Sports

Sweet Caroline.... the Erie Otters won

By Megan McKay and Sydney Dietz

Staff writer, sports editor

On Saturday, Oct. 8 the Erie Otters faced off against their biggest rivals, The London Knights.

Before the game, fans gathered in their Otters jerseys at the Erie Otters Fan Fest, which was a huge success. On the front lawn of the Erie Insurance Arena, fans enjoyed a free concert from country singers Alexandra Kay, Hannah Ellis, and Royale Lynn. In addition, there were food trucks, tailgates, and tables set out for fans to enjoy before the season’s home opener.

Prior to the home weekend the organization named a new leadership core for the team’s 26th season.

The veteran players named to the leadership core are looking to bridge the gap between old and new. Veteran defenseman Cameron Morton from Kingston, ON was named captain after being an alternate captain last season. Morton enters his third season with the Otters. His physicality and dominant play on the backend looks to continue to lead this season.

“First off, I’m truly honored to be put in the position to help lead this team for the season,” said Morton in a press release from Erie Otters Hockey.

“I want to be a leader that shows up to the rink with something to prove, and leads by example atand-away from the rink.”

Alongside Morton, Elias Cohen will serve as full time alternate captain. Cohen is a dynamic player and was one of the leading goal scorers on the team last year.

Forward Noah Sedore, and defenseman Spencer Sova will also both serve as alternate captains while the team is home in their white jerseys. Defenseman Christian Kyrou, and forward Carey Terrance will also serve as alternate captains when the team is away in their navy jerseys. Despite a promising preseason start, the Otters have come up short thus far this season in defeating opponents.

While away in Canada the team went 0-4. The Otters lost their season opener 5-4 in a shootout after having a two-goal lead in the third period. They then went to Kingston and lost 3-1 on a great goaltending performance by Kingston’s Ivan Zhigalov. Finally last Sunday in Ottawa, the Otters fell short by a 4-2 score. Rookie Malcolm Spence scored his first goal as an Otter.

However, over the past weekend the Otters finally found success defeating their biggest rival, the London Knights, 3-1. Fans filled the arena with great anticipation for the game. This home opener brought one of the largest crowds for an Otters game.

The first 4,500 fans received a home opener rally towel that included the London Knights logo and Erie Otters logo. Additionally, there were home opener shirts being sold in the Otters Den, which is the merchandise store located inside the arena to get fans excited for the game. The shirt was a fan favorite and was seen being worn in the stands.

The puck was dropped at 7 p.m. The Otters starting lineup included forward Malcolm Spence, Brett Bressette, Sam Alfano, and defensemen Cam Morton and Christian Kyru.

The game started in the Otters favor when London center Easton Cowan received a penalty for hooking. While on the power play, at 2:03 in the first period, right winger Sam Alfano shot the puck and got it into the net for a goal. This goal was assisted by Kyru and Bressette.

The fans all stood up and waved their rally towels after the goal alarm went off. Then the Otters fans’ favorite song, Sweet Caroline, filled the arena. The crowd sang, “Sweet Caroline, London sucks.”

The energy from the crowd helped the team. The Otters had another powerplay, but could not get the puck past London’s goaltender, Brett Brochu.

Later in the first period center Kaleb Smith scored another goal that was assisted by Nathan Sauder and Colby Saganiuk.

There were many fights in the game. The first fight happened at 11:47 in the first period. This fight was between Otter Owain Johnston and Knight Brody Crane.

London then obtained their first goal at 13:07 in the first period. After the first intermission, the Otters were back on the ice and ready to play another period.

Spencer Sova scored the Otters’ third goal of the night. This goal was assisted by Sauder, and left winger Noah Sedore.

In the middle of the second period, there was another fight resulting in a 10-minute misconduct penalty for Captain Cam Morton and a five minute penalty for Kyru.

However, despite the penalties, London was unable to score. There was another fight in the third period that resulted in a London Knight gaining a five minute misconduct penalty.

The game ended with another fight and penalty. The Otters and the fans were elated for the home opener win. At the end of the game fans stood up and waved their rally towels to show support for the team. Goaltender Nolan Lalonde received the first star of the night saving 28 shots on goal. Next Friday the Otter’s are back home Oct. 14 for College ID night at Erie Insurance Arena. The special promotional night means Mercyhurst student’s tickets are just $10 with a valid University ID.

