Sports

Volleyball opens newly renovated MAC

By Samantha Weber Managing editor

The Mercyhurst Women’s volleyball team competed in the PSAC/Mountain East Crossover this past weekend. The Lakers played the West Virginia Wesleyan College Bobcats on Friday, Sept. 17, and the David & Elkins College Senators on Saturday, Sept. 18. The Lakers also had another game this past Saturday against the Shepherd University Rams.

The Lakers were coming off of a 3-5 record in their previous tournaments of the year, Ram Fest and the Cavalier Invitational.

They were also the first team to be able to utilize the newly renovated Mercyhurst Athletic Center (MAC). The MAC has been under renovation for only five months and the renovation cost about three million dollars.

In their first match against the Bobcats, the Lakers were able to sweep their opponents in three sets.

The Lakers dominated the first set as the final score was 25-15. Their hitting percentage was .520, which is well above what is considered to be a good hitting percentage in volleyball.

The second set was similar to the first as the Lakers beat the Bobcats 25-18. The third set was a little different as the Bobcats held the lead at 17-15, but the Lakers made a comeback and eventually won the third set with a final score of 25-22.

The standout players in this game were Beth Brady, Hailey Wilson, and Madison Kasper who got 12, seven, and six kills respectively. On defense, sophomore Maggie Thomas and Kasper each recorded two blocks during the match and Brady had seven digs while senior libero, Hannah Vuylsteke, had six.

At the end of the game, the Lakers’ hitting percentage was .333, which is still a great percentage.

In their second match of the weekend, the Lakers fell 2-3 to the Senators. The first two sets were very close yet the Senators came out on top as the final scores were 25-20 and 25-23 respectively. The Lakers came back and had a pretty easy third set as they held the Senators to a low score of 2512. The Lakers also won a very close fourth set 25-23 pushing the game into a fifth set. The fifth set was also a close one, but the Senators were able to defeat the Lakers again with a score of 15-13.

Brady, Kasper, and Wilson all had a great game with respect to kills as they had 22, 14 and 11, respectively. Thomas was an asset at the net as she had five blocks, which is her new career high.

In their third and final match of the weekend, the Lakers fell to the Rams once again in five sets. The Rams won the opening set 2521, but the Lakers came back and won the second set 25-23.

Mercyhurst lost the third set 25-9 but came back strong as they won the fourth set 27-25 pushing the game into a fifth set. The Lakers were down 14-8 at one point but had a four-point comeback to make it 14-12. However, the Rams were able to score one more point to make the final score 1512. Kasper and Brady had another great game offensively with 15 and 10 kills each and redshirt senior, Chase Cole, had 10 kills as well. Isa McCaffrey and Vuylsteke each had 19 digs to help the Lakers offensively. Senior, Zoe Gadomski had eight aces in one match.

Ryan Patton, head coach for the Lakers, talked about what the team did well in their games over the weekend.

“From really all of our middle hitters, we saw what an effective quick attack adds to our game. We’ll encourage them and our setters to find ways to make it a more consistent option. Our depth at middle hitter is an asset this team has,” said Patton.

The Lakers will be back in the Mercyhurst Athletic Center this Friday, Sept. 24 at 7:05 p.m. for Homecoming Weekend.

Hurst Athletics photo

The Mercyhurst Women’s volleyball team took on the West Virginia Wesleyan College Bobcats and the David & Elkins College Senators this weekend.

Women’s soccer ties against rival Gannon Knights

By Zach Dumais

Opinion editor

The Mercyhurst Lakers traveled a short distance for their away game on Wednesday, Sept. 15 against hometown rival, the Gannon University Golden Knights.

The match was an exciting one and in spectacular rivalry fashion, it ended in a 0-0 tie. Despite the tie, the Lakers played very well on defense.

Sophomore goalkeeper, Maddie Elbro, made 10 saves throughout the match with 3 in the first half.

