and III institutions, specifically, New York University, Kutztown University, SUNY Cortland, Gettysburg College, Nazareth College, and Franklin & Marshall College.

Saturday we had tee times starting at 1:30 p.m. Normally I would not prefer to tee off so late, but for this weekend in particular, it was great because of the weather. Unfortunately, Mother Nature was not too kind this weekend. Both days it was between 35-40 degrees with wind, so if we would have played in the morning time, it would have been even chillier. The conditions were very brutal, and made for tough play on both days; however, McDaniel finished 4th out of 7 teams, and first out of the two other teams in the Centennial Conference (Gettysburg and Franklin & Marshall).

Saturday and Sunday were both very long days. Both days we would make the trip to the course around noon, and not return until about 8:00 p.m. that evening. After such a long day, it is hard to keep a good energy level to begin homework due for the upcoming week. This week, it is especially important to get ahead on all assignments because it is a very important weekend here at McDaniel College.

On Friday, April 1, McDaniel’s “Spring Fling” begins and continues into Saturday, April 2. I have never personally experienced Spring Fling because usually our Conference Championships are held during the same weekend, but for some reason Spring Fling is a bit earlier this year, and it just so happens that we do not have a golf tournament schedule for this day. I have heard many fun and exciting stories about Spring Fling. Apparently, many different fun activities are available for students to do. For example, there are many sporting events that are played throughout the day on campus, as well as music, food, prizes, and even an inflatable moon bounce to jump in! Needless to say, I am super excited to go to my first Spring Fling, and I will certainly enjoy it because I am not be able to participate in years to come due to our golf schedule.

I hope that everyone has an enjoyable week. Until next time…



Vivien Chen, Bryn Mawr College Women’s Tennis

To Give it Your All …

The school year goes by so much quicker when you’re in season. I think this is mostly because my mind preoccupies itself with future match dates, so I am always constantly looking forward to a new challenge or new event. So far, we are scheduled to play Muhlenberg College on Wednesday, March 30, so I think the team is definitely pumped for that match. Before we know it, Wednesday will be right around the corner and soon this week will almost be over; however let’s not forget our match on Saturday against Dickinson College.

Thinking about how many matches the team has played thus far really makes the season seem so short, and that is without a doubt one of the sad parts about it. If you really think about it, the season is quite short, especially in the fall. This has huge importance to me. This means that it is so important to put a lot of effort in our matches (as our coach says: give 200% effort and leave the court knowing you left everything on it), no matter the opponent. This brings up our match against Johns Hopkins University this past weekend. This match was definitely an interesting one especially since it was scheduled to be a “home” match; but because the cold weather would not permit us to play outdoors, we instead played indoors at Swarthmore College. Going into the match knowing that Johns Hopkins is the top tennis team of the conference, did not deter us from giving all our effort. Before the match, we did not think this would be an automatic “loss” for us; instead, we believed that this was a great opportunity and experience for us to play against one of the top teams in the conference and we kept this mindset while playing our individual matches. Johns Hopkins played its game well, and I was more than pleased with our performance and effort against them.

I briefly mentioned before that our location for the match had to be changed last minute. Even though this may seem to pose as a small obstacle that can easily and quickly be fixed, it definitely was not. Sometimes, I feel that team members expect certain things from their coaches. Something like a location change for a match can easily be resolved by pushing the match until the end of the season, but instead my coach made the effort to convenience our team and Johns Hopkins’ team (by saving them a trip and us a match at the end of the season) and hustled to get available indoor courts for us. This meant drafting a proposal, contacting various sources like Swarthmore College’s athletic department and Johns Hopkins’ tennis coach, verifying this change with the referee, getting a time change for the match, and finally, making sure the teams’ schedules would permit this new time of competition.

This common example just shows the lengths in which our coaches take for us, and this should not go unnoticed. Our coaches are always there for us, and therefore I believe we should be there for them too – giving 200% effort during practices and during matches is a good start to show them we care and appreciate them, too.

2011 Spring Student Blogs

The spring of 2011 brings us three new Centennial Conference student blogs. Freshmen Vivian Chen, who is a member of the women’s tennis team at Bryn Mawr College, will welcome us into her world as a first-year college student who participates in a varsity athletic program. Junior Taryn Abbassian is a member of the Dickinson College women’s lacrosse team and will bring a veteran feel to the student blog experience. Finally, representing McDaniel College is sophomore Morgan Koopman, who participates on the women’s golf team. Koopman is majoring in Communications at McDaniel and is in the midst of her second year with the program. Each student’s spring sports season is underway and throughout the upcoming weeks will discuss the day-to-day events of a student within the Centennial Conference. So with further a due, here’s the crew!

