Three games on sports stream today

By Andrew Fletcher

Busy day ahead for the WQAQ Sports Department.  At noon, baseball is playing a doubleheader in Maryland against Mount St. Mary’s.  Mike Radomski will have the call on the baseball sports stream.

At 1 p.m., Corey Hersch, Andrew Gau and Robin Schuppert will call men’s lacrosse against Denver on the lacrosse sports stream.

Also at 1 p.m., softball is playing a doubleheader against Central Connecticut, with Alex Birsh, Jeremy Schilling and Amanda Pugliese bringing you the action live on our softball sports stream.

Be sure to listen and support the department and your Bobcats!

Men’s lacrosse ends skid, routs Detroit Mercy

By Corey Hersch

It’s been rough sledding for the Quinnipiac Bobcats men’s lacrosse team of late.  After winning their first game against Wagner 15-4, the Bobcats went on the road, losing all four games on its trip.  They returned home and lost to Air Force, then went back on the road and fell to Providence.  Sunday, though, Quinnipiac made the five-game skid a thing of the past.

Going up against The University of Detroit Mercy Titans, it was all Bobcats for the entire game.  Quinnipiac opened up the contest by scoring the first nine goals.  By the time Michael Schumaker scored for Titans with 0:55 remaining in the second quarter, the game was already in hand.  When the final buzzer sounded, it was 15-4 Bobcats.  With the win, the Bobcats improve to 2-5 on the season, while the Titans fell to 0-7.

Kevin Kelly opened up the scoring for the Bobcats, scoring two goals in the first two minutes of the game.  The second was a beautiful goal where he cut across the field to the left of the goal and unleashed a shot from behind his head to beat goalie Vince Diana.

Ted Dimond, a sophomore attacker, led the way for the Bobcats, scoring three goals and adding two assists.  His first assist was a great tic-tac pass from the left side of the net to find a wide open Garrett Kerr for the score.  All told, 11 different players saw their shots hit the back of the net for the Quinnipiac.

The Bobcats had a 57-38 edge in ground balls, a statistic that had been stressed throughout practices this week.

“Statistics have been that we’ve lost most games in the ground ball category,” Dimond said.  “Usually when you end up with the most ground balls, you end up winning the game.”

The Bobcats will now begin conference play in the Great Western Lacrosse League, starting with a matchup against Ohio State on March 28.  Bobcats head coach Eric Fekete knows that this conference is not one to be taken lightly.

“The GWLL was the best league in the country last year, with Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Denver all going to the NCAA tournament out of our playoffs,” Fekete said.  “ So, I think the goal has always been from there to make it a two game situation [in the GWLL playoffs].”
Dimond also noted how important it was to come out on top in the GWLL this year, with Quinnipiac joining the NEC for men’s lacrosse next year.

“It would be awesome to go out and win the last tournament,” Dimond said.  “It would be great just for Quinnipiac and for everybody on our team.”

Three games on sports streams

By Andrew Fletcher

We’ll be busy broadcasting games all afternoon today.

The men’s lacrosse team is playing Detroit Mercy at 11 a.m., with Justin Cohen, Corey Hersch and Robin Schuppert broadcasting on our lacrosse sports stream. The women’s lacrosse team will follow at 2 p.m. against Sacred Heart.

At 1 p.m., the baseball team is taking on Holy Cross with Mike Radomski and Tom Butto on the call.  The broadcast will begin at 11:50 on our baseball sports stream.

Ready for the Ride: Oppenheimer, Benzing help Bobcats advance to Motor City

Ready for the Ride: Oppenheimer, Benzing help Bobcats advance to Motor City
By Sam Friedman
April 27, 2008

HAMDEN — There were plenty of reasons for the Bobcats to leave it all out on the field on Saturday. A chance to make the playoffs after starting the season 6-0. A chance to earn a trip to Detroit for the 2008 Great Western Lacrosse League playoffs. An opportunity to silence the opposing team’s trash talking, as both teams did plenty of that throughout the game.

