Blue Wave looks to follow up decades of wins

There is a timeless expression in sports, “Winning isn’t everything.” Apparently, the Geneseo Blue Wave men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams haven’t yet gotten that message. The women of the Blue Wave have won six championships and are looking for their seventh title this season. Their success dates back decades as they’ve won an unheard of 15 SUNYAC championships in 17 years. There isn’t a professional team that can even be used as an example against that.

But the achievements don’t end there. The men are just as successful in their own right, as the team has won 12 SUNYAC championships in the past 13 years.

Though Geneseo is only a small public college in western New York, its accomplishments in the sport are well noted across the nation as it has made multiple trips to the illustrious NCAA Tournament, which features the best teams in the country.

The team has thrived because of dedicated and motivated leaders. Head coach Paul Dotterweich acknowledges a few exceptional athletes who have been key to the recent success.

“We have several leaders on the women’s team, hard to pick out a few, although [junior] Abby Max is the defending SUNYAC Swimmer of the Year and an eight-time All-American,” Dotterweich said. “She is clearly a very talented athlete.”

Dotterweich added, “[Senior] Lily Powell has been to NCAAs on relays the last two years and has four All-American certifications as well. [Senior] Emily Wanamaker has been to the regional meet in diving.”

The men also returned swimmers who are used to winning and made it to the finals last year, including sophomore Kristian Tialios, who is continuing his string of victories this season.

Just last season, the Blue Wave women dominated the competition in the SUNYAC championship, winning the 200-yard freestyle, 500-yard freestyle relay, 400 free relay, 200-yard medley relay and 200-yard breaststroke.

The men, unfortunately, suffered one of their only defeats by falling to SUNY Cortland in the finals. This year, they are looking for a different finale in order to add another trophy to their already overflowing case.

It is through “hard work … [and] being willing to go the extra mile in training and pushing yourself beyond any perceived limits,” Dotterweich said. He added that this exceptional team has thrived and captured 21 SUNYAC titles in its history.

The women and men remain undefeated in SUNYAC meets and are on their way.

“How can there not be pressure [to win SUNYACs],” Dotterweich said. Fortunately, the members of the Blue Wave seem not to notice, as they are too busy winning.

Women's hoops blows by RIT

The Geneseo women’s basketball team has gotten off to a hot start this season. The third-seeded Knights’ record remains without blemish after they defeated the Rochester Institute of Technology on Tuesday Dec. 3 at the Wendy’s College Classic. The tournament is in its 48th iteration and looks to give area teams a chance to compete against one another, as many of the teams play in different conferences. Head coach Scott Hemer said that he likes to use this tournament as a “measuring stick” to see what the team needs to do to get ready for conference play.

Against RIT, the Knights looked ready as ever.

From the get-go, Geneseo was clearly the dominant team against the Tigers. The Knights’ up-tempo style of play proved to be too much for RIT, as the Tigers had seven turnovers, five of which were steals by Geneseo.

“We jumped all over them,” Hemer said. “We looked like the team the coaching staff envisions them being.”

Following a 23-7 scoring run, the Knights went into halftime up 49-25 – the first time all season the Knights closed out the first half with the lead. Hemer said the Knights have struggled keeping the pace of play for all 40 minutes, which explains why, even being up by 22 at one point, he was still expecting more from his team.

Twenty of those first-half points belonged to junior Shannon McGinnis, who had a career night with 30 points and 10 rebounds. Through the first four games, she averages 20.5 points per game and 10.5 rebounds per game, good for a double-double each time.

Sophomore Dana Cohen also played a vital role in the game, supplying a career-high nine assists. She averages 4.8 assists per game, the most on the team.

Despite the big win, Hemer does not appear satisfied. Not to say that he is upset, but he said there are always things to improve.

“I am a perfectionist, and I have high expectations,” he said. “If they didn’t have the talent level, it would be a different story.”

With the victory, Geneseo advances to the semifinal game against defending Wendy’s Classic champions University of Rochester at 6 p.m. on Thursday Dec. 5 at Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester. The No. 2 seed this year, Rochester defeated SUNY Brockport on Tuesday Dec. 3 with a score of 56-46.

