While most of the student body has been home for semester break, Brown's winter-season student-athletes have been back on campus to ring in 2006 with games and two-a-days. The following is the first of two Web updates The Herald's sports section will run before production begins again on Jan. 25.
Double Trouble: Hayes '06 and Kelly '06 power w. basketball past Maine
With Ivy League play looming on the horizon, the women's basketball team put the clamps on University of Maine Saturday night at the Pizzitola Center. The Bears outscored Maine 19-5 in the final 10 minutes of play to turn a 41-34 deficit into a 55-46 victory. Captain Sarah Hayes '06 led Brown with 20 points and 10 rebounds to record her first double-double of the season.
"Everyone was very aggressive in going to the basket and trying to score," Hayes said of the Bears' second-half comeback. "We knew we had to make up the deficit with defense and rebounding."
With Hayes and Colleen Kelly '06, who chipped in 19 points, leading the way on the offensive end, the entire squad combined to shut down the Black Bears in the closing minutes. For the game, Brown posted a 43-28 advantage on the boards and grabbed 18 rebounds to Maine's seven during their late run, allowing them to control the tempo of the game.
The downing of Maine comes on the heels of the Bears' strong performance in the Georgia Tech University Holiday Invitational, where the team split two games. On Dec. 30, the Bears lost to the University of Massachusetts 70-60, but bounced back to defeat Alabama State University 67-55 in the tournament's consolation game.
The Bears will carry a two-game winning streak into their game against Marist College on Tuesday night. The game will serve as their final tune-up before opening Ivy League play Jan. 14 at Yale.
Wrestlers do Texas 2-2-Step
Everything is big in Texas. That includes their wrestling tournaments.
The wrestling team posted a 2-2 mark this past weekend at the Lone Star Duals in Dallas, where the 19-team college tournament featured some of the best wrestling programs in the nation, including No. 3 University of Oklahoma, No. 18 University of Wisconsin and Purdue University.
The Bears lost to both Wisconsin and Purdue, falling to the Boilermakers 20-16 in a match that went down to the wire, but they dismantled South Dakota State University and California State Univeristy, Fullerton to leave the Lone Star State satisfied.
"We wrestled some tough teams; there are always good teams down in Texas," said captain Michael Savino '06. "We went 2-2 and we are happy with that. If one or two things went a different way we could have been 3-1. Overall, the guys are pretty happy with their performance and our coaches were pleased."
Savino, wrestling in his first meet for the team this season after taking last semester off, won three of his four matches on the weekend at the 157 lb. position. Savino soundly defeated challengers from both Cal-State Fullerton and South Dakota State and dropped a close decision to Craig Henning of Wisconsin, the No. 12 wrestler in the nation at the 157 lb. weight class. He bounced back from that defeat by securing an 8-6 victory over Purdue's Jake Murphy in overtime to keep the Bears in contention for the team victory.
"I thought I wrestled pretty well for facing such tough competition in my first match back," Savino said of his performance on Saturday.
Shawn Kitchner '07 dominated for Bruno at the 165 lb. spot. He won all four of his matches on the weekend, securing Brown's only points against Wisconsin and winning a crucial match against Risto Marttinen of Cal-State Fullerton, 8-3, to help propel Brown to a 25-20 team victory.
The Bears return to Providence this weekend to host Boston University and American University, a match they are looking forward to.
"It's nice to be going home," Savino said. "Even though school is not in session right now, we should have a good home crowd to look forward to. BU and American are both good teams, but (this weekend) showed we can beat good teams."
W. icers freeze No. 7 Princeton
The women's ice hockey team has come out of the holiday break in top form, defeating ECACHL opponents Quinnipiac 4-0 Friday and No. 7 Princeton 4-3 on Saturday night. The wins upped the Bears' conference record to 4-1-1, and while their nine points are only good for sixth in the conference, every team ahead of them has played at least eight games.
The Bears (6-7-1 overall) easily dispatched ECACHL newcomers Quinnipiac at Meehan Auditorium, with Stacy Silverman '08 picking up the shutout victory, needing to make just 24 saves. Hayley Moore '08 and Francis Male '09 each notched a goal and an assist, while Rylee Olewinski '08 and Savannah Smith '08 rounded out the scoring. Moore and Male lead Brown in scoring, with 14 and eight points respectively.