Mercyhurst was unfortunately unable to generate much offense in the first half as they only had 1 off-target shot in the entire half.

The Golden Knights, in comparison, were able to put up seven shots with three being on goal.

The Lakers got out to a better start in the second half when freshman forward, Karah Van Horn, took a shot in the 69th minute.

The shot was initially saved by the Golden Knight goalkeeper, but it bounced and Van Horn was able to corral it. She then had a second opportunity from inside the box but couldn’t quite get the bounce she wanted as it went off the crossbar.

In the 80th minute, Van Horn put another shot on goal but this one was also unable to fall as it was saved by the Golden Knight goalkeeper.

The second half was much more balanced compared to the first in terms of shot distribution. The Golden Knights had six shots with five being on goal. The Lakers had ten shots in the second half with four being on goal. The regulation period ended in a 0-0 tie despite each team’s various opportunities.

The first 10-minute overtime period ended with no change in the match.

Sophomore forward, Emily Mijares, was able to get past a Golden Knight defender in the second 10-minute overtime period. She did have a great shot on goal, but the Gannon goalkeeper was barely able to tip it in order to make the save. The Lakers corner kick that came after also almost went in and the opposing goalkeeper once again had to make the save. These events occurred in the 105th minute and neither team was able to break the tie in the remaining five minutes.

The end result was a 0-0 tie after 110 total minutes of play.

“The rivalry between Mercyhurst and Gannon made it a hard battle, but I am proud of my team for how hard we fought. It was a great feeling coming out with a clean sheet because as a team we deserved it,” said Elbro.

The rivalry match did get a bit chippy given how physical the match turned out to be. There were 33 fouls between both teams and the Golden Knights even received three yellow cards. There were four total corner kicks and the Lakers had three of them but they were unable to capitalize on the opportunities. Mercyhurst finished the night with 13 total shots and six of them were on goal.

In their next game, the Lakers traveled to play Slippery Rock University on Sept. 18 and brought back a 1-0 win. The singular goal was scored by Mijares around the 18 minute mark.

The next home game for the Lakers will be played Sept. 22 at the Mercyhurst Soccer Field.

The women are set to play against the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown at 4 p.m.

Sophomore goalkeeper, Maddie Elbro, makes a save during Wednesday’s game.

Hurst Athletics photo

Men’s soccer wins against Shepherd

By Sydney Dietz Sports editor

On Sept. 15, the Mercyhurst Men’s soccer team traveled to West Virgina to play against Shepherd University for a 1:00 p.m. game. This game was worth the five hour drive for the Lakers, as it ended up being the best game of the season so far.

Mercyhurst won the game with a score of 6-0. This is the second game in a row that the men’s soccer team has won.

“We were playing well as a team, and we knew more goals were coming,” said junior midfielder, Salvador Rang.

The scoring for Mercyhurst started 11 minutes into the game when sophomore forward, Thomas Binkowski, scored a goal on Shepard, with an assist from Rang. Not only did Rang assist on Binkowski’s goal, but he also assisted on a second goal passing the ball to sophomore midfielder/ forward, Axel Aronsson. Aronsson scored a goal in the 23rd minute of the game.

The scoring was not over, in the 30th minute of the game, sophomore midfielder, Dylan Summer scored, which resulted in a score of 3-0 in the Lakers favor. This goal was assisted by freshman midfielder, Darragh Curtin.

The Lakers were up by three goals going into halftime. This lead shows how hard the Lakers have been practicing and allowed the team to go into the second half with confidence.

At the start of the second half, Rang achieved his third assist of the game. Rang assisted the ball to freshman defender, Nic MÜnch, who scored the fourth goal for the Lakers at 1:47 into the second half.

“As a midfielder, giving assists is one of the best feelings there is, and it is part of your job to help the team,” Rang said. “I felt really good after the third assist, also because it came from a corner, which is something we have been practicing a lot.”