St. John Fisher hands men's basketball first loss

The Geneseo men’s basketball team took on St. John Fisher College Wednesday Dec. 4 in the first round of the 48th annual Wendy’s College Classic tournament. The fifth-seeded Cardinals, who don’t have a single senior on the roster, entered the game with a 1-1 record. Geneseo, at the fourth seed, looked to build off the win against Medaille College Nov. 25.

In the first half, co-captain senior Connor Fedge had five points in as many minutes off the bench while fellow senior Matt Curry made a much bigger impact, scoring 11 points to put the Knights up 38-33 at the half.

Geneseo came out of the locker room very strong, going on a 13-7 run to start the second half – a run that brought juniors Andy Drescher and Gordon Lyons into double figures and gave the Knights an 11-point lead.

St. John Fisher was able to climb back in it, however, and with just over 10 minutes to play, the Cardinals took the lead 55-54 on a 3-pointer from junior Stefan Bock.

From there, the game went back and forth until sophomore Tyler Hart made a jump shot for St. John Fisher as he was fouled. After completing the three-point play, the Cardinals were up 71-69 with 4:04 left.

After that, St. John Fisher was in control. The team went on a 16-10 run to end the game at a score of 87-79. Guard for St. John Fisher junior Adam Ambielli was the leading scorer for either team with 21, and his Cardinals will play SUNY Brockport in the semifinals on Friday Dec 6.

Despite the loss, the Knights still have games to play in the tournament. Geneseo will head to the Rochester Institute of Technology on Friday Dec. 6 to take on the Tigers. After that game, the team will play either Hobart College or Nazareth College on Saturday Dec. 7.

“From that Friday game to that Saturday game, you have to completely change who you’re scouting,” Fedge said.

Luckily for the Knights, one of their biggest strengths is their depth. Nine out of 14 players on the roster are either juniors or seniors.

Geneseo had four players score in double figures: Curry, Drescher, Lyons and co-captain senior Thomas Decker. Fedge finished with eight.

After the Wendy’s tournament, the Knights will play Alfred State on Monday Dec. 9 and then spend three weeks following without a game.

“[The players] try to get together while we’re still on campus during finals week,” Fedge said, “It’s actually a nice break to study and to get together and work out and shoot and play.”

Winter break will also allow Fedge to heal more from a stress fracture in his foot that sidelined him for the first two games of the season. In January 2014, SUNYAC play starts and games will become even more important.

Immediate impact made by first-year Ice Knights

In any sport, coaches and general managers will always rave about their team’s youth. Youth translates to potential, to growth and to a bright future. In the short-term, however, it rarely translates to wins. For the nationally ranked No. 12 Geneseo Ice Knights, their recent transfers and first-year players are arguably the reason for their 6-2 start to the season, the team’s best in three years.

“The freshmen and transfers have made a dramatic impact for us,” goalie junior Bryan Haude said. “Our defense core is one of the youngest in the SUNYACs, but they’re extremely effective in shutting down the highly skilled forwards in this conference.”

The Ice Knights defense was an area of concern going into the season, losing staples Colin De Jersey ‘13, Blake O’Connor ‘13 and Brandon Angotti ‘13 due to graduation and sophomore Alex Lubczuk, last year’s freshman standout, leaving the program. Instead, this year’s newcomers have solidified the team’s defensive end of the rink and given the Ice Knights depth.

First-year Derek Stahl, last year’s Defensive Player of the Year in the Eastern Junior Hockey League, was expected to step into a similar shutdown for Geneseo this year. He’s been up to the task, playing a significant amount of minutes.

“He makes veteran plays and has adjusted the quickest out of anyone,” head coach Chris Schultz said. “He has a great hockey sense, and the game comes easy to him.”

First-year Cam Hampson has been a revelation on the backend – arguably the Ice Knights’ strongest defenseman through the team’s first eight games.