After a slow start to the game which saw multiple misfired passes, a low shot total (13 combined), and a lot of fatigue for both teams ended with an exciting finish as the Bobcats got a very late extra man goal from freshman Jack Oppenheimer with 1:08 left in regulation on Senior Day to send the Bobcats to Detroit as the number four seed in the conference tournament.

For most of the first quarter it was clear just how much the travelling had taken a toll on the players’ bodies. Bellarmine was at the end of a five game road trip. Quinnipiac had just come back from a four game swing of their own. Both teams traded bad passes yet scored twice in the opening frame. The Knights Shane Anderson scored his first of two goals just three and a half minutes in with a shot that was too low for Benzing to reach. Ted Dimond answered with 8:46 remaining in the first to even the score. Oppenheimer earned his first of two goals in the first, with a low shot of his own past Knights goalie Scott Bowles to give the Bobcats a 2-1 lead.

After Matt Holland re-tied the game, Todd Kaiser scored his eighth goal of the year two and a half minutes into the second quarter by intercepting a bad pass from Bowles and circling the net and shot it in to give Quinnipiac a 3-2 lead. The game intensity picked up, as both Benzing and Bowles were forced to make quick decisions to keep the score low, and both goalies had the fortune of seeing shots go off the goalposts instead of past them for goals. The score was 3-2 at the half.

In the second half the teams began to play more aggressively. Just as the Knights had killed a 30 second pushing penalty from Hessel on his push from behind on Poerio, Dilan Graham gave the Bobcats another man advantage five seconds after Hessel was released from his infraction. Fortunately for Bellarmine, the Bobcats failed to score on either man advantage.

After Dimond scored his second goal of the game with 9:19 remaining in the third, Andersen got one back for Bellarmine with 2:49 left in the third. The Knights also got a man advantage on a delayed slashing call on Maceranka, but they did not score. The score was 4-3 after three.

Bellarmine’s season and career goals leader Adam Gardner scored two goals 29 seconds apart to give the Knights a 5-4 lead with 8:12 remaining, but Bobcat sophomore Zach Dendas responded on a man up with 5:57 left by firing a quick shot through a screen past Bowles.

Geoff Griffiths of the Knights was sent off for cross-checking with 1:36 left in regulation, and rather than wait for sudden death, Oppenheimer fired a low shot past Bowles throught traffic with 1:08 left to steal the spotlight. The Bobcat’s defense, with some help from Benzing, was able to hold off the Knight’s desperate final attack for the 6-5 win.

“I knew if I got a chance to play I would stick one,” Oppenheimer said of his game-winning tally. “Messina moved it down to me on the wing and I knew I was going to rip it.”

“In the big picture we talked about what our goals were,” coach Eric Fekete said. “we added this playoff, the team’s been ready for it all season, and that’s been our goal all season. If we go to Detroit, we’ve got a shot at the bid. This team’s worked hard, and I’m proud of them.”

Coach Fekete also spoke positively about the seniors who will play at least one more game in a Bobcats uniform.

“It’s a really unique group of seniors. Those guys are athletic and savvy. All these guys in their own unique way chipped into the success of the team. This is a team thing and they’ve done a great job.”

Bellarmine finished 7-7 on the season, 0-5 in conference play, and 1-4 on their road trip. Quinnipiac was 2-3 in conference play and 8-4 on the season. The Bobcats will play Notre Dame at 5 PM in Michigan on Friday, and the Buckeyes will face the Pioneers following the conclusion of the first game. The Championship game and automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA Tournament will be on Sunday an noon.

NOTES: Messina had two assists, on both of Oppenheimer’s goals. … Kasier and Poerio had an assist each for the Bobcats. Jamie Floris had the Knight’s only assist on Gardner’s second goal. … A goal in the 4th quarter by Oppenheimer was nullified because he was in the crease when he scored.

Bobcats split against Denver and Air Force; Notre Dame awaits

Bobcats split against Denver and Air Force; Notre Dame awaits
By Sam Friedman
April 15, 2008

Playing in the altitude of Colorado is tough on any player for any team in any sport. This is particularly true in lacrosse, where physical play combined with a lot of running and — for the Bobcats this past weekend — two games in three days equals a tired road team in many cases.

