Friday Feb

By NICHOLAS RAPTIS

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The USA men’s national hockey team is off to a great start in Beijing, winning its first three games of the tournament and securing the top spot in Group A. The Americans steamrolled China 8-0 in their first game and then went on to win two closer matchups against rival Canada (4-2) and Germany (3-2). Some may be surprised at how well they have performed so far, given how young and inexperienced they are. The USA team is largely composed of college players, and no National Hockey League (NHL) players are on the roster. Before the Olympics, it was expected NHL players would be able to compete overseas, but due to issues with COVID-19, the league pulled out at the last minute. However, it does not appear that the lack of NHL players is hurting the team too much right now.

Thursday night’s game against China started slow, with only one goal scored in the first period. After that, the floodgates opened with three goals scored in the second period and four more goals scored in the third. Forward Sean Farrell, who plays for Harvard University, had a stand-out game contributing five points. Farrell had a hat trick with three goals and then tacked on two assists. While the team undeniably played great offensively, it was the defense by goalie Drew Commesso that secured the shutout. Commesso had an impressive 29 saves and, at 19 years old, he is the youngest goalie to ever start for the men’s national team. This is the first time in Olympic history that China has had a men’s hockey team. Last year, there were doubts about whether or not the Chinese team was even capable of competing on an Olympic level. After this performance, it seems that those concerns may have been warranted.

Team USA faced stiffer competition against Canada but was still able to win against them for the first time since 2010. On paper, the U.S. seemed to be outmatched against their longtime rivals. While most players from the U.S. are in the NCAA, the Canadian team is equipped with players like Eric Staal, who played in the NHL for almost two decades. Canada took an early lead in the game, scoring within the first two minutes of the game. But by the end of the first period, the Americans were on top with a 2-1 lead. It appeared at one point the Canadians may have had a chance, but two costly mistakes in the third period allowed team USA to pull ahead and make the score 4-2. The young American team proved it could hold its own against anybody with this win.

Germany also proved to be more competitive than China, but the U.S. won with a final score of 3-2 nonetheless. The Americans fell behind early, similar to the game against Canada. Germany’s leading scorer, Patrick Hager, scored during a power play only two minutes into the game. Team USA not only cut the deficit but pulled ahead 3-1 by the third period. The final goal was scored by Nathan Smith, a junior at the University of Minnesota and the leading scorer in Division I NCAA hockey. Germany did score late in the third but was not able to tie the game before the end of regulation. Commesso recorded 24 saves, marking another impressive performance after the game against China.

With three wins under their belt, Team USA is ready to head into the quarterfinals against Slovakia. Since they earned the top spot in Group A, they are given a bye and will play again on Wednesday. The U.S. has not won a gold medal in hockey since 1980, when it famously beat the Russian national team in the semifinal round. In fact, the last time the U.S. medaled at all was in 2010, when they earned a silver medal. Although it is still too soon to tell how far this team can go, it is off to a fantastic start. This is a perfect opportunity for many of these young players to show off their skills on an international stage and, hopefully, win for a team that has underperformed in recent years. If they continue to play at the same level, it would not be hard to imagine them bringing home the gold medal for the red, white and blue.

By LOU ORLANDO

STAFF WRITER

Coach Nelson Peña’s inaugural year leading the Fordham men’s tennis team has posed many challenges. He has already had to face two Ivy League opponents on the road. This past Saturday, the Rams’ latest contest brought them to the fourth floor of the Paul Bailey Pizzitola Memorial Sports Center on the campus of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. The roof of the Brown facility consists of teflon-coated fiberglass which allows natural light to shine through, providing a picturesque scene on a sunny February Saturday.

While the backdrop was pretty, the results were not. Similar to two weeks ago at Cornell, the Rams were only able to grab a single set in singles and doubles play combined. That set was won by Oregon transfer Gio Soemarno. The junior has just now launched his Fordham career after being ruled academically ineligible last semester by the NCAA’s “progress towards degree” rule, commonly known as the “4060-80” rule. The rule mandates that athletes must complete 40% of their degree by the end of their second year, 60% of their degree by their third year and 80% of their degree by the end of their fourth year. Soemarno transferred into the Gabelli School of Business, which has far more stringent requirements than the degree Soemarno was pursuing at Oregon. Thus, in order to become academically qualified at Fordham, he would have to complete 40% of his Gabelli degree before being cleared to play. Now that he has successfully completed his fall semester course work and been ruled eligible, Soemarno has quickly emerged as a valuable player for a Rams team that has been overmatched at times this season.

Last week against Quinnipiac, Soemarno didn’t give up a single game in his win over Bryan Schick. While this was in the six spot against an opponent Fordham expected to beat, that level of consistency bodes well for the rest of his debut season at Fordham.

This upcoming Saturday, the Rams will look to get back on track at home against St. Francis Brooklyn. That 3 p.m. matchup will be played in Harrison, New York at the Life Time Athletic Club, Fordham’s current winter home court.

COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS Fordham came up short against Brown.

Rams Split Up To Compete In Two Invitationals

By MADDIE BIMONTE

ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

In a busy weekend for the Rams, the men and women’s track & field team participated in both the Rutgers Invitational at the Armory Track & Field Center in New York and the BU David Hemery Valentine Invitational in Boston. While the Rams managed to secure one first place victory, both teams brought home multiple top 10 finishes.

The sole first place finish came from graduate student Kathryn Kelly in the long jump event on day one of the Rutgers Invitational. Kelly won with a school record mark of 5.92m, breaking the previous mark of 5.85m set by Kerstin Greene in 2007. Also adding a top 10 finish in long jump was sophomore Skylar Harris with a mark of 5.39m.