“He’s been very consistent. He’s very intelligent, he’s been responsible defensively and has a ton of offensive upside,” Schultz said.

Offensive upside was what the Ice Knights were counting on from first-year Matt Solomon, who transferred in from Sacred Heart Unversity. Offense is exactly what he has provided.

Through eight games, Solomon has six points and has provided the heavy shot from the point the Ice Knights lacked on the power plays in the 2012-2013 season. This has freed up scorer senior Zachary Vit as well and given the Ice Knights two strong units. Geneseo is capitalizing on 27 percent of its power plays.

The Ice Knights have been an offensive powerhouse in the SUNYAC thus far, and first-year Stephen Collins is at the center of the conversation.

With 10 points in eight games, Collins is second in team scoring. His impact has been greater than his stats, as he showed with his highlight-reel overtime winner that lifted the Knights over Hobart College. Collins is a spark for the Ice Knights, one who can make something out of nothing.

With less flash, first-year Ryan Stanimir has been a model of consistency with points in six of the Ice Knights’ eight games. First-years Jack Ceglarski and Connor Anthoine have been the team’s best playmakers the past three games and have given Schultz options shuffling the lineup with senior Garry Childerhose out of the lineup until after Christmas due to injury.

“They’ve been a great contribution to our program both as players and teammates,” team captain senior Carson Schell said of the recent additions. “Each new guy has brought a different and unique component to our locker room.”

Yet all these new parts, playing new roles with a new team, have bought into one Geneseo concept: to win now.

And they’re a big reason why Geneseo is winning. Now.

Replacing talent key for indoor track

Despite losing national championship-caliber runners on both the men’s and women’s sides, the theme of this year’s indoor track team will once again be not to rebuild but to reload. “You never replace anybody in this sport. You just simply [say], ‘Next person up,’” head coach for his 10th year Dave Prevosti said. “Fortunately, we have a nice setup because last year we were pretty young, and we all got older and we have an amazing incoming class.”

Arguably the biggest loss from last year’s team on either side is Alyssa Smith ‘12, who won the NCAA Division III outdoor track and field steeplechase event in the spring 2013 semester as a graduate student. In indoor, Smith was a key part of the distance medley relay team that placed third at the NCAA indoor championships. Although Smith, who ran the 1600-meter leg, and Caitlin Kowalewski ‘13, who ran the 800-meter leg, are gone, junior Keira Wood and senior Allison Hoh return to anchor the team and lead the women’s side.

The distance running part of the team will once again feature many cross-country standouts, including senior Lauren McKnight, juniors Jacqueline Huben, Joanna Castrogivanni, Cassie Goodman and Alyssa Knott and freshman Sara Rosenzweig. The Knights’ arsenal of sprinters is boosted by the return of junior Kristen Gottstine from injury and the addition of freshman Erin O’Connor, who starred on the soccer field this fall.

Jumpers will thrive from the experience of senior Carrie Levinn and the talent of freshman Joanna Heath, last year’s New York State Section V long jump champion. Finally, junior Elyssa Slawinski, who is overseas until the spring semester, and senior Danelle Turney will look to improve on last year’s solid throwing campaigns.

On the men’s side, junior Cohen Miles-Rath is the only returning member from last year’s distance medley relay team that also placed third at the national championships. Fresh off of a fifth-place finish in the SUNYAC cross-country meet, Miles-Rath will have many cross-country teammates by his side, including junior Ryan Moynihan, brothers senior Patrick Wortner and sophomore Brendan Wortner and freshman Matt Jorgenson, to form one of the league’s better long-distance groups.

In the field events, juniors Luke Taverne and Phil Longo will again look to dominate competition in the high jump while welcoming freshmen David Pollock and Brendan Macey to the fold in a unit that Prevosti thinks is just as good as the distance runners. Sprinter freshman Austin Donroe should make an immediate impact in a needed area, and lastly, the throwing squad regained senior Zach Markel from injury, who Prevosti says has been the “anchor” of the team for a couple of years.