In fact, it was so cold in Colorado that Friday night’s game against Denver was played with snow flurries coming down on the players thruought the contest.

This time however, the story was different. The Bobcats men’s lacrosse team won the second game on the Colorado double header, an 11-10 win in overtime over Air Force after losing to Denver 14-8 Friday night.

Against Denver the Bobcats fell behind 4-0 in the opening quarter. Pioneers freshman Jamie Lincoln scored his first from Kyle Widerstedt just 51 seconds in, shooting the ball right outside Benzing’s crease. In all the outstanding freshman scored 6 goals against the Bobcats, recording his “first” hat trick with 6:58 remaining in the 2nd to put the Pioneers up 6-1, and got his second hat trick of the game as the seconds ticked down that made the score 14-8.

Teammate Cliff Smith also recorded a hat trick for the Pioneers, scoring his first with just one second remaining in the 1st and his third in the 4th quarter which made the score 12-7. For the Bobcats, only Todd Kaiser recorder a hat trick, scoring all of his goals in the second half, including the Bobcats final goal.

Goalie Kevin Benzing gave up 14 goals and stopped only 11 shots, while the Pioneers gave all three of their goalies playing time at some point in the game.

Against Air Force the Bobcats got off to a better start. Down 5-4 at halftime, they put five shots past Falcons goalie Woody Johnson to take a 9-7 lead after 3 quarters, but found themselves down 10-9 with just over a minute to go when the Falcons scored on the man advantage.

But Bill Hayes tied the score at 10 from a Messina pass with just nine seconds remaining in regulation, shooting it past Johnson’s left side about 10 yards out. In overtime, the Bobcats’ own Todd Kaiser added onto his hat trick from Friday, scoring his first goal of the game when it counted. He took a Poerio pass past Johnson on the right post with 1:40 remaining in overtime.

Kaiser had just three goals coming into the weekend, but more than doubled it to seven after the weekend.

“Playing in the high Colorado altitude is always tough,” head coach Eric Fekete said. “We just got caught off guard against Denver. The last 3 quarters (against Air Force) were dead even. I just think you can see the confidence coming back to the team.”

Garret Kerr, the Bobcats leading goal scorer, scored just once the entire weekend. He has 16 goals on the year.

The Bobcats are now 1-2 in conference play, 3-2 on the road and 7-3 on the year. Up next is powerhouse Notre Dame, currently ranked 13th in the nation’s Inside Lacrosse poll and 10th in the USILA coach’s poll. Notre Dame is 1-1 in conference play, while Denver moved to 3-0 to tie Ohio State for first and Air Force is 1-2, tied with the Bobcats.

“They’re a good team,” Fekete said of Notre Dame. “There’s always some intimidations, some respect to be given to Notre Dame, but I’m more worried about how we play, and less about how they play.”

But Coach Fekete is unconcerned with the Fighting Irish’s ranking.

“Arguably the league (GWLL) could put three teams into the tournament, but it’s been such a crazy year in lacrosse that which three teams make it could change at any time,” he said.

After the visit to South Bend the Bobcats return home to face currently winless Bellarmine in Hamden on Saturday the 26th. Game time is 1pm.

NOTES: Denver also won the face-off battle against Quinnipiac, 18-7, who lost it to Air Force just 14-11. … Jamie Lincoln added another hat trick over the weekend for 35 goals on the season. He is 5th in the nation in goals. … All 19 of Quinnipiac’s goals came during even strength. After holding Denver to 0-2 on the man advantage, they gave up 2 goals to Air Force on 3 man advantage opportunities, and gave up one man down goal.

Bobcats get barbequed at “Beat the Buckeyes Day”

Bobcats get barbequed at “Beat the Buckeyes Day”
By Sam Friedman
March 30, 2008

HAMDEN — The crowd was loud. The food was good. The giant inflatable Bobcat was knocked over by the wind, but it managed to stay upright for the team’s introduction. Unfortunately, the only thing missing from the “Beat the Buckeyes Barbeque” was the beating the Buckeyes part.

