September 22, 2008

This Week in Walsh University Athletics

Monday, September 22, 2008

Monday 22

Women's Golf at Stark County Memorial Tournament

Tuesday 23

Women's Soccer (H) Point Park 5 pm

Men's Soccer (H) Point Park 7 pm

Volleyball at Ursuline 7 pm

Wednesday 24

Women's Soccer at Wilmington 7 pm

Friday 26

Volleyball (H) University of Rio Grande 7 pm

Saturday 27

Football (H) Quincy 12 pm

Women's Soccer at Cedarville 5 pm

Men's Soccer at Roberts Wesleyan 1 pm

Cross Country at University of Rio Grande 9 am

Women's Golf at Capital University Invitational

FOOTBALL: Cavs (1-2) Look to Snap Skid

Walsh (1-2) looks to snap a two-game losing streak, when they host Quincy University (0-3) in a non-conference game at Fawcett Stadium at 12 pm.  It is Homecoming for Walsh and Wall of Fame Weekend.  The Cavs were idle last week, after falling 23-21 to Seton Hill University on September 13. 

Quincy lost its third straight game last Saturday, losing 51-6 at NCAA division one Central Arkansas.  The Hawks other two losses were to NCAA division one Western Illinois (63-0) and to NAIA power and Mid-States member St. Francis (IN) (21-0). 

Walsh is 1-2 for only the third time in school history, with the last time being in 2000.  Walsh leads the all-time series 4-0, and won 21-7 at Quincy last year.

WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY: Cavs (25-10) 7th at National Catholic Invitational/DiNinno 10th

Andrea DiNinno (Sr., Harrison City, PA/Greensburg CC) paced Walsh (25-10) with an outstanding 10th place finish (19:17) at the 2008 National Catholic Cross Country Invitational, held at the University of Notre Dame today.  Walsh (267) finished seventh in the college division in a field of 24 teams.  Walsh will compete at the University of Rio Grande on Saturday morning.

Kristen LeFever (Jr., Alliance, OH/Marlington) was next for the Cavs with a 22nd place finish in a time of 19:46.  Megan Case (So., Louisville, OH/HS) was 43rd (20:25), Molly Triner (Fr., Canton, OH/Central Catholic) 65th (20:59), Jackie Delamater (So., Uniontown, OH/Hoover) 70th (21:03), Chantelle Richards (So., Akron, OH/East) 81st (21:12) and Kim Swartz (Fr., Tiffin, OH/Calvert) 91st (21:23).

MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY: Cavs (19-12) 8th at National Catholic Invitational

Walsh (19-12) finished eighth (267) in the college division at the 2008 National Catholic Cross Country Invitational, held at the University of Notre Dame today.  Bellarmine University (67) placed first in the 23 team field.  Walsh will compete at the University of Rio Grande on Saturday morning.

Brendan McKee (Sr., Akron, OH/St. Vincent-St. Mary) paced Walsh with an 18th place finish in a time of 27:03.  David Leary (Fr., Northwest, OH/Canal Fulton) was next for the Cavs, finishing 35th (27:39).  Jordan Johnson (So., Louisville, OH/HS) finished 65th (28:27), Bob Fay (So., Canton, OH/Central Catholic) 73rd (28:36), Matt Long (Jr., Mogadore, OH/Field) 76th (28:39), Jon Winnyk (Sr., Strongsville, OH/Holy Name) 81st (28:48) and Dan Opeka (Fr., Louisville, OH/St. Thomas Aquinas) 100th (29:39).

WOMEN'S GOLF: Cavs 4th at YSU; Win ONU Invitational

Walsh (13-3) finished fourth at Youngstown State University and won the Ohio Northern University Invitational on Sunday.  The Cavs will play in the annual Stark County Memorial Tournament on Monday (Congress Lake CC, Hartville, OH) and the Capital University Invitational on Saturday (West Chester GC, Columbus, OH).