Mercyhurst proceeded to increase their lead after halftime by adding three more goals before the final whistle.

“It was nice to see us scoring many goals, but what was especially important was that so many different people scored during this game. A lot of guys made the game sheet for the first time,” said Rang.

Sean Kerriigan was able to kick the ball past the goalie and into the net, along with grad student and forward, Nevado Elliott. This brought the score to 6-0, which meant a win for the Lakers.

“I hope we can grow confidence from this game and take that into our next games. The PSAC is starting soon as well, and it would mentally help us if we can go into that with as many wins as possible,” said Rang. “I am very excited to play our next game. We have to show that we can keep winning, we just tied our overall, so we have to win the next games, otherwise these last wins meant nothing.”

Overall Mercyhurst took control of this game resulting in 29 shots, 20 on goal, while also taking a 10-0 advantage on corner kicks. Meanwhile, Shepard had two off target shots. This is the first time the men’s soccer team has scored six goals since Oct. 5, 2019, against Pitt Johnstown.

The Lakers will next play Wednesday Sept. 29, at 12:00 p.m. against Seton Hill University in Greensburgh, Pennsylvania.

There will be a live stream of the game for those who cannot attend in person to support the Lakers.

Junior midfielder Salvador Rang runs after the soccer ball getting ready to make a play.

Hurst Athletics photo

On Saturday, Sept. 19, the Mercyhurst football team took on East Stroudsburg. The game was played away at Eiler-Martin Stadium at 1:05 p.m.

The Lakers unfortunately could not pull out a win and lost with an ending score of 7-17. This will be the Lakers second loss in a row, after winning their first game of the season.

Assistant Head Coach, Ryan Riemedio, said that the team will not prepare differently despite the loss.

“No, we will continue to work on the fundamentals of the game and concentrate on what we need to do.”

The East Stroudsburg Warriors put points on the board first with 5:25 left in the first quarter. Warrior Gunner Anglovich had a 13play, 91-yard drive with a two yard touchdown. This play brought the score to 0-7 in the Warrior’s favor.

East Stroudsburg added more points onto the board by scoring a field goal with 12:20 left in the second quarter. The scoring did not stop for the Warriors. They got an eight-yard touchdown, making the score 0-17.

With the Lakers having a scoreless first half, they needed to come out and score as many points as possible. The Lakers were able to put points on the board when junior quarterback, Michael Lowery, passed the ball to sophomore wide receiver, Cameron Barmore. This pass led to a 20-yard touchdown, which brought the score to 7-17.

The Lakers unfortunately could not find any more opportunities to score resulting in a final score of 7-17 and a win for the Warriors. However, the Lakers defense had a shutout in the second half.

“I am happy with the overall performance of the defense. We gave up some cheap points at the end of the half but made the corrections and shut ESU out in the second half,” said Riemedio. Mercyhurst redshirt senior and defenseman, Jacob Holl, had nine tackles and junior linebacker, Dakari Washington, had eight stops.

At the end of the game, Lowery ended the game 16-of-32 for 155 yards and a touchdown. The Lakers grad student and leading rusher, Chawntez Moss finished with 40 yards and 11 carries.

The Mercyhurst football team will face IUP Saturday Sept. 25, at 1:00 p.m. for an exciting Homecoming weekend. “It’s always special when the By Sydney Dietz Sports editor Second loss for Mercyhurst football LET’S GO, LAKERS! alumni come back for homecoming especially as we celebrate our 40th year of football” said Riemedio. The football game is free for all students as well as alumni with Sept. 25, Erie, registration. “It always brings extra energy to practice and the game because the PA @ 1:00 p.m.: Football vs IUP team understands how important homecoming is year to year.” In addition to the game, there will also be a Football 40th Anniversary Celebration and dinner in the tents north of Saxon Stadium. Sept. 26, Erie, The cost for this event is $50 per person. PA @ 12:00 p.m.: Field hockey vs East Stroudsburg