Both squads will look to assert their talents at the opening meet of the season on Saturday Dec. 7 at the SUNY Brockport’s Early Season Run. The Knights will then be off for break before returning a week before classes begin in January to begin training for the spring semester.

Hockey splits against nationally ranked teams

After first-year Stephen Collins’ overtime goal against Hobart College on Nov. 15 pushed Geneseo to No. 15 in the nation, Ice Knights head coach Chris Schultz said, “That was the biggest highlight-reel goal I’ve seen here in seven years.” But after the 5-1 loss to Adrian College on Tuesday Nov. 19, Schultz said the game “wasn’t disappointing; it was embarrassing.”

That pretty much summed up the difference between the two Ice Knights performances.

In the 4-3 overtime win at Hobart, Geneseo battled throughout the game, surrendering the lead twice against a physical Hobart team and managing to force overtime. Junior Tyler Brickler continued to have the hot hand offensively, scoring a shorthanded goal early in the first. Geneseo also saw scoring from junior Garry Childerhose and senior Zachary Vit.

The stories of this game, however, included goalie junior Bryan Haude, who made 33 saves and fought off a flurry of Hobart opportunities at the end of regulation, and Collins.

With 15 seconds left in overtime, Collins picked up the puck at center ice and took off into the Hobart zone. In a one-on-three rush, Collins attacked the zone, made a move around shutdown defenseman junior Ian Coleman and from his knees lifted the puck over the glove of Hobart goalkeeper sophomore Lino Chimienti.

“I got the puck and I knew what I wanted to do with it,” Collins said. “It went in.”

Four days later, in a 5-1 loss to Adrian, the Ice Knights looked like anything but a team that knew what to do with the puck.

“There was just no leadership out there,” Schultz said.

Geneseo struggled on defense and the neutral zone, unable to connect stick-to-stick passes in the uncontested areas of the ice. Poor decision-making led to countless odd-man rushes, with Haude standing tall as the only reason the game wasn’t perhaps 10-1.

The play that symbolized the game as a whole came with two and a half minutes remaining in the first, when a Geneseo turnover at the offensive blue line sprung the Bulldogs on a two-man breakaway against Haude. Haude sprawled from post to post to rob Adrian forward sophomore Justin Basso, the puck sliding to the corner afterwards. Basso had time to go retrieve the loose puck from the corner and throw it back to the front of the net, where junior Josh Ranalli still had time to slam it in before any Geneseo defensemen arrived.

The Ice Knights tacked on junior Justin Scharfe’s first goal of the season late in the third period, the only goal for Geneseo.

As if this night wasn’t bad enough, Childerhose suffered a lower body injury and won’t be back until after Christmas. He has scored three goals for Geneseo in six games.

There was a moment of levity in a night of frustration when the Zamboni broke down while leaving the ice between the second and third period, and five Adrian players managed to push it off the ice. It was a rather fitting event for a team that outworked the Ice Knights all night.

The Ice Knights schedule doesn’t get any easier. No. 8 SUNY Oswego Lakers visit Geneseo on Nov. 22 and the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons are in town the following night.

Cross-country to run in 11th NCAA race

It’s business as usual for the Geneseo men’s and women’s cross-country teams as they head to their 11th consecutive national championship, an NCAA record. The Knights received at-large bids from the NCAA to attend the national race in Hanover, Ind. on Saturday Nov. 23. In the regional race on Saturday Nov. 16 at Letchworth State Park, neither team was able to earn an automatic bid, as the men came in third and the women came in fourth.

The teams came into this season unsure of what their destiny would be. The men lost many runners to graduation last year, including All-American Alex Brimstein ‘13, leaving the bulk of this year’s team in the hands of underclassmen. The women, similarly, were very inexperienced prior to this season, with runners stepping out of their comfort zones to uphold the standard.

Head coach Mike Woods saw this transition coming and decided to change things up. He said he kept the intensity of the workouts longer into the season than normal, and the runners responded surprisingly well.

“My athletes fed back to me that they felt fresher,” Woods said.

Even with the change between this year and last on both teams, the expectations never changed.

