Men's Cross Country Takes Sixth at ECAC, Williams Mascot
The Bates College Cross Country team returned home on Saturday after
the ECAC Championships
with some outstanding performances and some memorable experiences. Despite
resting five of Bates' best
runners in preparation for the NCAA qualifying meet next week, the
Bobcats finished an excellent sixth
place out of a field of 37 teams. Bates used strong pack running to
improve on their 20th place finish last
year. Senior Brian O'Connor (Bethel, Conn.) and sophomore Al Donahue
(Scituate, Mass.) led the way for
the Bobcats by placing 29th and 30th overall with identical times of
26:39. Both improved on their lifetime
personal bests and earned the right to compete with Bates' other top five
runners in this week's meet. First
-year runner John McGrath (Merrimac, N.H.) placed 3rd for Bates, 52nd
overall at 27:19. First-year runner
Adam Kessler (Niskayuna, N.Y.) and sophomore Dave Ennis (Northfield,
Minn.) closed out the Bates
scoring by placing 58th and 64th with times of 27:26 and 27:39
respectively. For Kessler, his performance
was a lifetime best, and Ennis was within 1 second of his lifetime mark
as well.
One team's loss is another team's gain. That was the sentiment as
Bates returned home on
Saturday. Despite placing behind a fine Williams College team, it may be
Williams who suffered the
greatest loss with the defection of the longtime Williams mascot "T" The
Bear. Amid rumors of neglect and
physical and emotional abuse, two caring and sympathetic members of the
Bobcat Cross Country program
assisted "T" to safety. "T" is presently recovering and regaining his
spirits. It is hoped that he will be well
rested and energized by this weekend, when he hopes to accompany the
Bobcat Cross Country team to the
NCAA Regional Championships at Westfield State in Westfield, MA.
Up Next:
11/9 NCAA Regional Championships at Westfield
State
Women's Cross Country Places 12th
at ECAC Championships
Running without their regular top five, all of Bates' scoring harriers
finished in the top half of the field of
200 to tie the Bobcats with New York University for 12th place in the
27-team field. Leading the way was
first-year runner Sarah Tomkins (Aspen, Colo.), who came in 60th in a
time of 20:25. Sophomore Sandra
Abbott (Tilton, N.H.) was 69th with a time of 20:43. The Bobcats' other
scorers were senior Rebecca
Grossberg (Montclair, N.J., 83rd, 20:55), first-year runner Paige Kobert
(Hacketstown, N.J., 89th, 21:09)
and Sophomore Rebecca Skarbeck (Wethersfield, Conn., 95th, 21:14).
Up Next:
11/9 NCAA Regional Championships at
Westfield State
Field Hockey (6-8) Needs Overtime to Down
Southern Maine, Plays Close to Bowdoin
The Bobcats survived a torrential downpour Oct. 30 to defeat the
University of Southern Maine, 2-1 in
overtime. Though they lost to Bowdoin by the same score on Nov. 2, it was
a fine performance against the
defending ECAC champs.
The Bobcats jumped out to a 1-0 lead late in the first half when junior
forward Jessica Klein took a feed
from sophomore Amanda Schall (Chevy Chase, Md.) at 25:03 and banged it
past the Huskies' goalie.
Southern Maine bounced back quickly after the second half began,
converting a penalty corner to tie the
game. Neither team took control over the last 20 minutes, and the game
went into overtime. As the rain
came and went and the sun began to set, Schall used her speed to get
loose on a breakaway, and scored the
game-winner wit just 2:32 left in overtime. Sophomore goalkeeper Wendy
Zimmerman (Denver, Colo.)
made eight saves to get the win, her fourth of the season.
The Bobcats' showdown with Bowdoin for the CBB Championship on Nov. 2 was
a tight game. The Polar
Bears got on the board first midway through the first half. Bates played
catch-up until right after halftime,
when Klein hooked up with Schall once again. Though the bate defense
played well, they could not shut
down the Polar Bear offense for the whole game and fell, 2-1.
Football (0-7) Unable to Make it Two in a Row
over Bowdoin
Despite scoring first for the fifth time in seven games, the result was
the same as the Bobcats lost to
Bowdoin, 35-16 in Brunswick.
The first quarter saw only three drives, both of which ended in field
goals, a Rob Sanderson 27-yarder at
5:25 after a 16-play 48-ard drive that consumed 5:54, followed by a
17-play drive by Bowdoin. With the
game tied at 13:52 of the second, Bowdoin's special teams came through,
forcing a fumble on the ensuing
kickoff, followed by a touchdown two plays later and giving them a 10-3
lead. The Bobcats had a chance to
get back in the game when they recovered a fumble in the Bowdoin 46-yard
line, but they fumbled the ball
right back two plays later, which the Polar Bears converted to go up
16-3. The Bobcats responded when
senior wide receiver Tom Spiro (Randolph, Mass.) outleapt his Bowdoin
defender for a 20-yard touchdown
pass from senior quarterback Dan Hooley (Bristol, Conn.) with six seconds
remaining before halftime, send
the Bobcats to the locker room with some momentum and just a six point
deficit. The defenses held tight in
the third quarter, as six consecutive drives ended in punts, as opposed
to just one punt in the first half. The
Polar bears took control in the fourth quarter, busting the score open
with a seven-play, 95-yard drive to go
up 22-10. They converted interceptions on two of Hooley's next three
passes into 13 points to put the game
out of reach, 35-10. Hooley did connect with senior tight end Jared
Libby (Clinton, Maine) for a 41-yard
touchdown, but it was too little, too late.
