A-10 season brings no relief for XU
Ken Burton Staff Writer
Dani Meiners
Sophomore Rachel Mason recorded her first career assist in a 2-2 tie against Temple on Friday.
Last weekend’s matchups with the Temple Owls and Richmond Spiders featured more of the same for the Xavier women’s soccer team.
The two conference foes were able to keep the Musketeers out of the win column for the seventh and eighth times this season, with a tie and a win respectively.
On Friday, Sept. 26 Temple midfielder Sara Scheid headed in midfielder Liz Allan’s fifth-minute corner kick to put the Owls on top early.
After the break, Carly Metzger tacked on another goal for the Owls. Metzger’s 30-yard blast in the 55th minute was her first of the season.
With his team in danger of being shutout, head coach Alvin Alexander decided to shake up his lineup, adding freshman defender Andrea Meyer.
Meyer would prove to be the much needed spark off the bench, adding two goals.
The 37th minute substitute recorded her first and second career goals in the 72nd minute and right before the horn in the 88th minute to force overtime, with assists from graduate student Carissa Gilbert and sophomore Rachel Mason.
Although the Musketeers came close numerous times, including a rocket off the crossbar, neither team could manage another goal in the two overtimes.
It wasn’t for a lack of shots, though, as the Musketeers outshot the Owls by a 26-14 margin, which more than doubled their previous best-of-12 shots earlier this season against Loyola.
The Musketeers headed off to Richmond with a conference record of 0-0-1 and a season record of 1-6-1 after the 2-2 tie with Temple. For her heroics two days earlier, Meyer was inserted into the starting lineup.
Unfortunately for the Musketeers, though, Meyer and the rest of her teammates were subdued by a strong Spider defense.
Coupled with the stingy defense, the Spiders also added a stellar performance from one of the best offensive players in the league, Jessie Wolfe.
Wolfe, who was later dubbed by her coach, “the best player in the conference,” had a first-half assist to Kat Russell and then two second half goals to put away the Musketeers without much of a fight.
Senior Sara Schmidt’s score got the Musketeers on the board in the 88th minute but the game had already been decided. Xavier fell 3-1.
The Butler Bulldogs await the Musketeers’ arrival on Friday at 4:30 p.m. to host the Musketeers’ last out-of-conference match of the season.
The Musketeers will then head home for the all-important conference rivalry game with the Flyers of the University of Dayton on Sunday, Oct. 6 at 4 p.m.
Musketeers get back on track in NY tourney
Two wins in Stony Brook Invitational snap five game losing streak for XU Volleyball
Scott Mueller
Asst. Sports Editor
The Xavier University Volleyball team finally got back on track at the Stony Brook Invitational in Stony Brook, N.Y. this weekend.
The team went 2-1 for the tournament, defeating St. Francis University (Pa.) and Brown University, but losing to the host team Stony Brook. The Musketeers also captured several individual awards.
The weekend got off to a shaky start for the Musketeers on Friday, as they dropped the first match 3-0 to Stony Brook. In the first frame Xavier never led and the score was only tied once as the Seawolves controlled the entire set and won 25-16.
In the second set it appeared as if Xavier was going to even up the match, as they took a 15-10 lead.
However, Stony Brook would not go down. With Xavier leading 16-14, Stony Brook went on a 5-0 run to take control of the set 19-16, before winning 25-22.
In the third set, the Seawolves started on another 5-0 run, before Xavier fought back to take a 16-14 lead. The Musketeers could not hold on, however, and dropped the set 25-22, and the match, 3-0.
Looking to rebound on Saturday the Musketeers took on St. Francis. Xavier came out strong, and never allowed St. Francis to take a lead in the first two sets.
Unfortunately, in the third set with Xavier ahead again, 7-3, St. Francis went on a 7-0 run to take the lead for good, winning the frame 25-21. Xavier bounced back in a tightly contested fourth set that featured eight ties to take the game 25-22.
The win over St. Francis broke Xavier’s five match losing streak, motivating the Musketeers to keep the momentum going in the second match of the day against Brown.
In the first set, with Xavier already up 10-8, the Musketeers went on a 7-0 run to take a commanding lead, propelling them to 25-14 win in the set. In the back-and-forth second frame, the Bears evened up the match with a 26-24 extra-points set that featured nine ties and seven lead changes.
In the third set, with the score tied at 10, Xavier took control of the match, with a 9-2 run that led to a 25-20 set victory, and 2-1 lead in the match.
In the fourth and final set, Xavier showed it resilience, as the Musketeers trailed by five points twice in the frame, but fought their way back and ended the match on a 10-2 run winning the final frame 25-22.