In the Great Western Lacrosse League season opener for both teams, the Buckeyes (5-3, 1-0 GWLL) made sure that this one was never close. They led 12-2 at halftime, and won by a final score of 18-7 over the Bobcats (6-1, 0-1 GWLL). Ohio State never trailed in the contest. The Bobcats came into the game ceding just over five goals a game but surrendered that many in the first 13 minutes.

Just 45 seconds in, Ohio State got its first goal when Jeff Ryan passed the ball from behind the net to find Pete Poillon on the wing, who quickly shot it past sophomore goalie Kevin Benzing on the left shoulder side. That was Poillon’s first of three goals on the afternoon. Anthony Poerio tied it for the Bobcats at the four minute mark with an unassisted shot past Buckeyes standout goalie Stefan Schroder, but that was the only time the Bobcats even kept the game close.

The Buckeyes added three goals within the span of 2:54 near the end of the first quarter to take a 4-1 lead, including two man advantage goals. Man advantage goals were a problem for the Bobcats, who surrendered seven man down goals on nine man down situations, including three goals in the final minute of the first half from just one penalty, a one minute illegal body checking penalty against sophomore Bailey Tuthill.

The second quarter opened up the way the first did, with the Buckeyes scoring early – just eight seconds in. Senior captain Kevin Buchanan scooped up a loose ball off the faceoff and fired it past Benzing, again to the left shoulder side from the attack zone line. Buchanan finished with two goals and two assists, and moved into a tie with Jim Ash for 15th on Ohio State’s all time scoring list with 128 points. He leads the team with 22 goals. Buchanan is also tied for 10th in Ohio State history with 55 assists.

After the Buckeyes made the score 9-1, Quinnipiac coach Eric Fekete pulled Benzing and replaced him with backup goalie Ryan Andrews.

“Benzing’s played great all season, [but] he was off today,” Fekete said. “Our goaltending was uncharacteristically weak today, that just kind of started the wheels wobbling.”

Nine seconds into the third quarter Jeff Ryan scooped up a loose ball that was knocked away by teammate Nick Carr and raced past four Bobcats to throw it past Andrews to make the score 13-2. It was Ohio State’s 4th man advantage goal scored on Tuthill’s penalty. Quinnipiac finally got its own man up goal, when Gary Messina took a long pass from Jack Oppenheimer and shot the ball in between traffic, and passed a screened Schroeder, who never saw it.

Each team tallied four goals in the fourth quarter, three of them man advantage goals and the rest even strength. Buckeye James Green drew a three minute penalty to begin the fourth quarter with an Illegal cross, meaning that his stick was considered too narrow for use. Although his penalty was non-releasable, the Bobcats managed just one goal on the man advantage.

Ohio State coach Joe Breschi pulled Schroder at the start of the 4th quarter to give backup goalies Bandon Freeman and Bill Curry playing time once Ohio State had an insurmountable lead.

For Quinnipiac, Garret Kerr was held goal-less for the first time all season. He scored 9 goals in the first three games of the season but has tallied just 4 since.

“They came out and pressured us a bit – they moved the ball really well. I give them (Ohio State) credit,” Coach Fekete said.” We just got to fix some stuff and get ready to go next week.”

But Coach Fekete was not concerned about the long term affect of the loss.

“I’m not going to necessarily put on a parachute and get so concerned. We’re 6-1. You got to realize we’re a pretty good club that had a bad day today,” Fekete said. ”We just got to get out and get ready to play against Sacred Heart.”

The Bobcats have four consecutive road games before returning home to face Bellarmine in the regular season finale on April 26. They face Sacred Heart on Wednesday afternoon, then fly out to Colorado for games on the 11th and 13th against Denver and Air Force respectively. Then, the Bobcats face nationally ranked Notre Dame in South Bend on Friday, April 18. The conference semifinals are May 2-4.

