Archive for October, 2011

In recent years past, Youngstown State would tote out a soccer team that was not very competitive.  The program, which has only been in operation since 1996, has never had a season with more than six wins in a single season.  Head Coach, Will Lemke (above), has things going in the right direction.  With an unusual mix of experience and youth – and not much in between, the Penguins 2011 version for soccer has been competitive and played respectably.

The past was so rough that YSU has never posted a victory against conference foes Wright State, Milwaukee, or Valparaiso.  Going into Wednesday’s game against Detroit, the Penguins hold a record of 3-6-2, but three of their losses are by a single goal and they are 1-0-2 in games that go into overtime.  The biggest difference showing positive progress would have to be the scores.  Comb through the archives and you will see plenty of annual 6-0 losses each season.  This group is far more competitive and seem to be in every game.

“We are in a situation where we are trying to teach this team to win”, commented Lemke.  “We have an issue with physicality to start a game and then we bump it up as we go.  We are looking for consistency from the upperclassmen and applying what we learn into every game.”

“We are playing a vastly more difficult schedule than we have in the past”, noted the coach.  “We are playing competitively and it is a painfully slow, step-by-step process where these players are learning to win at this level.”

Freshman Jade Flory leads the team with seven goals.  Flory is one of eight freshmen on the 2011 roster.  The program has three seniors who have contributed. Kelsey Kempton, Nicole Kline, and Geneva Strelka will play their final six games for the Penguins to close out the season.  Lemke is optimistic about all of the experience he will return next season, knowing that as Freshmen, the eight are gaining valuable experience toward turning the program around.

“We look at film, we look at the positives.  We have had large segments in games where we have outplayed teams”, said Lemke.

“One thing this team does well is a phenomenal job with rebounding from a loss.  Whenever we have had a bad game, we seem to come right back with a good game.  We are very young, but we are starting to gain experience and we have unselfish players who are showing younger players what they need to do to be successful at this level”.

Selected as the best and brightest from the college gridiron, The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced today the 127 candidates for the 2011 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards, presented by Fidelity Investments®, a leading provider of not-for-profit workplace retirement savings plans in higher education. The 127 nominees also comprise the list of semifinalists for the 2011 William V. Campbell Trophy, endowed by HealthSouth, which recognizes an individual as the absolute best scholar-athlete in the nation.

Youngstown State senior defensive tackle Andrew Johnson (Above, right) is one of 33 Football Championship Subdivision student-athletes who were nominated for the award.

Nominated by their schools, which are limited to one nominee each, candidates for the awards must be a senior or graduate student in their final year of eligibility, have a GPA of at least 3.2 on a 4.0 scale, have outstanding football ability as a first team player or significant contributor, and have demonstrated strong leadership and citizenship. The class is selected each year by the NFF Awards Committee, which is comprised of a nationally recognized group of media, College Football Hall of Famers and athletics administrators.

The NFF Awards Committee will select up to 16 recipients, and the results will be announced via a national press release on Wednesday, October 26. Each recipient will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship, and they will vie as finalists for the 2011 William V. Campbell Trophy. Each member of the 2011 National Scholar-Athlete Class will also travel to New York City be honored Dec. 6 during the 54th NFF Annual Awards Dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria where their accomplishments will be highlighted in front of one of the most powerful audiences in all of sports. One member of the class will also be announced live at the event as the winner of the Campbell Trophy.

The Youngstown State softball team posted the sixth-highest team grade-point average in Division I during the 2010-11 school year with a 3.523 GPA. The National Fastpitch Coaches Association announced its Top 10 All-Academic Teams on Thursday afternoon.

The NFCA Academic Awards program honors both collegiate and high school teams for their submitted GPAs for the 2010-2011 academic year. As a second component of the program, all submitted student-athletes who achieved a 3.50 GPA during last academic year are named as a NFCA All-America Scholar Athlete. The individual honorees will be announced on Wednesday, October 5 on The NFCA Website.

Below is a listing of the top 10 Division I schools:

NCAA Division I
1. Tennessee Technological University – 3.619, 2. Southern Illinois University – 3.611, 3. Robert Morris University – 3.553, 4. Houston Baptist University – 3.551, 5. Bowling Green State University – 3.534, 6.Youngstown State University – 3.523, 7. Troy University – 3.512, 8. University of Alabama – 3.510, 9. East Tennessee State University – 3.495, 10 (tie). Eastern Michigan University – 3.477, 10 (tie). Stetson University – 3.477.

Youngstown State freshman Marta Burak won the Flight A Singles title and teamed up with senior Lauren Hankle to win the doubles bracket on Saturday at the Bucknell Quad held at the Gerhard Fieldhouse on Friday and Saturday.

In her first collegiate competition, the 15-year-old Burak won four singles matches en route to the title over the past two days in Flight A. Because of inclement weather the meet was moved indoors. Burak won in the semifinals 8-3 over Bucknell’s Demi Ieprus and then went on to win the final 9-8 over Hilary Hanson.