Against Brown, junior Kelly Ruth put up some impressive numbers recording 17 kills and 20 digs. Ruth was complemented by fellow junior Lauren Kaminsky, who chipped in with 14 kills and 14 digs.
Ruth and sophomore Claire Paszkiewicz were both named to the All-Tournament team, as Ruth posted 36 kills and 31 digs and Paszkiewicz had 46 digs.
Xavier will begin Atlantic 10 play next weekend when the team travels to Charlotte to play on Friday, Oct. 3.
State of the Union: Cincinnati Sports
Doug Tifft
Sports Editor
Fellow Cincinnatians:
The state of athletics in this great city is truly in a position of peril.
The tri-state area saw the death of two sports teams on Sunday afternoon, one by natural causes on a diamond in St. Louis, the other by starvation (of an offense) on the banks of our own Ohio River.
The situation is exacerbated by the abysmal situation facing the collegiate teams within the bounds of I-275. The mercurial rise of the University of Cincinnati football team was recently stunted by their first-string quarterback being deemed ineligible for his sixth season of eligibility.
The Bearcats fell deeper into peril when their quarterback position was damaged more by broken limbs than Duke Energy.
The only saving grace of our collegiate football programs is our very own Xavier Musketeer club football team topping the Cincinnati Skyhawks semi-pro football team!!!!!!!!
Even worse, the athletes in Cincinnati are seen as criminals by sports fans at-large in America.
Ten Bengals players have been arrested in the past three years (including newly reinstated wide receiver Chris Henry, who is the current leader with four arrests), and UC basketball walk-on Nick Aldridge, was picked up just last week for drug trafficking charges.
This sad state of affairs begs the question from every sports fan from Amelia to Western Hills: is there any hope?
Thankfully for the masses, the answer is that there may be a light at the end of the tunnel.
There is hope of a pennant chase replacing the “Iams bark at the park” night as the main attraction at Great American Ballpark next September. Our Redlegs have stockpiled young talent, namely a youthful and talented pitching staff. First baseman Joey Votto is a contender for the National League Rookie of the Year Award, and 21-year-old outfielder Jay Bruce showed flashes in 2008 of why he was named the top prospect in baseball by Baseball America entering the season.
Hope at Paul Brown Stadium is a bit more tenuous, as the axis of evil known as the Brown family-still runs the show.
The Bengals have the worst front office in football, only retaining 22 of 43 players drafted in the last five years on the current roster. The hope in the minds of devoted Bengals fans lies in the belief that the future stars of the franchise are already on the roster. Pieces like wide receivers Jerome Simpson and Andre Caldwell, and young defensive standouts Chinedum Ndukwe and Keith Rivers provide the requisite belief. The diehard members of The Jungle within our midst must believe that the Bengals have a plan that will come to fruition in the near future.
So today, with confidence in the future of our local sports scene, let us set forth on what we hope is a new era of success in southwestern Ohio.
And hey, if nothing else, it is only 45 days until Xavier basketball starts again.
Doug Tifft
Sports Editor
Muskies impress, but can’t find win
Last Thursday, Sept. 25 the Xavier Musketeers men’s soccer team was solid on both sides of the ball, but still came away with a scoreless tie against the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Jaguars.
The play was dictated by the Musketeers, who throughout the game outshot the Jaguars on their way to their highest shot total of the year. Ricardo Sutherland, Jimmy Cummings, Andy Dimbi, James Getzen, Jake Vollmer and Brandon Bucher all recorded shots on goal.
Xavier’s senior keeper Adam Sokolowski, on the other hand, was only tested once.
The Musketeers will take the 90 minute bus ride down I-75 to Lexington, Ky. to face off with the Wildcats this Friday, Oct. 3 at 7 p.m.
Intrasquad scrimmage opens swim season
On Saturday, Oct. 4 the Xavier University men’s and women’s swim team opened the competitive part of their season with the annual blue/white intrasquad scrimmage.
Blue team sophomore Kari Peglar, the 2008 Rookie of the Year, finished first in three events, including the 100 and 200 free as the blue team won in a close competition, 208.5-200.5.
Fellow sophomore Bethanie Griffin recorded two first place finishes for the blue team.
Junior Mickey Hafertepe scored two first place finishes for blue in the 50 and 100 back. For the white team, Junior Martha Cutter-Willson finished first in both the 50 and 100 breast.
Senior Matt Marcus and sophomore Nathan Green each recorded two first places finishes for white.
The first regular season meet is scheduled for Oct. 11 in Huntington, West Virgina against East Carolina, West Virginia and Marshall Universities.
