Weekly sports update: September 26th to October 4th

by Geoff Hassard - Sports Information Director

Field Hockey (4-5)

NEWSPEAK STAFF PHOTO / ED CAMERON

WPI Goal scored by # 3 Sarah Tremblay. This shot was the goal!

The field hockey team played a couple of games last week, one on the road aginst Tufts University and one at home against Nichols College. They went down to defeat to Tufts, but bounced back against Nichols two nights later.

In the loss to Tufts, everything seemed to go right for the home team. WPI played well, but the Jumbos made the most of their opportunities.

Last Thursday, WPI was hoping to bounce back as they played host to the Bison of Nichols. The two teams played to a scoreless first half. WPI broke the tie early in the second half when Sarah Tremblay (Rehoboth, MA) passed to Brooke Clark (Jefferson, MA) who drove the ball past the Bison goalkeeper. The game remained 1-0 until late in the half when a flurry in front of the opposition resulted in another goal for WPI and Clark. Deborah Vandenburgh (Walpole, MA) made three saves in picking up the shutout win.

For her performance during the week previous, Clark was selected as co-player of the week in the New England Women's Eight Conference.

Women's Soccer (4-4)

The women's soccer team had a 1-1 week as they lost 2-1 to Division I Northeastern and won 1-0 over Regis College in a forfeited game.

In the 2-1 loss to Northeastern, the Huskies jumped out early 2-0 and held that lead going into halftime. WPI battled back in the second half to cut the lead late to 2-1 on a goal by freshman Jamie Szafarowicz (Oakham, MA), assisted by Sommyr Pochan (Rochester, NY). WPI had more opportunities near the end of regulation, according to coach Carlson, but were not able to put one by the Husky keeper.

On Thursday the 3rd, WPI was supposed to host Regis College, but because the visitors could not field a complete team due to injuries, they forfeited the game. WPI picked up the 1-0 win to even their record at 4-4 with still plenty of games remaining.

Women's Tennis (3-5)

The tennis team has been extremely busy over the last week due to their regular schedule as well as making up some matches that were postponed due to weather. They ended their four-match week with a record of 2-2. They defeated Regis College 5-4 and Worcester State 6-3, but dropped matches to MIT and Smith by the same score 9-0.

In the win over Regis on the 27th, Jessica Buffone (Seneca Falls, NY) won 6-0, 6-0 at #2 singles. Michelle Jurofcik (Saugerties, NY) won at #3 singles in a three set match. Ashley Deliso (Sutton, MA) and Leanna DelGrosso (Euclid, OH) took care of their opponents at #5 and #6 singles respectively. DelGrosso also teamed with Kathy Sheehan (Warwick, RI) to take a victory at #3 doubles earlier in the match.

In the match against Worcester State, WPI had to battle back at #2 and #3 doubles to take a 2-1 lead into singles play. The tandems of Michelle Lafond (Exeter, RI) and Deliso won their match 8-6 and Paula Silva (Wakefield, MA) and DelGrosso won their match in a tie-break 9-8. In singles play, Jurofcik won at #2, Silva won her first varsity singles match playing up at #3, Deliso took #5 and DelGrosso was victorious at #6.

Volleyball (8-4)

The volleyball team continues to play well as they added three more wins to their total last week and are on their way to a solid season. They started their victory tour with a three game win over Framingham State on the 28th and then followed that up with a tremendous victory over Mount Holyoke 3-2 and then completed the week with a win over Atlantic Union.

In the win over Framingham State, sophomore Melinda Darway (Nipomo, CA) led the way for thehome team with a solid all-around match. She had eight kills, six assists and five digs. Juniors Stacy Gold (Nazareth, PA) and Emma Palmacci (Walpole, MA) also contributed to the win. Gold had five kills and four serving aces and Palmacci had 10 assists.

On Tuesday evening the 1st WPI hosted Mount Holyoke College in a New England Women's Eight Conference match. At the outset, it appeared the match would end quickly as WPI found themselves down 2-0 and not really playing well. The team would not quit and showed resiliency as they battled back to tie the match at 2-2. The fifth and deciding game, which uses what is called rally scoring in which there is a point on every serve, would decide the outcome. WPI jumped out quickly 6-1 as they continued to use the team work that got them to the fifth game. The score would go to 13-10 and 14-13 before Palmacci would kill the ball into two Mount Holyoke blockers to end the match. This was a huge win for the team as it was their first conference win of the season and the first time in nine years that they defeated the Lyons. Leading the way in this match was Palmacci with nine kills, nine assists, two aces and two blocks. Jo Shen (Taipei, Taiwan) was solid with nine digs and five kills while Shannon Sura (Yardley, PA) contributed with nine digs and two aces.

Against Atlantic Union WPI won in four games. The scores were 16-14, 14-16, 15-3 and 15-6. Palmacci had another strong night with 13 assists and four aces. Darway added 10 kills and seven assists while Sura had nine aces.

For her steady play in the week prior to last, Darway was selected as NEW 8 player of the week.

Golf (4-5)

The golf team was quite busy last week with matches against MIT, Tufts, Brandeis, Babson, Suffolk and Anna Maria. They came through with a 3-3 record for their efforts as they lost to Tufts, Babson and Brandeis, but defeated MIT, Suffolk and Anna Maria. On Friday the 27th, WPI traveled north to Haverhill, Mass. to take on MIT and Tufts at Crystal Springs. In a close match, Tufts won by six strokes over WPI with a score of 347. WPI defeated MIT by seven 353-360. Low scorer for WPI was freshman Randy Brown (Westfield, MA) with an 85.

Last Wednesday, WPI hosted Brandeis, Babson, Suffolk and Anna Maria at Holden Hills. In two separate matches, WPI lost to Babson and Brandeis as they shot team scores of 415 and 434 respectively while WPI shot a 450. WPI did beat Suffolk 450-484 as part of the first match. Sophomore James Carlson (Whethersfield, CT) was low man with an 81 followed Ty Johnson (Keene, NH) with an 84.

The scores from the first match were also used in the teams match with Anna Maria. They did defeat the Amcats by a score of 355-423.