NOTES: Buckeye junior Joel Delgarno had one goal and four assists. He has now scored a point in 35 straight games — a point in every game he has ever played for Ohio State. Buchanan’s goal streak is at 37. … Delgarno now has scored 16 points against the Bobcats, the most by any Buckeye against QU. Buchanan is second with 12. … Four Buckeyes had hat tricks, with Green, Ryan, and Ventiquattro joining Poillon. No Bobcat scored more than twice. … The Bobcats gave up eight 2nd period goals, after giving up 10 goals in the second period all season.

Men’s Lacrosse takes to the field again this weekend

Men’s Lacrosse takes to the field again this weekend
By Sam Friedman
February 29, 2008

HAMDEN — The Bobcats, after winning their first two nonconference games at home, head to the road against the Manhattan College Jaspers. This time around, though, the game will take on a greater significance. Fourteen Bobcats and sixteen Jaspers will be playing each other for the first time due to the large number of freshman on both sides.

“We have a more up-tempo style than Manhattan. Sometimes we have a tendency to get hung up on who we’re playing, not how we’re playing,” Coach Fekete said. “We’re 70% freshman and sophomores.”

Coach Fekete was taking note of the youth of both teams, and he knows that this will be the first road game for the Bobcats freshmen;  a chance to show the rest of the team and coaching staff what they can do.

“We just need confidence. Winning is an art form not easily done. It’s instilled over time. The more wins your kids can have obviously the more confidence we’ll have. This is an extremely difficult league schedule,” Fekete said.

The Bobcats offense, which has scored 25 goals through 2 games, plays a Manhattan team coming off of a thrilling overtime home victory against Robert Morris last weekend. Playing the Bobcats will be the Jasper’s third game, including an exhibition against Brown University.

Game time is 1pm on Saturday, March 1. The Bobcats next home game is March 8 against Providence. Game time is 1pm.

At the buzzer QU gets a last second goal to win

At the buzzer, QU gets a last second goal to win
By Sam Friedman
February 29, 2008

HAMDEN — After seeing the Red Storm take the lead late in the 4th quarter, Quinnipiac (2-0) responded with a comeback of its own, scoring twice in the final minute of regulation to steal victory from the jaws of defeat, winning 11-10 over St. John’s (0-2) Monday afternoon.

The game was very close throughout, with neither team really obtaining a big lead. The Bobcats led by as many as three goals when in the 4th quarter Kevin Kelly scored an unassisted goal by beating Red Storm goalie Gavin Buckley on the left shoulder side. That goal was Kelly’s first goal of the season, and it gave the Bobcats a 9-6 lead at that point, capping of a 4-0 run starting with Todd Kaiser’s first goal of the season at 8:55 of the 3rd quarter. However, St. John’s returned the favor with a 4-0 run of their own in the period, starting with Graeme Gillespie’s quick wrister past Benzing just 52 seconds after Kelly’s goal. That was Gillespie’s 2nd goal of the game. After goal from Malcolm Miles 38 seconds later and a man advantage goal from Trevor Michaelson, Rob Gannon gave the Red Storm their 3rd lead of the game at 2:23 left in the 4th.

However, the Bobcats refused to quit. Anthony Poerio got an unassisted goal with 56 seconds remaining, his 2nd of the game, the Bobcats picked up a loose ball and began racing downfield against the clock. Eventually Kaiser got the ball and quickly flipped it to Kerr, who slammed the ball in past Buckley’s right leg pad with under a second remaining to give the Bobcats the win in the 11-10 thriller.

“I think our confidence increased quite a bit outside of the fact that we had a 3 goal lead and they were able to take the lead w/2 minutes to go. (But) we played the full 60, and that helped increase our confidence level,” coach Eric Fekete said after the game. “We talked about at halftime not paying attention to the clock, just playing hard for the last 30 minutes of the game. I don’t think we were perfect. We gotta play a little more consistently.”

The win gives the Bobcats a 2-0 start, ahead of the 1-1 start from a year ago. They play their first road game of the season Saturday when they visit the Jaspers of Manhattan College.

NOTES: The Bobcats surrendered 3 goals on 9 penalties taken, while scoring twice on six man advantages. … Kerr’s hat trick gave him 7 goals on the season, most on the team. No one else has more than 3. … Michaelson had 5 points (4 goals-1 assist) to lead all players. Poerio led the Bobcats with 4 points (2-2).