The Otters will host the Flint Firebirds at 7 p.m. Friday. The first 1,000 fans will receive a 2022-23 Season Schedule Magnet and to celebrate the end the workweek they can purchase $2 Bud Light Drafts during ‘Happy Hour’.

While Mercyhurst Women’s Ice Hockey is away playing RPI check out the Otters at Erie Insurance Area while the Otters celebrate college students.

Erie Otters photo

Fans make their way into the arena as the Erie Otters and London Knights warm up for a very anticipated home opener game on Oct. 8 at the Erie Insurance Arena.

Hurst athletics welcomes a new sport

By Sydney Dietz

Sports editor

The Mercyhurst Athletics Department recently announced a new women’s sport called STUNT.

“We are so excited to add STUNT to Mercyhurst. Mercyhurst adding STUNT offers so much opportunity for not only incoming freshmen, but also for current students who are interested in the new sport!” said the Assistant Athletic Director, Allison Brace.

STUNT is a new sport that incorporates skills derived from cheerleading. STUNT is one of the fastest growing female sports in the country. The NCAA has announced that STUNT is classified as an emerging sport. It removes the crowd-leading factor of cheerleading and focuses on the technical and athletic components of cheer.

It is an exciting head-to-head game played between two teams. Each team executes a skill base routine in categories such as partner stunts, jumps, tumbling, pyramids, tosses, and team routines. The teams must perform headto-head on the floor at the same time. The team that executes the best skills will win a point for that round and will also get the opportunity to determine which routine level will be called next.

“I’m looking forward to the opportunities this sport will add for the University, current and potential students, and within the NCAA,” said Brace. Mercyhurst is one of about 60 schools across the country to welcome STUNT onto campus and is also the first school in Pennsylvania to have a STUNT team.

“Mercyhurst being the first school in PA to have STUNT is such a monumental statistic. We fully anticipate the addition of STUNT at Mercyhurst and in PA will lead to other schools adding the sport and helping it to grow,” said Brace. When deciding to add STUNT as a women’s sport, Mercyhurst had meetings with the coordinators from USA Cheer and STUNT. The sport became even more appealing to Mercyhurst as the sport started to grow both at a collegiate and high school level.

“We at STUNT and USA Cheer are excited for Mercyhurst University to be adding a STUNT Program to their athletics department,” said Amy Hansy, STUNT Director of Expansion and Media.

“With their mission of providing a top-notch student-athlete experience, we know STUNT will be another great opportunity for female athletes on their campus.”

“I think STUNT will be popular for students who are interested in playing but will also spark interest for spectators and students to watch! The sport is exciting to watch and I think people will look forward to learning about it and watching it happen!” said Brace.

Joining STUNT would be a great opportunity to get involved on campus. STUNT is a spring sport that will compete both weekends and weekdays February through May.

Students who are interested in joining STUNT can fill out the recruitment form on the Hurst Athletics website and will be contacted by the coach upon hire.

An example of a women’s STUNT team performing.

Drury University photo

Men’s soccer defeats Golden Knights

By Megan McKay

Staff writer

The Mercyhurst men’s soccer team kicked off the past week with a big win against Shepherd and Gannon over the weekend.

The Lakers are having a great start to the 2022 season and have proven to be an offensive force holding onto their spot at the top of the PSAC West standings.

The team is currently ranked number six in the nation and has continuously dominated their opponents on both sides of the pitch. The Lakers are currently 6-0 in the conference and have improved their overall record to 12-0-1 in the 2022 season.

Remaining undefeated is a daunting task but the Lakers are not stopping at their recent success. Wednesday the team collected their seventh straight shutout against Shepherd 8-0. The Lakers applied pressure straight from the kickoff with 22 total shots, and had goals from sophomore Lockie Fay (2), sophomore Nic Munch, sophomore Sean Kerrigan, senior Tom Barry (2), and sophomore Thomas Binkowski.

Kerrigan, the midfielder from Sligo, Ireland has 25 points this season and Wednesday had a goal and assist with five shots.

Kerrigan said after Wednesday’s game, “I feel like it was a good way to go into the weekend, scoring eight goals and an all-around good performance from the whole squad. I think it’s important to stay focused though, as we’ve got an important game to look forward to on the weekend.” Despite leading the team with 10 goals in 11 games played, the young midfielder is always working for the betterment of the team. “Of course, it is nice to be the leading point scorer but it’s a team sport and if it weren’t for good team performances week in and week out, I wouldn’t be able to make these contributions,” said Kerrigan.