In Flight B, Hankle won three matches and reached the finals dropping a 8-1 match to Niagara’s Olivia Rauh. Rauh knocked off the Penguins Gimena Puppo in the semifinals, 8-4.

In doubles play, Hankle and Burak teamed up to win the title. They won 8-2 over Colgate in the semifinals and bounced Bucknell’s Alyssa McAndrews and Jen Bush 8-3 in the title match. Puppo and Carolyn Jesko reached the semis before losing to McAndrews and Bush.

Oct. 2 Results
Flight A Singles
SEMIFINALS – Burak (YSU) def. Demi Ieprus (Bucknell) 8-3
FINALS – Burak (YSU) def. Hilary Hanson (Niagara) 9-8

Flight B Singles
SEMIFINALS – Hankle (YSU) def. Meredith Rock (Niagara) 8-3
SEMIFINALS – Olivia Rauh (Niagara) def. Puppo (YSU) 8-4
FINALS – Olivia Rauh (Niagara) def. Hankle (YSU) 8-1

Doubles
SEMIFINALS – Hankle/Burak (YSU) def. Shea/Wanhanien (Colgate) 8-2
SEMIFINALS – McAndrews/Bush (Bucknell) def. Puppo/Jesko (YSU) 8-6
FINALS – Hankle/Burak (YSU) def. McAndrews/Bush (Bucknell) 8-3

Oct. 1 Results
Flight A Singles
Burak (YSU) def. Kelsey Shea (Colgate) 6-1, 6-1
Burak (YSU) def. Maria Ortiz (Niagara) 6-1, 6-3
Jesko (YSU) def. Ashley Ta (Niagara) 6-1, 7-5
Elena Vidrascu (Bucknell) def. Jesko (YSU) 6-1, 6-3

Flight B Singles
Hankle (YSU) def. Becky Silvers (Colgate) 6-3, 6-4
Hankle (YSU) def. Kristen Bishof (Bucknell) 6-2, 6-3
Puppo (YSU) def. Amanda Golden (Colgate) 6-1, 6-1
Puppo (YSU) def. Jen Bush (Bucknell) 7-5, 6-1

Doubles
Hankle/Burak (YSU) def. Morgan/Silvers (Bucknell) 8-2
Hankle/Burak (YSU) def. Colvin/Vidrascu (Bucknell) 8-6
Jesko/Puppo (YSU) def. Rock/Silvers (Colgate) 8-5
Jesko/Puppo (YSU) def. Schneider/Bishof (Bucknell) 8-1

The Youngstown State volleyball team hurt itself with 30 attack errors, and Milwaukee remained unbeaten in Horizon League play with a sweep of the Penguins — 25-16, 25-12, 25-21 — on Saturday afternoon at Beeghly Center.

The Penguins were held to a -.018 attack percentage, and four Penguins players hit negative for the match. Missy Hundelt had a team-high nine kills, but she also registered 10 errors.  Alexis Egler added eight kills and seven digs, and Jackie Carlisle had seven kills and a .211 attack percentage.

Kerri Schuh and Elizabeth Egerer both had eight kills to lead Milwaukee. Schuh added 11 kills, and Rachel Neuberger had six kills without committing an error. Mackenzie Millis was part of five of Milwaukee’s 10 blocks.

Youngstown State led early in all three sets, but Milwaukee went on runs in all three sets to take sizeable leads.

YSU led 3-2 in the first set before the Panthers scored five straight points on Millis’ serve. The Guins led 3-1 in the second, but Milwaukee went on a 7-1 run to take an 8-4 advantage. Similarly in the third, Millis’ serve resulted in four straight Panthers points to make the score 8-4.

The Penguins battled in the third set, and they nullified a seven-point deficit to tie the score at 16-16 on a Hundelt kill. A Hundelt and Shannon Watson block tied the score again at 18-18, but Milwaukee scored the next four points to go up 22-18.

Youngstown State will hit the road for four matches in six days, beginning with a match Tuesday at Loyola starting at 8 p.m. Eastern.

Freshman Jade Flory scored her seventh goal of the season, but two first-half goals led Butler to a 2-1 win over the Youngstown State women’s soccer team on Saturday afternoon at StambaughStadium.

The Guins fall to 3-6-2 overall and 0-1-1 in the Horizon League while Butler improves to 7-5-1 overall and 2-1 in the league.

Butler’s Katie Griswold put the Bulldogs ahead 1-0 just five minutes into the game, lacing a shot past YSU goalkeeper Nicole Kline from 20-yards out.

The Bulldogs, who posted 13 shots in the first, to a 2-0 lead at the 37:06 mark when Kelly Mahoney scored her first goal of the year – a header off a corner kick from Stephanie Kaylor.

Flory cut the Bulldogs lead in half at the 62:41 mark with her seventh goal of the season. Flory found the back of the net after a crossing pass from from senior Geneva Strelka. Sophomore Taylor Gapczynski was also credited with an assist on Flory’s goal.