Four Rams went on to compete in the 400m, led by senior Dominique Valentine, who posted a season-best time of 58.25 seconds, coming in 13th overall. Sophomore Michele Daye recorded the next best time of 1:00.77 coming in 34th overall, followed by junior Ruby Avila in 41st (1:02.40) and sophomore Sophia Crucs in 46th (1:03.12).

Kelly also competed in the day two semifinals of the 60m dash, along with teammate junior Kyla Hill. Kelly posted a time of 7.73 seconds and Hill came in at 7.78 seconds. The last women’s event on day one was the 1000m, where sophomore Abigail Llach was 23rd overall in 3:07.21 and senior Angelica Piccini finished 25th in 3:10.52.

On the men’s side, the Rams had a couple strong performances with senior Alec Wargo, who took eighth place in the weight throw with a mark of 14.17m, and sophomore Justin Lombardi, who was eighth in the 1000m (2:30.83). In the 400m, two Rams secured placements. Juniors Erik Brown and Safo Kirton placed 17th (51.06 seconds) and 26th (54.38 seconds), respectively. The 60m dash allowed senior Manuel Alfonso Guzman to finish 21st overall in a time of 7.32 seconds. Wrapping up day one was the long jump, where Rams sophomores Justin Rhee and Eric Galante both secured top 15 finishes at seventh and 13th, respectively.

Day two of the Rutgers Invitational brought more strong finishes from a lot of the track & field Rams. One Ram in particular, Kelly, had a busy weekend. Kelly added another strong performance to the books by making the finals of the 60m dash, qualifying for the final with a 7.69 second finish. Her teammate Hill finished in 7.83 seconds for 15th place in the semifinals, failing to make a place for the finals. Kelly then posted a time of 7.80 seconds in the final for ninth place overall. Kelly and Harris both participated in the 200m dash, with Kelly locking down tenth overall (24.91 seconds) and Harris in 30th (26.17 seconds).

Three women went on to race in the 800m with Llach being the top performer in 25th place (2:22.06). Sophomore Marin Bogulski was close behind in 28th place (2:22.53) and Piccini was 32nd (2:25.04). The last event of the day, the 4x400 relay, featured runners Daye, Valentine, Avila and Bogulski who finished tenth overall (4:06.25).

Wrapping up the invitational, the men competed in six events with three top ten finishes. The 4x400 group of Brown, Kirton, Lombardi and freshman Isaiah James, finished ninth with a time of 3:28.02. Rhee took ninth in the triple jump for the Rams. Brown and Lombardi also showed their skills in two individual events. Brown registered a time of 1:21.22 in the 600m, good for fourth overall, while Lombardi was 29th in the 800m (1:59.82). The final competitors for the Rutgers Invitational were junior John Arvantides in the 3000m, who took 28th with a time of 9:24.08, and Galante posting a time of 23.85 seconds in the 200m, finishing 34th.

However the Rams were not done yet, as they also participated in the BU Valentine Invitational this past weekend. The Fordham women opened up day one with senior Helen Connolly in the 800m, posting a season-best and ECAC qualifying time of 2:13.72, landing her in 45th overall. Senior Jilli Jones joined her in ECAC qualifying by posting a time of 2:14.22, locking down 49th place. More Rams added placements in the mile run, in the form of senior Bridget Alex and junior Nicoleta Papavasilakis. Alex finished in 114th, recording a season-best time of 5:05.52, while Papavasilakis clocked in at 5:21.19, landing her in 176th. Over in the field, senior Casey Metzler had her best throwing performance of the season, posting a mark of 15.41m, allowing her to finish 11th overall. In the shot put, junior Amanda Gurth finished 27th overall with a distance of 10.48m.

The final event for the Rams was the 3000m run, where Fordham saw yet another season-best performance. Graduate student Germaine Harbaugh posted a season-best time of 10:08.84, finishing in 98th place, followed by freshman Madeleine Ryan in 160th and junior Alexandra Thomas in 163rd.

Day two saw only one competition for the women with the women’s distance medley relay. In that relay, Fordham’s team of Jones, Connolly, junior Taylor Mascetta and senior Bridget Alex finished ninth in an ECAC qualifying time of 12:01.09.

While day one did not feature any events for the men, day two featured tons of great placements for the men’s team. The men added four new IC4A qualifying times, which began with sophomore Steven Zucca taking fifth in the 5000m run in an IC4A qualifying and season-best time of 14:42.37.

In the mile run, freshman Roldofo Sanchez, who already qualified for the IC4As, improved his season-best time of 4:11.94. Sophomore Daniel Asher also posted an IC4A qualifying time of 4:14.38. Senior Jeremiah LaDuca qualified for the IC4A Championship by finishing 19th overall in the 800m in a season-best time of 1:50.40, followed by senior Zalen Nelson in 29th (1:51.66).

The last of the IC4A qualifiers was senior Brandon Hall, as he improved his 3000m time to 8:18.52. In the 3000m, freshman Nathan Bezuneh posted his best time of the season at 8:32.70, which was 26th, while junior Colin Flood came in at 8:35.16 at 35th. Lastly for the Rams was graduate student Andrew Ramsammy, who tied for 12th overall in the high jump, clearing 1.86m.

The Rams now face a huge competition in two weeks: the Atlantic 10 Championship in Virginia, where hopefully they can bring home a massive win for Fordham.