“There was no question that [we would make it],” co-captain junior Cassie Goodman said about making the NCAAs.

“It is hard to say it was sort of a goal because we kind of expected it [given the streak],” co-captain junior Cohen Miles-Rath said. Goodman came in 15th overall for the women and Miles-Rath placed third for the men in the regional race.

This mindset does not come out of nowhere, though. Woods has been at the helm of this Geneseo cross-country program for 22 years and has learned what it takes to get the best performance from his runners.

“[Woods] being really enthusiastic and motivated to get us there motivates us as a team,” Goodman said.

Now that both teams made it to nationals, they can actually relax now.

“There is not a lot of pressure,” Miles-Rath said. “It is more about the experience,” he added. “We run a little bit but we just, like, hangout,” Goodman said. She also mentioned that the girls take time to go shopping on this trip. “There’s not much more training you can really do,” she added.

The upcoming race is at a course Geneseo has been to within its streak.

“It was a pretty tough course, and the times were kind of slow,” Woods said of the last time he was at the course. He, along with his athletes, however, will not be upset if they walk away without a trophy.

“My expectations for them are to have an enjoyable trip, have fun and race as hard as they possibly can,” Woods said. “Let the chips fall where they may.”

Men's basketball has high hopes for season

Coming off of a 17-10 season, the men’s basketball team is looking strong. Four out of five starters return, and the team only lost two seniors to graduation. “We’re pretty balanced,” head coach Steve Minton said. “I think that we’re pretty deep, and I think that the depth, in particularly at the guard spots, will play in our favor.”

That depth will be important, even in the early part of the season. The Knights have six games before the end of the semester, including the Wendy’s College Classic in Rochester.

“If we meet [our] standards … we’ll find ourselves in a position to be SUNYAC champions,” Minton said. “I would think and hope and expect us to be one of the better teams in the conference this year because of our returning guys, our experience and the skill set that each guy brings.”

Minton’s expectations are well based. Against eventual SUNYAC champion SUNY Cortland in the 2012-2013 season, the Knights went 1-1 in two very closely fought games. That experience will play a key role this season.

“The experience of winning a quarterfinal game in the SUNYAC tournament and getting to the semifinals two years in a row sets a tone for [this team] to recognize the importance of every game and the importance of every little part of the season,” Minton added.

One of the Knights’ goals will be to replace the experience and the leadership of Ryan Riefenhauser ‘13, who started every game for Geneseo the past three seasons. Although Riefenhauser did not put up record-setting numbers, with 9.1 points per game and 6.5 rebounds per game in his senior season, his leadership on and off the court is something that really stood out.

“[Riefenhauser] is one of the best leaders I’ve ever coached,” Minton said. “We have had some seniors step up. [Seniors] Connor Fedge and Thomas Decker have done an outstanding job.”

As the captains this year, Fedge and Decker will try to take over that leadership role along with the two other seniors on the roster, Jordan Jones and Matt Curry.

Despite losing Riefenhauser, Minton knows the current seniors are ready to take on this season and lead the team to a SUNYAC title.

“[We need to] put ourselves in a position to just win three games in a row at the end of the season when the tournament comes around,” Minton said. “I certainly think that we can do that.”

Field hockey out after first playoff game

For the second year in a row, Geneseo’s field hockey team could not win its first game of the SUNYAC tournament. The Knights went into the match as the second seed, but come playoff time, especially in a tough division, anyone can win.

On Saturday Nov. 8, Geneseo faced SUNY New Paltz in the semifinals. The Eagles jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, beating Geneseo 3-1 and subsequently ending the Knights’ season.

New Paltz eventually took the entire championship title after beating SUNY Cortland the next day.

Geneseo’s season came to a close with a final record of 13-7 and a second place regular season finish in the conference.

“It’s important that we don’t let this season’s ending loss define what we’ve done all year,” head coach Jess Seren said. “It was the toughest schedule we’ve played in the six seasons I’ve been here. This group has a lot to be proud of.”

