Teams prepare for season openers

In print | August 26, 2008

Fall sports teams returned to campus this week to jumpstart their seasons with pre-season training. Volleyball, field hockey and soccer players descended on the Field House for daily practice sessions and non-Conference scrimmage games.

Mara Revkin | Phoenix Staff

Sarah Lambert, Lisa Shang and Genny Pezzola prepared for the upcoming Pre-Season Spikefest tournament during a practice session on Monday.

Mara Revkin | Phoenix Staff

Roberto Contreras bypassed a defender in the men’s soccer team’s annual alumni game, an opportunity for current players to test their skills against former teammates.

Mara Revkin | Phoenix Staff

Laura Bolger confronted challenged a forward in an informal scrimmage on Sunday.

Field Hockey

Field hockey dominated in their first scrimmage on Saturday, beating Widener University six to one. This win came as a result of the team’s hard work in pre-season according to sophomore Sophia Ferguson. “We have been working on cementing our fundamental skills and working as a cohesive unit,” Ferguson said. “We have high hopes for the season despite our small numbers.” The team this year has 15 players with one of those players injured, leaving only two field player subs for the season.

However, the team does not expect this lack of players to be a problem for the season unless other injuries occur. The team also has a new coaching staff. Head coach Lauren Fuchs is replacing Kelly Wilcox, who coached the team for the last six seasons, to become the 13th field hockey coach in Swarthmore history, according to the field hockey web site.

Men’s Soccer

Coming off of a training trip in Argentina and Brazil and an August 23 Alumni Game win, the men’s soccer team is optimistic about the upcoming fall season and the new freshman class.

“In the games we played in Brazil and Argentina, we were all very challenged,” Omari Faakye ’10 said. “We played against guys who are paid to play soccer, so we were really challenged. I think we learned a lot from their style of playing. If we can play as strong [this season] as we did in Brazil, I think that will be great,” Faakye said.

In the August 23 Alumni Game, recent alums had a strong showing against the Garnet men. “A lot of recent graduates came back for the alumni game, like Pat Christmas, Michael Bonesteel, and Andrew Macurdy. It was a young alumni team so there was a lot of pressure on us,” Jason Thrope ’09 said. “In the end we came through 2-1, but I don’t think we scored as much as Coach Wagner would have liked.”

A strong freshman class will help support the team this season, according to Faakye. “The team has the most talented players this season in the history of men’s soccer,” Faakye said. “We have 32 people right now, and I don’t know how the coach is going to make cuts. There are about 12 to 14 freshmen trying out, and everyone is talented. I think we’ll have a great season,” he said.
“I would guarantee conference championships for us,” Gage Newman ’11 said.

Thrope said there is strong team unity, even this early in the season. “I think we have some really great freshmen. They’ve really blended in with the team quickly,” Thrope said.

“It doesn’t seem like there is a division between classes. It’s less class-oriented and more about the team. I think it’s good for team morale and will help us play better together.”

Men’s soccer has a slew of upcoming games this Friday, including a scrimmage against Skidmore as part of the Garnet Alumni Classic at Swarthmore.

Women’s Soccer

The members of the Women’s Varsity Soccer team had their best season ever last year, and hope to have an even better one this fall. The team is led by Todd Anckaitis, who is beginning his fourth year as the coach of the Garnet women.

Last year, the Women’s Varsity Soccer team had an overall record of 14-2-3, achieved a national ranking of 17, and won the ECAC tournament. Despite all they achieved last year, the players have their sights set even higher this season. “Ultimately, of course, we’d like to capture the NCAA Championship,” said returning forward Amy Langdon ’11.

The ambitious goal appears within reach: only two seniors graduated last year and six talented first-years have arrived for pre-season training. In addition, star goalkeeper Lauren Walker is returning for her final season and Alexa Bensimhon ’09 is returning from an ACL injury to strengthen the back line.

The team has been practicing twice a day during preseason, in addition to attending classes on nutrition and other relevant topics.

The Garnet women are scheduled to compete in the annual Swat Kick Classic tournament this weekend, beginning with a game against Farmingdale at 5 p.m. on Aug. 26 and a second match against Moravian at 5 p.m. on the following day. The tournament will kick off what promises to be an exciting season as the women’s soccer team strives to improve on its already superb record.

Volleyball

The Swarthmore volleyball team is experiencing a similar lack of players, and also had no substitutes for their matches this past weekend. “We were at a real disadvantage because every other team had six or seven subs, but we are really excited because we still did really well,” Sarah Lambert ’11 said.

The team played four matches, splitting their first match against Franklin and Marshall, beating Bryn Mawr in their second match, and then splitting their last two matches against John’s Hopkins and Eastern University. The team’s four freshman, one of whom was not available for the games, were critical in the team’s play this weekend. “They played really well so we are all excited they are here; we really needed them,” Lambert said. The team hopes that this year they will pull through their lack of players and still make it to the conference championships and even beyond. The Garnet women are scheduled to compete in the annual Spikefest tournament at Swarthmore on Aug. 27.

Additional reporting by Martha Marrazza