Conference Play is Underway

By Vivien Chen

Bryn Mawr College Women’s Tennis

Last week was a hectic one in terms of schoolwork, meetings with professors and tennis. Even though weeks like this come around, it’s important to be able to prioritize your schedule and tennis practice is always one of the most important for me, especially last week since I knew our first conference match of the season was looming ahead.

After hours of hard work and practice, we were ready to leave Saturday morning for Gettysburg. After two and half hours in the bus, we finally arrived to our destination. To our pleasant surprise, the men’s tennis team of Haverford was also at Gettysburg to play their match. This was a comforting feeling for us because we don’t have a male population at our college, so we cheer on our “bi-co cousins” at Haverford College; the Haverford tennis team also made a nice gesture and cheered us on, as well.

Unfortunately, we lost to Gettysburg (7-2). This was a huge disappointment for us – we put a lot of effort in our practices and even had an advantage by training in Florida for a week. We definitely had matched skill levels, but in the end our nerves got the better of us and Gettysburg was able to see through that and clutch the match.

This match was an eye-opener for us. Even though we know we have the right skills, we lacked the amount of confidence we needed against Gettysburg. We knew we could pull a win, but our attitudes on and off the court had not shown that. We learned a great lesson in that match - it is important to believe in your team and in yourself, but it is more important to show that belief in your attitude on and off the court. This is something we will definitely work on for the following matches.

Spring Break in Carlisle, Pennsylvania

By Taryn Abbassian

Dickinson College Women’s Lacrosse

It’s Sunday March 20^th, which much to my dismay means that Spring Break 2011 in Carlisle has reached its conclusion. I’ve spent the day holding on to my last bits of free time before its back to the grind of classes, papers, and tests. I slept in and then went over to what has felt like my second home this week, Miseno’s. For those of you who may not be familiar, Miseno’s is a Carlisle staple for pizza, pasta and anything else of that nature, and it also was the main source of sustenance for Dickinson Women’s Lacrosse for the past week.

Truth be told, I felt like quite the VIP whenever I went in there. Before break started, my team hand the opportunity to put in individual orders for a handful of meals. When the time came to eat, all we had to do was show up, give them our names, and they would instantly provide us with our personalized meal packaged neatly in a to-go bag with each of our names on it. I thought for sure I’d be on Miseno’s overload by the end of the week, but due to my diverse meal selection, the last was as good as the first.

After a wonderful satisfying meal, a few of my teammates and I went into town to celebrate my favorite holiday: Free Rita’s Ice Day. I’m not sure how this holiday is celebrated in other regions, but in Carlisle it’s quite the extravaganza. There were balloons, tents, decorations, and even life-sized Rita’s mascots. As senior Maggie Peeke put it, “It looks like the President is in town or something.” Needless to say, we very much enjoyed these cool and complimentary treats on such a sunny, Carlisle day; however when we were finished, it was off to put the “student” back in student-athlete.

Today has been the typical Sunday for me in that I’ve been procrastinating my work most of the day. However, since I’m technically still on spring break until tomorrow at 8:30 a.m., I feel that this is acceptable. This blog has also been a fantastic addition to my stalling routine as it is much more fun for me to write about lacrosse and my own life than to write about something for class.

Like I mentioned before, our team didn’t leave campus for break, but I think I speak for a lot of the team when I say we had a fantastic time in and around Carlisle this week. Monday, we had early practice so that we could have the rest of the day for some team activities. We caravanned to the nearby Coliseum for a day of bowling, arcade games and prizes. Despite some minor reservations from teammates, I think everyone had a fantastic time bowling; even though our coaches were better than any of us.

Some other highlights of the week included the “breakfast for dinner” team potluck we had before our St. Mary’s game and big team win against conference opponent Bryn Mawr. The bus ride home also marked one of my favorite parts of the year, IPOD KARAOKE. Each participant picks out a song, turns their music on full blast, and gives their best rendition to the entire bus.

Some of the seniors started us off with the same, classic songs they’ve sang the past four years, and then it was on to the freshmen who were absolutely hilarious. Some of the best included Carsen’s version of “Remix to Ignition,” Jess’s adaptation of “Party in the U.S.A” and Coach Miller’s performance of “Proud Mary.”

So, after a great win and a very entertaining ride home, we all returned to Carlisle in very high spirits. This week I can look forward to my mom and twin sister’s visit this weekend, and our second conference game this Saturday.

As I mentioned before, we have our next conference game this Saturday against Ursinus, and with no other games until then we have all week to prepare. We’re all looking forward to working hard and having this week to take a step back and refocus on what we need to do to be successful for this leg of our season.