Up Next:
11/9 vs. Hamilton
Women's Soccer (11-2-1) Returns to the NCAAs
The women's soccer team had a comfortable 2-0 win on Oct. 29 over
Southern Maine before learning
on Sunday night that they became the first team in Bates history to make
two NCAA appearances. Their
last trip to the big dance came in 1993.
At Southern Maine, the Bobcats dominated play, outshooting the Huskies
20-5. Sophomore forward
Colleen McCrave (Walpole, Mass.) tallied her sixth goal of the season on
a pass from senior midfielder
Kathleen Swinbourne (Topsham, Maine) with less than ten minutes to go in
the first half. First-year
halfback Kara Bristow (Albuquerque, N.M.) added an insurance goal from
classmate Katie Dodson
(Westford, Mass.) in the second half. Goalkeepers Suzie Arnold
(Falmouth, Mass.) and Shannon Walker
(Weston, Mass.) combined to make three saves for their third combined
shutout of the season.
On Sunday night, the Bobcats learned that they will have a chance to
avenge one of their two losses on the
season in the NCAA tournament. In the first round, they will face Bowdoin
for the second time this season.
Though the Polar Bears have won 21 of the 26 meetings between the two
teams, Bates holds a 2-0
advantage in the post-season, having won ECAC playoff games in 1991 and
1994. Bowdoin won this year's
regular-season meeting, 4-2, Oct. 26.
.
Up Next:
11/6 at Bowdoin (NCAA First Round)
11/9-10 NCAA Regionals at Williams
Men's Soccer
(8-4-1) Wins CBB Crown
George Purgavie's men's soccer team put itself in excellent shape to earn
a post-season berth with wins over
the University of New England on the road Oct. 29 and Bowdoin Nov. 2 at
home. The latter gave the
Bobcats their first outright CBB crown since 1989.
First-year forward Andy Apstein (Waban, Mass.)led the way against the
University of New England,
notching his first multiple-goal game of his career. After junior
midfielder Matt Ferrigno (Southwick,
Mass.) got the Bobcats on the board in the first half on a pass from
junior Michael Drunsic (Manchester,
Vt.). Apstein scored the first of his two goals unassisted in the first
half, then took a feed from senior
backfielder Peter Rossi (Storrs, Conn.) in the second. Rossi picked up
his team-leading fourth assist of the
season. Juniors Billy Fischer (Durham, N.C.) and Jason Gurdak (Ludlow,
Vt.) connected for the final goal
of the game.
Against Bowdoin Nov. 2, the Bobcats wasted no time getting on the board.
Nine minutes and fifteen
seconds into the game, sophomore midfielder Chad LaFauci (North Andover,
Mass.) won a loose ball just
over the midfield stripe. He dribbled in from the left sideline and
angled a pass right onto the foot of senior
forward Doug Steele (East Longmeadow, Mass.), who chipped the ball to the
far corner over the Bowdoin
goalie's head. Though the game went back and forth with plenty of
physical play, neither team was able to
penetrate the other's defense, and the Bobcats held on for the 1-0 win.
Senior tri-captain mike Marsh
(Manchester, Conn.) made three saves for his third consecutive shutout,
lowering his goals-against average
to 0.96. For his efforts in bringing the CBB crown back to Bates, Marsh
was named NESCAC Co-Player of the Week. Also, with a 5-0-1 record in
their last six games, the Bobcats earned a No. 9 ranking in New
England, their first appearance in the polls this season.
Up
Next:
11/9 vs. Thomas
Hawthorne and Durkis Named to All-State
Volleyball (10-24) Team
The Bobcats cruised to an opening-round victory over Maine-Farmington in
the State of Maine
Intercollegiate Championships Nov. 2, but lost their next two games to
finish fourth in the 11-team field.
In the 15-0, 15-4, 15-4 win over UMF, senior co-captain Tasha Hawthorne
(Belton, Mo.) had 23 assists,
while first-year hitter Amanda Colby (Willimantic, Conn.) had 10 kills
and just one error in 14 attacks, for
a .643 attack percentage. In the second round, eventual champion Colby
battled back after falling behind in
the first and fourth games with the Bobcats to win, 16-14, 7-15, 15-9,
15-13. The Bobcats lost despite a
team leading 20 kills and 16 digs from senior co-captain Sundra Durkis
(Belmont, N.H.) The third-place
match with St. Joseph's College was a nail-biter, with just one game
decided by more than three points. The
Monks were able to avenge their loss to the Bobcats from a week earlier
by winning, 7-15, 16-14, 17-15,
13-15, 15-12. Hawthorne had 47 assists and was a perfect five-for-five
in attacks, while Colby racked up a
.444 attack percentage (31 kills, seven errors, 54 total attacks) For
their efforts, Durkis was named second
team All-State, while Hawthorne qualified for the first team.
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