Quinnipiac Athletes Launch “Pink-Out”

Quinnipiac Athletes Launch “Pink-Out”
By Zach Smart

Adversity.

Most of us have handled or been dealt our fair share of it.

It’s about as unpredictable an aspect of life there is, one that simply nobody can eschew. No one gets through life unscathed.

According to the National Cancer Institute, roughly 178,480 and 2,030 cases of breast cancer surfaced last year between women and men, respectively.

Quinnipiac has constantly taken significant steps towards fighting breast cancer, the second leading cause of cancer deaths in America.

Programs and fundraisers have been launched, money has been donated, research programs have received considerable contributions. Fraternities, clubs, and recently-installed programs alike have done their part in helping fight and raise awareness to breast cancer.

On Feb. 22, however, thanks to the efforts of Quinnipiac junior Jackie Herb, an event that may be head-and-shoulders better than most others of its ilk will be installed. It is promising on more fronts than one.

Herb and senior Roger Fish, the president and co-president of S.A.A.C. (Student Athletic Advisory Committee), respectively, will host the inaugural “Pink Out.”

The event is designed to raise money for the Susen G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. The “For The Cure” foundation maintains a high-order commitment to “curing breast cancer at every stage-from the causes to the cures, to the pain and anxiety of every moment in between,” according to the program’s website.

Shirts with “Pink Out” emblazoned on the front, accompanied by the breast cancer awareness ribbon will be sold for $10 each, prior to the men’s hockey team’s 7 P.M. showdown against Cornell at the TD Banknorth Sports Center.

It’s an event that Herb and Fish, members of the women’s tennis team and men’s lacrosse team, respectively, are certainly giddy about.

“Obviously, if we can get everybody (who attends) to buy one, that’s a good amount of money that we can donate,” explained Fish, a native of Columbus, Ohio.

“On another level, we think that this is going to be a great way to promote school spirit. Our hockey team is having a great success again, and we feel that we can make this maybe a tradition, that the QU hockey team picks a game each year to have this event. We’ll raise awareness and we’ll raise money.”

Given the record attendance of the Feb. 8 Yale game, this could be a hit. Spirited students and hockey fans willing to help a good cause can cohesively contribute before cheering on their team in the jam-packed stands.

Fish continued, “Wearing a bunch of yellow shirts is one thing. Wearing a bunch of pink shirts that actually mean something, well…We realize that this is something that could set us aside from other college hockey teams and other college traditions.”

Herb dug up the idea in the beginning of September. She presented it to athletic director Jack McDonald and Tracy Flynn, ironing out the ideas with the Student Alumni Association. All parties were instantly sold.

A pink-clad fan base is certainly envisaged for the evening game. Fish and Herb hope that the seeds they planted for an event of this magnitude will sprout into an annual success.

A Letter from the Editors

The WQAQ Sports Blog was an idea generated by the WQAQ Sports Department over the winter break between the fall and spring semesters this year.

We never thought it would get this big.

Since January 23, 2007, the day we started the blog, it has recieved just over 2,900 views from you, our loyal readers.

So for that, we say thank you.

Whether you are a parent of our fine Quinnipiac athletes, a parent of our fantastic WQAQ Sports Department staff that make up our writers, or a fan of Quinnipiac Athletics, thank you for reading all semester.

From the opening of the TD Banknorth Sports Center, to the firing of Joe DeSantis, to the hockey team’s run to the ECAC Hockey Championship Game, to the hiring of Tom Moore, and even through the baseball team’s trip to the NEC Tournament, this has been a truly historic semester for Quinnipiac Athletics, and we are truly glad we could bring it to you on this page.

So for the summer, we say adieu. But please know that we will be back in the fall. We hope to have have periodic articles over the summer, but WQAQ Sports will continue to endeavor to bring you the best Quinnipiac Sports coverage on the net when we return in the fall semester.

So until then, have a fantastic summer!

Sincerely,

Seth Rothman and Steve Tisi
WQAQ Sports Directors