The Guins host Detroit, Wednesday, Oct. 5, at 4 p.m. at Stambaugh Stadium.

The Youngstown Phantoms fell behind early Friday night and could not maintain enough momentum to battle back against Team USA in their regular season opener. A slew of penalties kept many of the Phantoms’ offensive weapons off the ice for large portions of the game and Team USA was able to capitalize on their power-play opportunities to come away with the 10-3 win.

“We never really reached a level of cohesion between our lines tonight because we didn’t play very long five-on-five,” Head Coach Anthony Noreen said. “It’s was a hard lesson that we had to learn.”

The first period started out slowly with neither team able to get an edge. That changed with less than five minutes left when Team USA broke the deadlock. The Phantoms found themselves down two men for 1:22 and were able to kill off the one penalty to make it a five-on-four, but could not finish off the other and Evan Allen beat goaltender Matthew O’Connor to put USA up 1-0. Then with 1:49 left in the period Team USA struck again when Trevor Hamilton was able to string a pass to Tyler Motte in the high slot and he put a wrist shot past O’Connor make it a 2-0 game.

Team USA opened up the second period on the power play and did not take long to capitalize. Luke Voltin put one past O’Connor just 19 seconds in. Tyler Kelleher added another power-play tally a little more than two minutes later and JT Compher tapped in a rebound to put Team USA up 5-0 with 13:00 still left in the second.

The Phantoms refused to back down and that was personified by Mike Ambrosia who put his team on the board when he simply outworked the Team USA defense and muscled it past goaltender Hunter Miska off an assist from Ryan Belonger. Ambrosia wasn’t done yet and he found linemate Austin Cangelosi open – short-handed no less – and the Boston College commit tickled the twine to make it a 5-2 game with 8:41 remaining in the period. But with Team USA back on the power play with 1:34left, Voltin added his second of the period to make it a 6-2 game heading into the second intermission.

The third period opened and once again Team USA caught the Phantoms off guard early when Compher beat Sean Romeo, who came on in relief of O’Connor in the second period. Anthony Louis added the fourth power-play goal of the night for Team USA a little more than four minutes later to stretch the lead out to 8-2. Belonger temporarily took the momentum back for the Phantoms with 7:59 remaining when he sniped a wrist shot from the top of the right circle, sending it through traffic to beat Miska high. But in the end, Team USA had built an insurmountable lead and Clint Lewis and Kelleher added late goals to secure a comfortable win.

“The biggest positive that comes out of all of this is it’s just one game,” Noreen said. “We’ve got 59 games to get better. We’re going to go back to work on Monday and be ready to play on Friday [against Chicago].”

Goals were set.  Plans were made.  Things can change.  Coming off of a 37-35 loss at Indiana State last weekend, Coach Eric Wolford and his staff have fallen back into a fundamentals approach.  YSU tackled poorly, especially in the first half, in their loss to the Sycamores.  The good news is that it is only one loss and that there is time to regroup.

“It is only one loss and there is a lot of season left”, commented Wolford.  “We have to get back to some fundamental things.  We felt like Indiana State did a couple things fundamentally better than us at a couple of key positions and it showed up.  Unfortunately, four or five plays can define a game, and we found that out the hard way.  So we are spending time this week on blocking, tackling, and technique to get better, and I feel that we have gotten better as a result.”

The Penguins have been immersed by the circus that came to town this week, aka, the San Francisco 49ers. The Niners are using the YSU facilities in between their games against Cincinnati and Philadelphia to avoid the two long plane trips.  However, Youngstown State was turned into Fort Knox for a few days as campus employees were not even allowed to get too close or see too much.

Wolford peeked ahead to South Dakota State.  “They are going to come out and, obviously, try to run the football against us.  Quite frankly, since they joined the conference we are 0-3 against them.  Last year we closed the gap and only lost by ten, but the year before that, they blew us out.  We have to come out and play some football and can’t afford to get off to a slow start again.”

Andre Stubbs, it was discovered, is out for the year for the Penguins.  He will be given a medical redshirt and start as a freshman again next year.

Jelani Berassa talked about the football camp environment.  “Coach said we have got to get better with our fundamentals.  We are probably going to get together to watch the South Dakota game and continue to work on correcting all of the mistakes we made last week against Indiana State.  We want to be able to look back on that game [Indiana State] as a turning point where we got better because we learned from our mistakes.  We are still very confident.”

“After the game last week, we knew we had to get back to fundamentals”, said Obinna Ekweremuba. “We knew what we had to do in that first half last week and we were not able to execute the game plan.  We believe in our coaches, and we have to do a better job.  You can’t let a running back go 69 yards to start a game, it doesn’t work real well in the end.  Coach Kravitz made some adjustments at halftime and we want that positive momentum to last awhile.”

The Penguins host South Dakota State next weekend.  This is one of the toughest opponents that the Penguins have on the docket from year-to-year and a good week of practice leading up to the contest is imperative for the Penguins to have a shot at winning.