Transferathletes fill important roles

NINA SCIMEI\ES STAFF WRITER NMs722@CABRINI.EDU

With Cabrini being a small school, the Division III athletic department attracts a wide variety of transfer players to its teams.

"The biggest myth that you may find is that a player coming from a higher division, meaning Division I to Division III, will just walk right on and be better than the existing players," Jackie Neary, head field hockey and women's lacrosse coach, said.

Transfer athletes have to prove themselves as part of the team by working hard, no matter what team they came from. Cabrini's program is Division Ill, which can be often wrongly interpreted as athletics not being of much importance. That is not the case; the population of the college itself is what determines this division. Neary said, "The young ladies and gentlemen at Cabrini have a rich tradition of strong athletics and pride in what they have and will accomplish athletically"

Erin Schell, a new member to the field hockey team, has joined the Lady Cavs after Chestnut Hill's field hockey program was unexpectedly cut. Chestnut Hill College became co-ed in the Fall of 2003 semester, and is now reshaping the athletics program accordingly. Schell and the rest of her teammates were not notified until last March that their team will no longer be a part of the athletics program at Chestnut Hill College. This gave Schell an opportunity to find another team that she would like to play for. After visiting Cabrini, her mind was made up. Schell is pleased with her decision and is enjoying her time as a Lady Cav.

Anne Tye, forward for Cabrini's field hockey team, transferred from La Salle University this semester. Tye doesn't regret her decision to join Cabrini's team. Neary and upperclassmen made her feel welcomed after an intense week of preseason in the summer. Neary said, "The most rewarding thing is when I have a transfer, and even her family approach me after the season and say they wish they would have played here all four years in college"

Cross country looking for recognition

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CAP723@CABRINI.EDt: fans are the occasional parents and our coach."

Already halfway through its season, Cabrini's cross country team is looking ahead not only to competing in the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference, but also to finally being recognized by the school that they compete for. "We don't have a cross country team do we?" freshman Jessica Baliski said. Baliski was unaware of the 10 people that make up the men's cross country team and the three young ladies that are a part of the women's cross country team.

"I bet ifwe won PACs we still wouldn't get any notice," junior Matt Dzuryachko said. Dzuryachko, who has been running on the team since his freshman year, could be described in a way no other than frustrated while commenting on how the team's year has been shaping up. "The guy's team is getting better each week and we can't wait for PACs," Dzuryachko said. "But it's kind of hard to keep pushing yourself when it seems your school isn't even behind you because it doesn't even know who you are."

"Those girls deserve a lot of credit," Dzuryachko said. "They can't qualify; they can't even score, but they continue to run each week because they love and want to."

Smith has a lot of praise for head coach Tom O'Hara. This year was the start of O'Hara's 19th season coaching cross country at Cabrini.

"He's got a lot of experience. He knows what he's doing and the workouts that he has us doing, improves us more every week," Smith said.

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"We really don't get a lot of advertisements on campus for our meets. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that none of our meets are on campus," junior Shaun Smith said. The Cabrini cross country team, who does not have its own track on campus, competes at Fairmount Park for all of its home meets. "It's sad that nobody comes out to any of our meets;' Smith said. "Our only

As for the women's team, it has yet to qualify in a meet this season. PAC cross country rules indicate that you must have five team members to be able to compete in a race. That leaves the Lady Cav's two members short from being able to apply everything that it worked so hard for during training season and throughout the entirety of the year.

Five years after beginning his coaching career at Cabrini, O'Hara was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame after a very successful running career. "Coach pushes us by showing us that none of us have reached our full potential," Smith said. Dzuryachko said, "Our coach is great at keeping us focused on what we need to do. Between our coach and our teammates, we find ways to keep going."