The Knights will enter the next season as a considerably different team. Eight seniors will graduate, including Kayla DeAngelis, who set the single-season record for points, and standout defensive player Bridget McGovern. DeAngelis and McGovern’s performance this year, as well as senior Katie Farley and sophomore Sarah Malinak was good enough to earn them a spot on the all-SUNYAC first team.

Senior Kerry Hosford and freshman Liz Doherty were placed on the second team.

Seren sees the losses as an interesting challenge for the upcoming season.

“It will definitely change the dynamic of the team – one player has the ability to do that, let alone eight. But that’s part of the fun of it. We will make adjustments based on who we have coming back and who we have coming in and be ready to go just like we do every year,” Seren said.

Though the team is losing about a third of its roster, numerous starters who had breakout years will return. Sophomore Dayna Mercer followed up her SUNYAC Rookie of the Year achievement with another strong year as goalie, tallying five shutout matches during the season. On offense, sophomore Sarah Malinak excelled, finishing the year with 21 goals and six assists.

While the season comes to an end after coming so close to the title, Seren can only look back with fondness.

“I’ll remember the growth and progress of this team from the start of preseason throughout the course of the fall,” she said. “What they accomplished and how much they’ve grown since August has been significant. They’re such a pleasure to work with, and I’ve never had more fun watching a team in practice or in games. To have been able to be a part of such a special group has been an honor for me.”

Ice Knights split weekend up north

The Geneseo Ice Knights traveled to face SUNY Plattsburgh on Nov. 8 and SUNY Potsdam on Nov. 9, going 1-1 on the weekend. The trek up north is an important one to head coach Chris Schultz, for it takes a lot out of the team. Considering that the same trip last year gave Geneseo two losses, Schultz is happy to have gone 1-1.

“Selfishly, I’m glad we can get it over with early this year before the winter really sets in,” he said.

The Ice Knights walked into Plattsburgh, where they haven’t won a game since February 2007, after scoring 12 goals in two games. Mid-week injuries sustained by junior Zack Martin and senior Jonathan Sucese made the chances of beating the Cardinals that much more difficult.

From the get-go, the Ice Knights never seemed totally comfortable. An early penalty committed by sophomore Nate Brown allowed Plattsburgh senior Barry Roytman to find the back of the net, past goalie sophomore Nick Horrigan. In the games against Morrisville State College, the Ice Knights penalty kill defense was solid, allowing just three goals in 17 power plays. Against Plattsburgh, though, the Ice Knights gave up two goals in five power plays.

First-year Stephen Collins continued his strong play, scoring from his knees in the slot to bring Geneseo within two goals at 3-1.

“If he wasn’t the best player on the ice, I don’t know who was,” assistant coach Kris Heeres said.

But mental mistakes put Geneseo away, the team losing 4-1 and continuing the winless streak in Plattsburgh.

Geneseo headed to Potsdam the next day, looking to get back on the winning side.

Junior Tyler Brickler scored twice for Geneseo, once at the end of the first and once early in the second period – a time difference of only 5 minutes, 30 seconds. Junior Justin Scharfe earned credit for the assist on both goals.

First-year Ryan Stanimir added a third goal for the Ice Knights early in the third, before icing the game with an empty netter in the final minute, his fourth of the season. Geneseo skated off with a 4-1 win.

“They wanted to play rough and run us out of the building, and we weren’t going to let them do that,” Stanimir said.

The win was the 100th of Schultz’s coaching career at Geneseo.

At 7 p.m. Friday Nov. 15, Geneseo will travel to the Hobart College Statesmen for a nonleague game.

Women's soccer falls to Oneonta in SUNYAC championship

The Knights women’s soccer season came to an end on Saturday Nov. 9 in a 4-1 loss to SUNY Oneonta in the SUNYAC championship. Freshman Erin O’Connor had the only goal for the Knights. O’Connor’s play stepped up for the Knights down the stretch, scoring three of her eight total season goals in the playoffs.

