Lady Cavaliers anxiously await upcoming season

ASHLEY WEYLER NEWS EDITOR ARW723@CABRINI EDU

The Cabrini Women’sSoccer team is looking to score big this upcoming season in the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference (PAC).

The soccer team is said to have a better chemistry this year and “our ability to put the ball in the net has vastly approved,” Prothero said, “they are all getting along and play well together.”

This preseason, Prothero said it has been strong; however, nagging injuries are slowing the team down. “With our small roster,we can’t afford to lose players.”

Although there are only five girls returning to the roster from last season, 11 freshmen are rounding out the roster “Our current roster is 16 and the players have spoken about our squad as ‘The Sweet 16,’” Ken Prothero, the head coach of the women’s soccer team, said. Prothero said that the coaching staffwas disappointed in the decision not to return made by a few key players, but that they are excited about the players who are back and their large freshman class. Prothero expects that every player will get a lot of playing time and will gain valuable experience playing in “one of the most competitive schedules we have ever had,” Prothero said.

The team already suffered a 5-1 loss to Muhelberg, a team that finished atop of its conference four out of the last five years. Brittany Shields scored offassists by Collette Walsh and Christine Regan. Lea Conti started in goal for the injured Melissa Williams. Prothero said their biggest rivals are the defending champions Misericordia and Eastern, who is always a rival for Cabrini teams. He said, “Women’sSoccer in the PAC has gotten more competitive every year and all conference matches will be very important.” The Lady Cavs will have to finish in the top of six out of 11teams to make the playoffs. “Once you make postseason, anything can happen,” he said.

The Women’sSoccer team came into existence in 1993.

They one the PAC in 1994 and 1995 and earned bids to the Campionship game in 1998 and 1999. In 2003, the team won the PAC in a nail-biting round of penalty kicks. They received their firstever NCAATournament bid in the process. “This season reminds me of my first one with the program,” Prothero said, “Most of our team was freshman with a few strong upperclassmen leaders. The following year we filled in thegaps with another strong freshman class, won the PACs and went on to the NCAAs.”

When compared to other PAC teams, Prothero said that all the Cabrini teams he has seen over the years have more heart. “Even when any Cabrini team is having an off year, they are never looked at as an ‘easy’opponent for anyone,” he said.

Prothero encourages that students come out and support the Women’sSoccer team. “Wehave astrong nucleus of players and excellent leadership in senior captains Nicole Niedermeier and Christine Kedra.” Students will have their first opportunity to catch the girls in action tomorrow, against Marywood at home.

BY CHARLES BRICKER (KRT)

James Blake listened intently to the news that he had just become the first African-American man since Rodney Harmon in1982 to make the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open, and then confessed, a bit sheepishly, ``Really? I didn’t know that.’’

He smiled. Not as broadly as hehad after coming from behind to defeat Tommy Robredo 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 on Monday afternoon. But there was no mistaking the ethnic pride.

On Wednesday, and undoubtedly in a made-for-television night match against his childhood idol, Andre Agassi, Blake can not only become the first black man to reach the Open semis but bring himself very close to transcending tennis and becoming something of an American sports icon as well. His personality is that scintillating, his history that compelling.

Born in Yonkers, educated for two years at Harvard, a black man succeeding in what has been for too long a white sport in the United States. And then the travails of 2004, when he cracked a vertebrae in a collision with a net pole, the virus that damaged his vision for months and the death of his father.

Andre Agassi, who earlier defeated Xavier Malisse 6-3, 64, 6-7 (5), 4-6, 6-2 to also reach the quarters, seem to sum up Blake, who now lives permanently in Tampa, Fla., just around the corner in a gated community from flamboyant former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo. ``Listen, James is an easy guy to like and he’s an easy guy to root for. If he’s getting the better of me, if we happen to play,you know I couldn’t wish it for a better person.’’

Blake, No. 7 Agassi and No. 8 Guillermo Coria were the first three men to reach the quarters. Robby Ginepri of Marietta, Ga., was playing the last night match against young Frenchman Richard Gasquet to become the fourth and four more quarterfinalists will come out of the top half of the draw Tuesday.

The women, meanwhile, got down to the final eight with Mary Pierce scoring an impor- tant 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 7 Justine Henin-Hardenne, who had beaten her one and one in the French Open final.

Also, No. 2 Lindsay Davenport roared through her fourth straight opponent, Nathalie Dechy 6-0, 6-3; No. 3 Amelie Mauresmo was a 6-1, 6-4 winner over No. 19 Elena Likhovtseva; and last year’s runner-up Elena Dementieva, the No. 6 seed, beat No. 11 Patty Schnyder 6-4, 6-3.

For most of the first two sets, Blake produced none of the ground-stroking consistency that lifted him through the first week. Then, with Robredo two points from a two-set lead, everything clicked in for Blake and his quick-footed opponent graciously threw in a couple of double faults.

``Until that point, I really felt flat-footed. I don’t know what it was,’’said Blake. ``I guess it could have been a letdown after having such a big win two days earlier. I was getting almost to the ball and then just kind of blocking it, not making the extra adjustments that you have to make.

``I started moving my feet once he felt the nerves. I started going after my shots. I said, `I have to do this. I’m not going to win otherwise. He’s not going to keep getting tight.’’’

Agassi also looked to be in deep trouble after Malisse stormed through the fourth set.

``The standard he set in the third and fourth was really high,’’said Agassi.

``I needed to answer that. I did in the fifth.’’

Agassi took more risks with his serve and converted 16 of 19 into points.

For Davenport, it was another step toward her fourth Grand Slam title and her first since the 2000 Australian Open. She’ll next play Dementieva, over whom she holds a 9-1 record on hardcourts.

She played her toughest and best match of this tournament, but she wasn’t getting high on her game yet.

``What happens on Wednesday,Ihave no idea,’’she said.