"The lines are really clicking. They've been together for a while and have been working out for us. The offensive part of our game is something we've really been working on since we got back (from break)," said defenseman Ashlee Drover '06.
Saturday's upset against Princeton was keyed by the team's seniors, as assistant captain Keaton Zucker '06 put the game-winner home less than a minute into the final period. Fellow classmates Lindsey Glennon '06, who recently returned to the team after missing the beginning of the season, and Myria Heinhuis '06 added assists, while Moore, Male and Smith netted the other goals. Picking up the win in net and making 42 saves, O'Hara Shipe '08 was named ECACHL goalie of the week.
"Our leadership has been key. We've got great captains in Keaton Zucker and Ashlee Drover," Shipe said. "We've got a great defensive corps in general. It's also been important to get Lindsey Glennon back."
The women will face an even tougher challenge this weekend, when they travel to face ranked opponents in No. 10 Clarkson University and No. 1 St. Lawrence University.
Friske '09 helps m. basketball right ship
After a poor stretch of play after finals that saw the men's basketball team fall to the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore, United States Naval Academy and University at Albany, the Bears have won two of their last three. Brown beat the United States Military Academy on New Year's Eve, 59-57, before falling to Canisius College at home 69-55. The team recovered by knocking off Quinnipiac Saturday, 64-60, to up their record to 4-9.
"Early in the season, when games got tight we'd falter and lose, especially after exam break where we had a few close ones we could have won. Now we're doing all the right things to win those games," said tri-captain Luke Ruscoe '06.
With the emergence of Scott Friske '09, who has won the last two Ivy League Player of the Week awards, the team seems to have found the go-to scorer it was lacking in the early part of the season. In the four games during that span, he has averaged 19.5 points and 8.8 rebounds, helping fill the void left by Ruscoe, the team's lone senior, who has missed the last five games due to injury.
Friske poured in a career high 24 points against Army and then topped that against Quinnipiac with 26. Most importantly, Friske has performed marvelously in the clutch. His jumper with .6 of a second left on the clock downed the Black Knights, and his free-throw shooting down the stretch - he made 4-of-4 in the last 23 seconds as Quinnipiac tried to tie the game - secured the victory against the Bobcats.
"The coaches have given me a lot of confidence to start looking for more scoring opportunities. It's huge to have your coach getting you to look for your own game a little more," Friske said. "(When Ruscoe comes back,) I would assume my role's going to change some, but I'm looking forward to whatever that is."
The Bears begin Ivy League play with games against Yale the next two Saturdays. Ruscoe said he expects to play in the Ivy opener.
M. icers clawing way back into ECACHL race
In a season devoid of many victories, the men's ice hockey has played three straight overtime games since returning from exam break. Unfortunately, the Bears failed to emerge with a win in any of those games. Brown tied Colgate University 3-3 on Dec. 22, lost to Quinnipiac University 3-2 Friday and ended Saturday's game with Princeton knotted 2-2.
Despite the lack of victories, the three straight overtime games may mark a turning point in Bruno's season as the team looks to make a second half push to the playoffs. Brown had been outscored 17-5 in its previous four games before limiting Colgate to just three goals on 27 shots.
Adam D'Alba '08 has shined in net for the Bears during its recent three-game streak. He made a season high 39 saves against Quinnipiac to keep Bruno's hopes for victory alive. D'Alba's performance against the Bobcats set the stage for some third period heroics courtesy of Chris Poli '08 and Sean Dersch '07. Poli's tally six minutes into the third and Dersch's score with a little over a minute remaining erased a 2-0 deficit, but Quinnipiac's David Marshall chipped in the winner just 61 seconds into the extra period to ruin the comeback.
D'Alba turned aside 27 more shots against Princeton, but the Bears were unable to tame the Tigers' talented forward, Brett Wilson, who provided both Princeton scores in the 2-2 tie.
Brown looks to break its overtime streak or at least emerge with a victory in the extra frame when it takes on the University of Connecticut on Tuesday night.
