Broncs in review
By Charles Guthrie
Rider athletics has had its shining moments during this 2007 fall semester.
Senior Tyler Brewington, who placed no lower than third place individually in any event, dominated for a golf team that didn’t play as well as they were expected to this season.
Brewington had two first-place finishes and two runner-up performances during the fall campaign.
The senior golfer’s best moment of the season came during the last tournament of the year at the Mount St. Mary’s Classic. After the first day, he was in 18th place and needed to make things happen on day two to have any chance of winning the tournament.
He did just that; he shot a 69 on day two to force a playoff round that he won on the second hole, knocking off Sean Davey of Hofstra.
While the golf team didn’t meet its expectations, the men’s soccer team did, with key contributions coming from the freshmen.
Freshman Tom Antonucci, Jim Bradley and Andrew Cotes all played huge roles their first year and picked up MAAC Rookie of the Week honors throughout the season.
The women’s amd men’s team combined had nine players on the MAAC All-Academic team. For the men it was junior Jesse Forsythe, junior A.J. Parillo and senior Lee Tomasso.
The women had six members: seniors Stephanie Madden, and Michelle Ripoll, juniors Lauren and Erin Mahar, and sophomores Kate Murphy and Allison Brody.
The field hockey team continued to be a force in the Northeast Conference (NEC) making its seventh appearance at the finals in eight years when it beat Sacred Heart 3-1 in the semi-finals.
No other NEC team had made it to the finals eight years in a row, nor has any team made the championship seven times out of eight.
The Broncs lost to top-seeded Lock Haven in the finals. Lock Haven was also the only team that beat the Broncs in conference play.
Senior Stephanie Walker was named to the All-NEC First Team for the second time during her four year career. She finished off with 90 points, placing her sixth on Rider’s all-time scoring list. Junior Tricia Crotty and junior Julie Vaccarelli were named to the All-NEC Second Team. The three girls were also selected for the all-tournament team.
Head Coach Lori Hussong had a milestone of her own when she picked up her 100th coaching win against St. Francis of Pennsylvania.
At the NCAA Regionals, the men’s and women’s cross country teams had their highest finishes ever.
The men finished in 14th place out of 32 teams, while the women finished 22nd out of 33.
Senior runner John Smith was named Rider athlete of the month for October along with junior Priscilla Modrov of the swimming/diving team.
Smith received the honor after receiving All-MAAC honors at the MAAC Championships. He placed 14th out of 123 runners at the event.
Modrov broke two Rider records in the team’s opening match against UMBC. She won the 100 and 200 butterfly at the meet and finished the month with five first-place finishes.
In basketball, both the men’s and the women’s teams have gotten off to solid starts. Already, the women have more wins than they did all of last year under new Head Coach Lynn Milligan. The men were able to show they can play with anyone when they gave North Carolina State, Penn State and Kansas State a run for their money at the Old Spice Classic.
The wrestling team, while undermanned, has had one of the toughest schedules in the country so far. If everything goes according to Head Coach Gary Taylor’s plan, his players will be ready for the NCAA’s.
With the winter teams playing well, the winter season can be better than the fall with a few NCAA playoff berths.