“My mindset is always to get a little bit better everyday, I work on my mistakes I made in the previous game and keep learning from my teammates and my coaches as much as possible.” The Mercyhurst soccer team has been a dominant team all season long on the pitch and Kerrigan described going into the weekend versus Gannon, “We’ve been preparing well as a team with two good sessions after our win on Wednesday. I’m looking forward to a good game against a good team and hopefully we come out on

Hurst Athletics photo

Men’s soccer team huddles during a game against Hurst rivals, the Gannon Golden Knights.

top.” Over the weekend the team had their away game at Gannon University.

The crosstown rivalry matchup against the Golden Knights was a major battle for the first spot in PSAC West.

The final from Saturday’s match was Mercyhurst 4 Gannon 0. The Lakers locked down PSAC leading goal scorer and Gannon midfielder Sergio Del Castillo. Mercyhurst’s defense has clearly been a key to the team’s success through stopping the opposing teams top scorers.

Senior defenseman Martin Grzywa has started every game and played over 270 minutes. He has played a crucial role thus far. After Saturday’s win Grzwya described the feeling saying, “It gives us confidence to know that when we play our game and stick to our game plan, we shouldn’t be afraid of anyone. We can’t get too high though and have to focus on the next game.” Grad student goalkeeper Jonathan Gomes had many crucial saves for the Lakers against Gannon.

Sophomore Axel Aronsson had a beautiful header in the first to give Mercyhurst the 1-0 lead going into half time. Fay scored his fifth of the season and Kerrigan capitalized on a penalty kick to gain a 3-0 lead.

In the final minute freshman Jorge Tallada Torres sealed the game with the Lakers fourth goal of the night.

Mercyhurst men’s soccer continues to dominate opponents on the pitch and are back in action this Saturday, Oct. 15 to host California of Pennsylvania with kick-off set for 3 p.m.

Two women’s soccer away games result in a draw

By Samantha Weber

Editor-in-chief

The women’s soccer team played against Edinboro University on Wednesday, Oct. 5, and against Slippery Rock University on Saturday, Oct. 8. Both games ended in a 0-0 tie.

In the game against Edinboro, the beginning foreshadowed that the game could go either way for the teams because it was constantly back and forth.

The first big play by the Lakers was when senior Madison Hoover took a shot and it bounced off the crossbar. After that, grad student Lauren Casey attempted to score on another long-distance shot like the one she had last week, but unfortunately was unsuccessful.

Mercyhurst was putting the pressure on the Scots offensively. Unfortunately, Edinboro had a strong defense that could not be broken through. Edinboro’s goalkeeper also played an amazing game and was a key player for her team. In the first half, the Lakers took 10 shots and four of them were on target.

The second half mimicked the first as neither team was able to score. Casey took another shot in the 52nd minute that was saved.

Senior Amber Thomas took a shot in the 75th minute of the game that was also saved. With only minutes left in the scoreless match, sophomore Karah Van Horn took a shot that was also saved. In the 89th minute of the

Hurst Athletics photo

Senior midfielder, Amber Thomas kicks the ball in a game against Slippery Rock on Saturday Oct. 8

game, sophomore Teagan Mehalko took the final shot of the game which was saved by the Edinboro goalkeeper.

Mercyhurst played very well offensively as they had 21 shots and nine were on target and MU also drew eight corner kicks but were not able to score off of any.

The Lakers added another tie to make their record history 6-94 against the Edinboro Fighting Scots. On Saturday, the Lakers traveled to Slippery Rock to hopefully add another win to their record. Similar to how their game against Edinboro started, the Lakers kept going back and forth with their opponent and no one was able to dominate the game right out of the gate.

Thomas took a shot in the 17th minute that was ultimately saved by the Rock’s goalkeeper.

The Lakers had four shots and two of which were on target, but both teams’ defense were playing well and the game went into halftime tied at 0-0.

The second half went the same as the first since neither team could get the ball in the back of the net.

Senior Taryn Baxter took a shot on goal in the 60th minute, but missed the target. Van Horn took another shot and also ended up missing the goal. Junior Alyssa Poleski took the final shot of the game in the 89th minute, yet it was stopped by the Slippery Rock goalkeeper. Laker goalkeeper junior Maddie Elbro had three saves. Mercyhurst has a record of 4-9-4 when it comes to playing Slippery Rock.

The Lakers current record is 7-2-4 and hope to add another win today as they are hosting University of Pittsburgh Johnstown.