“Everyone had momentum knowing we were going to SUNYACs,” O’Connor said, attributing much of her success to her teammates. “We practiced more set plays …  [head coach Nate Wiley] would also give us scouting reports to study.”

O’Connor’s performance throughout the season earned her third-team All-SUNYAC selection. Her play in the tournament earned her a spot on the 2013 SUNYAC All-Tournament team.

SUNYAC also honored midfielder senior Alexa Krebs and defender freshman Alexa Wandy at second-team, and goalkeeper senior Julia Sanger on the third team.

“We had good senior leadership,” Wiley said. “You deal with [losing players] every year … Some years it’s a bigger hit than others. This is one of those years.”

The Knights had eight seniors on the roster for the 2013 season, their most successful season at Geneseo.

“Everyone was really pleased [with the season], especially the seniors that had never made it to the finals,” O’Connor said. “Every step was new to everyone.”

“These are players that we’re going to miss a lot … not only for their play on the field but what they brought to our program off the field,” Wiley said.

Despite the loss of senior leaders including Sanger, Krebs and midfielder Alexa Vojvodic, the Knights are looking strong entering the 2014 season. One thing they will not lose is confidence.

“The success that we had at the end of the year will add to the confidence going into the offseason,” Wiley said. “We’ve got a pretty good [recruiting] class coming in for next year. We’ll be able to fill the gaps and replace those seniors that we lost.”

O’Connor echoed Wiley’s positivity.

“Our seniors were big, but we’ll find players to go in,” O’Connor said. “We [will] all know [Wiley’s] style of play.”

Next season, the Knights will want more than just a SUNYAC championship appearance.

“Going to SUNYAC finals your first year makes you want to do it every year,” O’Connor said.

“Next year [won’t] be about making it to the championship game but what are we doing all the way up to then,” Wiley said. “We’re not going to come in as a six seed next year. We need to come in as a top three or four seed.”

The desire to win and the talent will certainly be there for the Knights in 2014.

As Wiley said, there are “only good things to come.”

Record setting weekend for field hockey

The Geneseo field hockey team has ended regular season play with a record of 13-6-1, and will now begin its quest for a SUNYAC championship title. The record that Geneseo built this season is a reflection of the players on the roster. The Knights have benefited from stellar defensive plays lead by senior Bridget McGovern and goalie sophomore Dayna Mercer. On offense, sophomore Sarah Malinak has emerged as a consistent goal-scoring threat, and senior Kayla DeAngelis has led the Knights with a record-setting year.

DeAngelis established single-season records with 59 points and 24 goals in the regular season. She eclipsed the old record of 43 points set by Michelle Milkovich ‘11 in 2010.  Previously, DeAngelis’ own record was 17 goals, scored during the 2011 campaign.

Geneseo faced University of Rochester, ranked 18th in the country on Saturday Nov. 2. After falling behind 3-2, the Knights answered with four consecutive goals, three of which DeAngelis scored. The Knights won 6-4.

DeAngelis’ nine total points eclipsed the Knights’ single-game record of eight scored by Leslie Howlett ‘03 in the 2001 season. It was also the second time a Geneseo player has scored four goals in one game.

The season wasn’t over, and DeAngelis wasn’t done scoring goals. On Tuesday Nov. 5, in the final regular season match against Ithaca College, the Knights cruised to a 5-1 victory behind two goals and an assist from the record-setting forward.

“[DeAngelis’] ability to finish in the circle this year has been so impressive,” head coach Jess Seren said. “Her speed allows her to beat defenders, so not only does she work to free herself up for the shot, but she’s able to set her teammates up, which is why she leads the team in assists as well.”

The second-seeded Knights will take on third-seeded SUNY New Paltz on Friday Nov. 8 in the semifinals of the SUNYAC tournament hosted by SUNY Cortland.

Seren hopes the players’ season will continue in stellar fashion as they approach the upcoming playoff game.

“At this point in the season, we are who we are. We aren’t looking to make any major changes,” Seren said. “We want to focus on our style of play and executing our game plan. We have the opportunity in practice to go out there and fine tune some things but, more importantly, we want to keep doing what we’re doing, which is playing really good field hockey.”