Until next time, I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes: "The more you sweat in peacetime, the less you bleed in war." -George S. Patton

Above: Dickinson women's lacrosse team holds a surprise baby shower for Coach Hatton

Goodbye Myrtle Beach, Hello Reality

By Morgan Koopman

McDaniel College Women’s Golf

Hello again! After a spectacular spring break in sunny, warm Myrtle Beach, it is back to reality at McDaniel College. This week is by far one of the most depressing weeks of the semester. If driving back eight hours from South Carolina to Maryland on St. Patrick ’s Day was not bad enough, classes have now resumed and will continue until mid-May when school ends for the summer.

The week in which everyone returns from their mini-vacation is always the worst. Of course, every one comes back as tan as a member from the Jersey Shore, but all the fun and games subside and school work takes over. Thankfully, this week I will not have that much work, as we slowly ease back into things in my classes. However, I know that these remaining few months will prove to be very exhausting in no time, where I will have to balance my work and athletic schedule.

Another thing that makes the return from spring break quite depressing is getting all the tests back that we took before we left. Many people, including myself, hate receiving grades. Receiving those midterm grades as soon as we return only puts a bigger damper on the already miserable week.

On a brighter note, the women’s golf team will compete in our first real tournament of the spring this weekend. The McDaniel Spring Invitational is a two-day tournament that will be held at The Bridges Golf Club in Abbottstown, Pa. Hopefully the Maryland weather will cooperate throughout the week and allow us to practice outside in semi-decent temperatures. It will be a very tough transition from playing in the flawless Myrtle Beach weather, but I think that we can handle it.

Without a doubt, our trip to Myrtle Beach was something very advantageous. It was great for many reasons. Our team chemistry definitely improved throughout the week due to the many hours spent together. Our schedule every day was very similar. We would wake up around 8:30 a.m., cook breakfast and pack lunches, get dressed and be in the van to go practice around 9:30 a.m.

After practicing at the range, we headed over to the course to play eighteen holes. After our round every day, we would then go practice a little more on the range until about 5:00 p.m. After a hard days work, we would return home and shower, then off we went again to eat.

I believe that our team will be better prepared for our tournament this weekend because of how much we practiced over break. The practice was definitely needed because the weather in Maryland has prevented our team from getting in good practices. Hopefully we take advantage of how much we practiced and apply it to our rounds this weekend. I am very much looking forward to officially beginning our season this weekend. Until next week…

Above: McDaniel women's golf team takes a moment for a team photo during their spring break training in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Five-Star Matchups

The first weekend of spring certainly is colder than most of us would like ... but it is here and with it comes the first weekend of Conference play in baseball and softball. Can Johns Hopkins and Dickinson repeat? They both face big challenges on Saturday, while key lacrosse and tennis matches are also on the docket. Bundle up and we hope to see you at a Centennial game this weekend.

BASEBALL
Johns Hopkins at Haverford (2)
Dickinson at Swarthmore (2)
The defending CC champs and the three teams with the best non-conference records in the Centennial meet in doubleheaders to open the 2011 season. Hopkins (7-5) travels to the Main Line to take on Haverford (13-2) in a rematch of last spring's CC title game. OF Jesse Sikorski leads the Jays with a .372 average and 12 RBI, while SS Charlie Carluccio has a .396 average and 16 ribbies for the Fords. Pitching will be the order of the day as JHU throws (probable) Alex Eliopoulos (3-1, 1.02) and Sam Eagleson (1-0, 2.41), while Haverford counters with Colin Sarafin (3-1, 3.38) and Jonny Williams (3-0, 1.29).

Down the road a piece in Delaware County, the Red Devils (13-4) and the Garnet (9-5) meet in a twinbill. OF Mike Schuster is hitting .443 and has seven steals for Dickinson, while C Mike Waterhouse has a .449 average with 16 RBI and a .653 slugging percentage for Swarthmore. Probable pitchers: D-Sean White (3-1, 1.67) and Evan Fitzpatrick (3-1, 2.03); S-Ignacio Rodriguez (2-1, 2.89) and Neil Mejia (1-0, 3.29) or Kyle Crawford (0-1, 9.00).

SOFTBALL
Ursinus at Dickinson
The Red Devils (5-9) open defense of their 2010 Centennial title by taking on the new-look Bears (6-5). 1B Madison Gerish is hitting at a .350 clip for Dickinson with 11 RBI, while OF Amy Gentile has a .440 average for UC. Allison Jordan (2-3, 2.57) has fanned 52 in 32 2/3 innings of mound work, while rookie Chelsea Homa (2-3, 0.24) has 43 K's in 29 1/3 innings for the Devils. Jennilyn Weber (4-2, 1.02) may see double-duty on the mound for Ursinus.

