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Sports
Laila Wallace (Seton Hall Athletics photos)
By LOIS ELFMAN
Special to the AmNews
Seven weeks into volleyball season and Seton Hall University is doing well. The Pirates are 12-4 overall and 3-1 in Big East Conference play. There are several new players on the roster and a new head coach, Shannon Thompson. She said the intense competition in the Big East coupled with Seton Hall’s high academic standards intrigued her to take on the challenge of building the program.
“We’re here for volleyball, but at the end of the day, we’re here to make them better people in all aspects of their lives,” said Thompson. “I really appreciate a school that has that same philosophy.”
Thompson recruited several of the new players on the roster, and right from starting the job last spring, she showed the team’s returning players that she cared about their overall success. “I’m really big on feedback,” she said. “I think they appreciate that.”
Last weekend, after the team’s loss to Georgetown, Thompson met with the team captains to see what more the coaching staff could do for them. The next day, Seton Hall prevailed over Villanova. On Monday, outside hitter Jenna Walsh was named Big East Women’s Volleyball Offensive Player of the Week, the first Pirate to receive this honor since 2016.
“We talk about having fun, which I know is so cliché, but we talk about enjoying it,” Thompson said of the team’s success. “That’s a main aspect of practices and games. We have a job to do, but at the same regard if we take it so seriously and we’re miserable, we’re not going to play well. Some of our losses this year, we were so serious and tense, that’s probably the reason we didn’t play well. The girls honestly enjoy being around each other. That plays a role in why we do so well.”
Two players to look out for are junior outside hitter Perri Lucas and junior middle blocker Laila Wallace. “We worked a lot on Perri being a little bit more diverse in the way she hits and how she hits. She’s really developed and is hitting so well right now. She’s a very consistent player for us and one that leads by example,” said Thompson. “Laila has done a very consistent job. She is someone that can get points when we need it, and find ways to score. She has an energy about her.”
The Pirates are at home this weekend, taking on DePaul on Friday night and Marquette on Saturday afternoon.
Perri Lucas
Former competitive skater finds inspiration in NYC communities
By LOIS ELFMAN
Special to the AmNews
Whenever the weather is nice in Brooklyn, Kristine Musademba is in a good mood. The waning days of summer saw her happy in the city she has called home since attending Columbia University, from which she graduated in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. Before enrolling at Columbia, Musademba was familiar with New York from competing at the Middle Atlantic Figure Skating Championships held at SkyRink at Chelsea Piers.
“In my neighborhood I feel a wonderful sense of community,” Musademba said. She moved to Fort Greene in 2020 and enjoys the parks, communities and places she’s gotten to connect with and explore.
Musademba, who grew up in Maryland, began skating at a young age alongside her best friend and started competing in the sport at age eight. She competed at the juvenile, intermediate, novice, junior and senior levels at U.S. Figure Skating Championships, winning the Intermediate Ladies title in 2005. She represented Team USA at several international competitions, including the Grand Prix and Junior Grand Prix, winning Junior Grand Prix events in Lake Placid, Spain and France.
“The performance aspect of skating was really thrilling to me,” Musademba said. “You train for hours upon hours and then have two and a half minutes [short program] or four minutes [free skate] to show everything you’ve got. Facing that challenge and overcoming fear and doubt, getting into my body and letting myself arrive at the level of performance I desired…was a beautiful experience to me.
“As I got older and progressed, competing started to become more meaningful in the sense that I saw it as this opportunity to connect deeply with the audience,” she added. “Showing them my passion through artistry and emotion on the ice.”
A decade removed from her competitive days, Musademba is reconnecting in a mentoring role through the Figure Skating Diversity and Inclusion Alliance. The discipline of skating has served her well in life. Having moved through a career in the consulting, finance and banking industries, Musademba is now a senior associate on the clean energy transactions team at a missiondriven non-profit investment fund. “I’m so excited about the ways a mission and work like that support the efforts our global community needs to make to ensure a more sustainable and equitable world,” she said.
Musademba still enjoys skating three or four times each winter and especially likes the rink in Prospect Park. “I can still do my double jumps!” she said.
She is also an avid abstract painter under the pen name srnityart, creating paint and collage works on canvas and has shown her work in Brooklyn. “The theme of my work is about celebrating individuality, peace, serenity, expression and love,” Musademba said. “Art is another creative outlet for me, another form of expression.”
Kristine Musademba shows off her Kristine Musademba shows off her artwork, some of which is skating inspired artwork, some of which is skating inspired (Briene Lermitte photo) (Briene Lermitte photo)
Sports
Zach is back and leads the Jets to a comeback win
By VINCENT DAVIS Special to the AmNews
Zach Wilson, the man the Jets hope will grow into their franchise quarterback and help shape them into a Super Bowl contender, was back under center on Sunday for the first time this season. He gave the Jets cause for celebration.