Blue Wave impresses against Division I schools

The Geneseo Blue Wave men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams began their season against Division I Canisius College on Saturday Nov. 2, losing 144-99. Despite the loss, head coach Paul Dotterweich said the team had an encouraging performance.

“We won six of 13 events against a Division I school, so that’s an indication of how strong our upper-end swimmers are,” Dotterweich said. “Based on the performances, for where we are in the season, I was pretty pleased with what I saw.”

Junior Kenny Athans led the men’s side, as he outraced the competition in two individual events. He finished first in the 200 freestyle and the 100 freestyle with winning times of 1 minute, 47.1 seconds and 49.07 seconds, respectively. Sophomore Yonghoon Jun also impressed by receiving top honors in the 100 butterfly with a time of 52.26 seconds, as well as being a part of the winning 200 medley relay along with fellow sophomores Kristian Tialios, Justin Ongkingco and Jordan Gay.

Women’s diving also showed its talent in senior Emily Wanamaker, who won both diving events. She earned winning scores of 256.84 in the one-meter diving competition and 252.89 in the three-meter diving competition.

Dotterweich said he believes that his swimmers will keep improving. On the women’s side, most of his upper-end swimmers are facing injuries, though. Six-time All-American junior Haleigh Wixson is out for the year for a shoulder injury. Seven-time All-American junior Abby Max is nursing a fracture in her foot, so she will miss the beginning of the season. Senior Lauren Boyce is also dealing with an injury.

Dotterweich remains optimistic, however, and sees the potential the Blue Wave has with the current group of swimmers.

“On the men’s side, we’re in a pretty good place,” Dotterweich said. “We have to develop some of our younger swimmers. If we want to win the conference meet, our lower-end guys have to step up and perform on a higher level.

“On the women’s side, we’ll get [Max] and [Boyce] back. So once they’re back, that’ll be a significant shift in terms of the strength of our team,” he added.

Blue Wave will take on SUNY Fredonia on Saturday Nov. 9. Dotterweich said he’s hopeful the younger swimmers will use the experience against Canisius to face the Division III opponent.

“It’s their first college meet, so we’ll give them some time to step up, and I know that they’ll progress as the season goes on,” he said.

Dotterweich said that he is confident in his team and, despite growing pains, they will be able to pull off a successful season – maybe even a conference title.

Despite no postseason, volleyball proud of accomplishments

From beginning to end, the 2013 season wasn’t easy for the Geneseo volleyball team. Being its first season after reinstating the program, head coach Jen Salmon was uncertain if she would fill a roster, let alone of talented student-athletes. And so she began with a squad of 15, who had little to no intercollegiate experience, not yet aware of how enthusiastic, committed and genuine the student-athletes would be.

They’ve come a long way – so much that the Knights appeared to be a completely different team in the final weekend of the 2013 season.

Geneseo earned two wins on Saturday Nov. 2, ending the season on a high note. The team completed the season at 13-19 overall and 2-7 in SUNYAC play.

Regardless of the wins and beyond the numbers, Geneseo’s game play was so different that some coaches approached Salmon and asked, “How did you lose all the matches you lost?”

But what the coaches didn’t know were all the factors that the team faced: losing last season and bringing in a young, inexperienced team.

The Knights approached the Oct. 30 match against Nazareth College with a different mindset that “let them free,” Salmon said. “It gave them the ability to play for the love of the game, to play for fun, so their true colors showed.”

That positive energy continued through Saturday when Geneseo consequently swept Alfred University and claimed a 3-2 victory over St. John Fisher College later that day.

It all clicked that final weekend – the “right time,” Salmon said.

“All of those things we’ve worked on all season, skill wise, combinations and consistency and executing, everything just fell into place,” she said.

“I saw them do things that I haven’t seen them do all season,” she said, exposing their true capability, talent, “who [they] really are.”

But how? Hard work and heart.

And seeing that, Salmon said, is a better ending to the inaugural season than a playoff berth.