Author: Jack Ridneour
The Chatham men’s baseball season has officially started, and it has gotten off to quite a start. Over spring break the team traveled down south to play a number of games against other colleges around the country. The team faced College of Staten Island, University of Valley Forge, Clarks Summit University and Dean College. The Cougars entered the six game stretch with a chip on their shoulder, as they felt they had something to prove to the other established programs.
The Chatham Women’s basketball team has been in the gym working diligently in preparation for the home opener against Penn State New Kensington on November 17.
With the five freshman playing major minutes the first two scrimmages, the team had a lot of inexperience on the court. But this did not seem to phase the young Cougar team. Lead by three seniors, the team clicked with one another.
The seniors feel that this year’s team has a lot of promise.
“Honestly I think this year we’re going to be really strong. We have a lot of good leaders on the team that we haven’t had in the past, we have some great players who bring all different things to the team, and we have the will to win that we haven’t had in the past,” said senior Chelsea Kovalcsik. “I think this year’s team is much better than the teams in the past.”
There were challenges in the scrimmages that were noticeable.
“Based on the scrimmages, I think our team really needs to work on boxing out. We’re a small team so fundamentals to rebounding are going to be extremely important,” said Rachel McClain, another senior.
Rebounding will be crucial in the success of the team. What they lack in size, they’ll need to make up for in fundamentals.
“Another area we need to work on is passing,” said McClain. “During the scrimmages, we had some weak passes that turned into points for the other team so it’s crucial that we sure this area up.”
Although they have some areas of improvement, there are areas of strength.
“I think our biggest strength is that we really are great teammates to each other and we play because we want to be there.” Kovalcsik said.
Besides having to be fundamentally good, they have to be able to be good teammates too.
“We especially aren’t selfish when we’re playing,” said Kovalcsik. “We’re so good at looking for our players and playing off their strengths and weaknesses.”
On Halloween, the Chatham Cougars Women’s Soccer team played their final game of the season versus Grove City. Being the final game of the, the Cougars just had to play their best and try for that ninth win. However, the Cougars didn’t come away with the results they wanted overall. The Women’s Soccer team lost 0-4, giving them a season score of 8 wins and 8 losses.
As they played against the Wolverines of Grove City, the Cougars were outshot eight to 23, had one corner to Grove City’s four, and had eight saves to Grove City’s four. Being the end of the season this gives the athletes time to wind down and shift focus to other matters of the school year, whether that be another sport, a new club, or just focusing on their school work even more.
With the end results of this game, it brings Chatham to the close of the best season in the school’s history for any Women’s Soccer team. Head Coach Betsy Warren and the rest of the team says goodbye to seniors Sarah Jugovic (Pittsburgh, PA) and Auralia Henderson (Palmyra, PA) as the prepare to graduate and continue onward to their futures.
As a head coach, however, Warren has already begun to lay the groundwork for the 2016-2017 season. With soccer getting its share of recruits, like with any other sport, there could be potential for an even better record next season.
To see the results of any of the Cougar Soccer games from over the season visit GoChathamCougars.com.
When you walked into the AFC on the night of Wednesday, October 14, you knew something was going on.
As the women’s Ice Hockey team, and the men’s and women’s Swimming and Diving, Basketball, and Indoor Track teams filed into the gym, the crowd in the stand began to grow as well. People lined up to get some Buffalo Chicken Dip and chips, and then they began to take their seats. After some mingling, the games began.
Competitions with the people in stands began, consisting of 3-on-3 and coaches vs. student 5-on-5. The crowd really got into it and really showed their school spirit.
As the hour neared midnight, the crowd began to die down. They anxiously waited to hear the announcement of the new 2015-2016 winter sports teams.
The announcer came on to introduce the women and men’s Swimming and Diving and Track teams. They then moved onto the women’s and men’s Basketball teams. The men’s team gathered around the center of the court and really got the crowd going with their enthusiastic chants.
After the conclusion of the announcements, the basketball teams had their own contests against each other. The coed shootout was greeted with lots of support from the fans.
One fan, sophomore Ava Iuliucci, had a great review of the event.
“I thought it was fun; it made it feel like it was an actual college, compared to last year where we couldn’t do that for the women’s teams,” she said.
There was then a skills contest among the women’s team and then the men’s. The competitors had to make a layup, dribble down the court, pass into a laundry basket, make a jump shot, then dribble down the court and pass to their partner.
After the event concluded, the teams all helped clean up and the fans began to leave. Many fans, both faculty and students, turned out for the event, making it a contender for a new Chatham tradition.
The Chatham Cougars Women’s Soccer team hit a two game downhill slide. The first of the back to back losses came against the Thomas More, a nationally ranked team, on October 11. The Cougars were out-shot 19 to 3, and they lost the number of corner kicks at 11-0 and shots on goals. The Thomas More Saints won this match 0-7, leading the Cougars to suffer one of their hardest losses this season.
The second loss of the week came against the Golden Tornadoes of Geneva on October 14. It was a very close game, with the Cougars leading in goals for the majority of the game. It came close with Geneva scoring a goal within the final seconds of the game. This gave Geneva the win with a score of 4-5.
The game against Geneva was not without a stellar performance from the Cougars. First-year Emmory Tardivo saved 11 goals, sophomore Megan Sieg scored one goal and had two assists, first-year Kassianna Politis scored one goal and had one assist, and first-year Julie Bruening had one goal.
After a 3-0 win against Thiel on October 17, the Cougars record stands at 8-4 overall and 2-3 in the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference.
The Chatham Cougars claimed their first victory of the soccer season over the Notre Dame of Maryland Gators. The game took place on Saturday, September 13, at 12 p.m.
The Cougars were the first on the board, with first year goalkeeper Megan Sieg getting a shot past Gator goalkeeper Heather Lancellotti at about the six-minute mark in the first half. The Cougars maintained this lead throughout the first half.
Only a minute and 16 seconds into the second half of play, Gators freshman Raeden McCullough answered the goal, sending a ball past Chatham goalie Liz Sawyer, and tying the game, 1-1.
Another 13 minutes, 41 seconds later, however, Cougar’s Sieg scored yet another goal, this time a penalty shot, once again on goalkeeper Lancellotti. This was the goal that ultimately won Chatham the game.
Senior goalkeeper Liz Sawyer made six of the seven shots that reached the goal.
The Cougar’s top player was Sieg, who finished the game with both of Chatham’s goals as well as nine shots on goal in total.
Other top players were senior midfielder Sarah Ellis, who had three shots on goal and one assist, sophomore midfielder Megan E. Cooper with one shot on goal, and junior midfielder Auralia Henderson, who also had one shot.