Wilson made his first start of the season after a knee injury in August in the first quarter of the Jets’ first preseason game resulted in him having a bone bruise and meniscus tear in his right knee that required surgery. The second-year QB, who had a rough rookie season last year, was sidelined for the Jets’ first three regular season games. So how he would perform in his return was something Jets fans were highly anticipating.
The 23-year-old Wilson leading a late game-winning drive has given the fan base hope he just might have the goods to be a top quarterback. One moment isn’t enough, but it helped the Jets earn a big 24-20 comeback road win over the Pittsburgh Steelers to reach 2-2. Last season, the Jets started 1-3 and didn’t win their first Game unil Week 4.
The Jets took a 10-6 lead at halftime versus the Steelers, who dropped to 1-3, but fell behind 20-10 by the fourth quarter. Wilson took charge and marched the Jets 81 yards for a touchdown to wide receiver Corey Davis with 7:31 remaining then another for 65 yards with :16 left as rookie running back Breece Hall fought his way into the end-zone for a 2-yard touchdown.
It was the second time this season the Jets won a game after trailing late. The defeated the Cleveland Browns 31-30 in Week 2 with quarterback Joe Flacco taking them downfield for a 15-yard touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Garrett Wilson with only 22 seconds on the clock.
“All the ups and downs of trying to overcome adversity, it was just such a good win,” said Wilson, who completed 18 of his 36 passes for 252 yards with one touchdown. Wilson also caught a touchdown pass on a trick play in the second quarter. He handed off the ball to receiver Braxton Berrios who threw a short pass back to Wilson in the end zone.
“I think there was so much growth those last two minutes as an offense, executing a drive as clean as it was and punching it in. It was just awesome,” Wilson noted.
“Zach doesn’t flinch,” said Jets head coach Robert Saleh. “I’m sure there were a couple of plays he wishes he had back. But he got us out of a lot of bad situations with his mobility. I thought he played a pretty good game his first game back.”
The Jets will host the 3-1 Miami Dolphins this Sunday at MetLife Stadium. Their AFC East rival will be without starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who suffered a concussion against the Cincinnati Bengals last Thursday in a 27-15 loss.
The Giants’ Saquon Barkley, who leads the NFL in rushing yards, ran for 146 on 31 carries on Sunday in a 20-12 win over the Chicago Bears (Bill Moore photo) Jets’ quarterback Zach Wilson played his first game of the season on Sunday and helped lead his team to a 24-20 road win over the Pittsburgh Steelers (Bill Moore photo)
As Barkley shines, the Giants prepare for the Packers in London
By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports Editor
The Giants traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to the United Kingdom to play the Green Bay Packers at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this Sunday. Kickoff will be at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. The Giants are in a position that has been unfamiliar to the franchise in recent years. They are 3-1 for the first time since 2011 after defeating the 2-2 Chicago Bears 20-12 at MetLife Stadium last Sunday.
By and large the Giants haven’t been aesthetically appealing, but they have shown in this early part of the 17-game NFL season they understand what it takes to grind out wins. And they have running back Saquon Barkley, who provides them the wow factor and spectacular plays lacking at the other offensive skill positions. It’s still a moderate sample size, but Barkley has flashed as the best ball carrier in the league and has regained much of the explosiveness he displayed in 2018 when he amassed 1,307 yards on the ground and was the league’s Offensive Rookie of the Year.
After being sidelined with a torn ACL for 14 games in 2020 and missing four games last season due to an ankle injury, Barkley has 463 yards heading into the matchup with the 2-2 Packers, which tops the league. With starting quarterback Daniel Jones’ left ankle injured versus the Bears after being sacked in the third quarter and his backup Tyrod Taylor taking a hard hit on a run midway through the fourth quarter, Barkley was tasked with shouldering the offensive load.
Taylor was done for the day and was placed in the NFL’s concussion protocol. Jones was forced to leave the game temporarily and when he returned lined up as a receiver; his sole purpose at that point was to communicate the plays in the huddle. Barkley compensated for the Giants’ quarterback limitations and finished the game with 146 yards on 31 carries.
“When I saw Tyrod go down, I kind of realized I’m up next,” said Barkley. “I’m the quarterback. First of all, you have to give credit to DJ coming back in the game. I can’t curse, he’s a tough you know what. Nothing but respect for him to go in and continue to fight through that for his team just shows you the type of person and type of player he is.
“I think I just tried my best to read it,” Barkley detailed. “It’s really not that hard, I guess, but I think I made the right reads on them. But we were able to keep the ball moving, get down field, get some points and the defense did a great job for us.”
“Those were plays we had in the game plan,” said head coach Brian Daboll. “I just thought those were the right thing to use at that particular time based on where Daniel was, limping around a little bit. And Barkley’s been ball handling since training camp, not for this necessarily…just because it’s part of our package that we have.”
As of mid-week, Jones’ availability for Sunday’s game was uncertain and the Giants may start Davis Webb, who has been on their practice squad.
