Lax is back to take PAC by storm

KENDALL NElL & LAURE'i MINEO ASSISTANT A&E EDITOR & ASSISTANT MANAGING EDJTOR

Although spring won't officially start until March 20, spring sports are already preparing for the upcoming season. The men's and women's lacrosse teams are already hard at work in preparation for what they hope to be a winning season

Men's lacrosse is preparing for yet another exciting season facing tough competit1on such as McDaniel College and Ohio Wesleyan University, both of whom are ranked in the top 20 of division three schools.

"We're going to face off against tough conference competition since we are the returning PAC champions," said assistant coach Ryan Greer. The offense this year will be led by senior Mike Pape, who is a pre-season All-America, junior Mike Piccoli, and sophomores Rory Friel and Justin Gray. The defense will be led by junior Antonio Masone in goal, senior defenseman Tom Grosse, senior David Johanson, and senior Brandon Lawler with help from junior Mike Cottone, and sophomore Brian Felice.

Pape says that even though he is in his last year, it won't stop him from playing his best. "I expect nothing less than another PAC championship. We all want to go one step further in the NCAA tournament," said Pape.

"Although we are the PAC champions, that doesn't mean we can slack off during practice. We still have our 6 a.m. practices and are working twice as hard," said Lawler.

The men's team was eliminated in the first round of the National College Athletic Association last season by Washington College. The men will start their season on Saturday, March 1st at Mary Washington College.

As far as the women's lacrosse team goes, this season is expected to be one filled with new and returning talent. "This year our team is much younger," said Cabrini's women's lacrosse coach, Jackie Neary. "There are nine freshmen on the team and that's a big change, but we still have a lot of key players."

Looking back on last season, Neary is hopeful that sophomore

Crowd provides edge for Cavs

CHERYL WAGSTAFF SPORTS EDITOR

The men's basketball team played before a crowd of 493 people in their win against the Eastern University Eagles on Jan. 20.

The Cavaliers dominated a majority of the first half. At one point Cabrini led by 10 points after a nine to two run. However, due to a great number of fouls and turnovers by both teams the Cav's lead was cut to one at the break.

At the start of the second half the fouls continued. Eastern fouled senior Brian Wood, who extended Cabrini's lead to 3. Eastern continued to foul early in the second half, which led to six to zero Cabrini run.

Sophomore Brandon Millwood got the crowd back into the game with an inspiring dunk that gave the Cavs an eight-point lead.

Eastern never gave up in fact with l l minutes left in the game the Eagles tied up the score at 5050. From that point on the lead went back and forth until the last seconds of the game.

The great number of fouls continued throughout the game. With two minutes left in the Eastern 's Gus Nadelhoffer fouled out.

Cabrini's win came as a result of their making a majority of their foul shots and Eastern not making their foul shots.

The Cavs solidified the win with just 7.3 seconds left in the game when junior Saleem Brown made his two free throws to extend their lead to four.

Senior forward Charles Epps said, "The more crowd participation the better. That is our motivation."

The 72-68 Cabrini victory left Cabrini fans ecstatic and sent the many Eastern fans home disappointed.

Men's goalie Jamie Knobler and senior Colleen Conner will continue their hard work into 2003. Another bonus to this season's team is the addition of senior transfer student, Amanda Swoyer, an all-conference competitor last season at Shippensburg University.

Returning this year to lead the offensive front are sophomores Maureen McQuade and Anne Dougherty. Covering the defense are junior Kelli Romano and sophomore Missy Modesti. However confident with her veteran players, Neary is "curious to see what the freshman can contribute this season."

The team will attend training camp in Florida throughout the first week of March. The season is officially scheduled to begin on March 18 when the Lady Cavs take on Drew University.

Five-game winning streak for Lady Cavaliers pushes them over 500

CRISTIN MARCY ASSISTANT PERSPECTIVES EDITOR

The women's basketball team lost four straight games over winter break, but has since responded with a five-game winning streak, bringing its record to 8-7.

After a few improvements the Lady Cavaliers are now the only undefeated team in the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference. "They were able to achieve so high because all the girls on the team work hard and are dedicated to the sport," Melissa Landrin, sophomore team manager, said. Losing to St. Mary's, Widener, Swarthmore, and Delaware Valley, the Lady Cavalries never gave up. "Each game was hard fought just losing by points in the finals minutes," Landrin said.

The Lady Cavs did not allow the four game losing streak to get them down. Freshman Jackie Yoder, said, "The winter break allowed the team to bond and ication paid off because our record is over 500," freshman guard Jen Wessell said.

Winning against Neumann, Wesley, Cedar Crest, Eastern, and Arcadia the lady Cavs improved their record to 7-0 in the PAC. Yoder said "the team really came together and ended up successful."

Landrin team manager

brought us closer and because of that we were able to come back and win five straight games."

"In the beginning of the year our team lacked experience but now all of our hard work and <led-

With nine games to go, "our team is looking stronger and stronger each day, if they continue to work together their dedication is to sure pay off for them," Landrin said.

The Lady Cavs continue their season this Saturday against Gwnedd-Mercy College at 2 p.m. The team looks to continue with their winning tradition ending the season with nine of their last 10 games against PAC rivals.