WOMEN'S LACROSSE
Ursinus at Dickinson
The Bears (1-0, 3-4) travel to Carlisle to take on the Red Devils (1-0, 4-5) in a late March contest to could have playoff implications in late April. Ursinus leads the series, 13-4, and snapped a four-game skid to Dickinson with a 9-3 triumph last season in Collegeville. Allison Furman (9-11-20) and Alyssa Thren (20-1-21) are a potent 1-2 offensive combo for the Bears, but will be challenged by Devil 'keeper Jessie Clark who leads the CC with a .507 save percentage.

MEN'S LACROSSE
Ursinus at Dickinson
Are you noticing a trend that Carlisle is the "place to be" for big Conference games on Saturday? The men's lax contest between the first-place Bears (2-0, 6-1) and the 12th ranked Red Devils (0-0, 6-1) should be no exception. Dickinson has a 6-2 all-time lead in the series, but Ursinus has won two of the last three games by two-goal margins in 2008 and 2009. The top two scorers in the Centennial will be on display in the Devils' Brian Cannon (18-16-34) and the Bears' Jeff Ocampo (24-6-30).

MEN'S and WOMEN'S TENNIS
Johns Hopkins at Swarthmore
It's a rematch of the 2010 Centennial team finals as the Blue Jays and the Garnet meet in a net doubleheader at the Mullen Tennis Center. The 11th ranked Hopkins women (1-0, 3-0) defeated the Garnet (2-0, 3-5) a year ago for their fourth straight Conference title. Four of the top 25 ranked women in the Atlantic South region will play on Saturday in JHU's Carolyn Warren (4), Nandita Krishnan (10) and Hailey Hogan (11), along with Swarthmore's Lia Carlson (24).

The Blue Jay men (1-0, 4-3), ranked 13th nationally, downed the Garnet (1-0, 4-5) for their fourth consecutive Centennial championship last spring. JHU has three players ranked in the Atlantic South region - Andrew Wang (8), Andy Hersh (9) and Warren Elgort (11), while the doubles team of Casey Blythe and Jacob Barnaby are fifth.

MEN'S GOLF
McDaniel Invitational at The Bridges GC
All seven of the Conference's teams will participate in the 36-hole McDaniel Invitational this weekend. The Invitational will also serve as the Conference's qualifying tournament for the NCAA championship, should the Centennial tournament be unable to be played on April 30-May 1. McDaniel posted the lowest team stroke average in the fall (311.08), led by senior Paul Kovalcheck who carded the low individual average (74.50). Also watch Gettysburg's Peter Ruymann (75.33) and F&M's Cameron Warner (75.50).

Five-Star Matchups

It's the first edition of Five-Star Matchups for the spring season as men's and women's lacrosse heads into the Conference schedule.

Haverford at Gettysburg (Men's Lacrosse)
It's a rematch of last spring's championship game as the eighth-ranked Fords (5-1) and the 18th ranked Bullets (4-3) open the Centennial schedule. Haverford captured its first-ever CC crown with a 11-8 victory over Gettysburg at the Battlefield - a place that the Black Squirrels had not defeated the Bullets since the inception of the Conference in 1994. Gettysburg leads the all-time series, 27-3. Haverford has a balanced scoring attack with five players with seven or more goals, while the Bullets have a quartet of players with eight or more tallies. The third period will be crucial, as the Fords have outscored their opponents, 14-6, while Gettysburg has a 19-9 advantage in the third period.

Haverford at Gettysburg (Women's Lacrosse)
The Conference schedules kicks off with a whale of a matchup between the perennial power Bullets (3-1) and the upstart Fords (4-1). Gettysburg has won 17 straight games in the series since a 13-6 loss at Haverford in 1994. The Fords' only win at the Battlefield was in 1986 (9-7). The Bullets are led in scoring by Lindsey Robinson (11-11-22) and Hannah Church (14-4-18), while Haverford turns to Josie Ferri (25-9-34).

Muhlenberg at Franklin & Marshall (Women's Lacrosse)
The new-look Diplomats (4-1) take on the fast-starting Mules (4-1) who look to reverse history Saturday in Lancaster. Muhlenberg is 0-26 against F&M and has only come within four goals of the Blue once since 1994. Lauren Selawski leads the Dips in scoring (10-6-16), while the Mules are led by the one-two combo of Danielle Rosen and Angela Napoletano who each have 19 goals.