Walsh was fourth at YSU, with the final round being cancelled due to the storms that rolled through Ohio on the 14th.  Walsh finished with an 18-hole score of 353.  Nikki Kulasa (Fr., Amherst, OH/Amherst Steele) and Kim Smith (Fr., Whitehouse Station, NJ/Hunterdon Central Regional) each shot an 87 and tied for 20th.  Mackenzie Smith (Fr., Magnolia, OH/Canton Central Catholic) fired an 88 and finished tied for 25th.  Katy Collins (Fr., Youngstown, OH/Ursuline) shot 91 and finished 33rd.  Abbey Kimar (Fr., Canton, OH/Jackson) tied for 39th with a 95 and Jera Dougherty (Fr., Louisville, OH/HS) shot 99 and finished 44th.

Walsh set a tournament record with a team score of 338, in winning the 12-team Ohio Northern University Fall Invitational.  Walsh won by five strokes over second place Ohio Northern (343).  Kim Smith paced the Cavs and tied for fourth with an 82.   Katy Collins was right behind Smith, and tied for sixth with an 83.  Nikki Kulasa tied for 11th with an 86 and Abbey Kimar tied for 13th with an 87.

MEN'S SOCCER: Cavs (3-4-1, 2-1) Lost OT Heartbreaker

Walsh (3-4-1, 2-1) suffered its first American Mideast Conference defeat, losing a 2-1 heartbreaker to Houghton College on Saturday.  The Cavs are back in action on Tuesday, at home, against Point Park College at 7 pm and play at Roberts Wesleyan on Saturday (1 pm).  Both are AMC contests.

Houghton spoiled Walsh's comeback bid with a goal a little over four minutes into sudden death for a 2-1 win.  Walsh's Alex Birtcher (Sr., Napoleon, OH) tied the game with seven minutes to play in regulation to send the game to the extra period.  After a scoreless first half, Houghton scored at the 62:28 mark to take a 1-0 lead.  Walsh keeper Ben Pflum (Sr., Napoleon, OH/HS) made some key saves late in the game, before the game tying goal by Birtcher.  Birtcher would leave the game after his goal with an ankle injury.  He is listed as day-to-day.

Birtcher leads the Cavs with six goals and ten points.  He has scored six of Walsh's 15 goals. 

WOMEN'S SOCCER: Cavs (4-4, 2-2) Blanked Twice

Walsh fell to 4-4 overall and 2-2 in the American Mideast Conference, after being blanked by identical 3-0 scores by Roberts Wesleyan and Houghton.  The Cavs have a three-game week, hosting Point Park in an AMC game on Tuesday, traveling to Wilmington College for a non-conference game on Wednesday and playing at Cedarville in an AMC match-up on Saturday.

Jill Zanney (Fr., Brunswick, OH/HS) stopped 11 shots in the Roberts Wesleyan loss, as the Cavs were out shot 15-5.  Wesleyan scored twice in the first half.  It was pretty much the same story against Houghton.  Walsh was out shot 15-2, with Zanney stopping 12 shots.  The Highlanders scored six minutes into the second half to break a scoreless deadlock, and then added goals at the 71-minute mark and the 85 minute mark.

VOLLEYBALL: Cavs (10-7) Win Taylor Tournament/McDonald, Schmidt Named to All-Tourney Team

Walsh improved to 10-7 on the season, after winning the Taylor University Tournament last weekend.  This week, the Cavs open American Mideast Conference play at Ursuline College on Tuesday (7 pm), and host the University of Rio Grande on Friday (7 pm).

Walsh defeated Spring Arbor College (25-19, 24-26, 25-16, 25-16) and NAIA 19th ranked Campbellsville University (29-27, 23-25, 28-26, 25-14) in four games each at the Taylor Tournament on Friday.  Megan McDonald (5-10, Sr., Kirkland, IL/Rockford Lutheran) paced the Cavs with 24 kills against Spring Arbor and 14 against Campbellsville.  Jessica Schmidt (5-8, Fr., Michigan City, IN/HS) handed out 81 assists in the two matches, 36 against Spring Arbor and 45 against Campbellsville.  Natalie Phillips (5-11, Fr., Wooster, OH/HS) had 11 digs in the Spring Arbor win and Amy Police (5-5, Jr., Perry, OH/HS) recorded 22 digs against Campbellsville.  Erica Parker (6-0, Sr., Concord, OH/Mentor) had four blocks in the Campbellsville win.

The Cavs swept Davenport University in three games (25-7, 25-13, 25-21) and host Taylor in five games (25-15, 20-25, 25-23, 14-25 and 15-9) to capture the tournament on Saturday.  Megan McDonald and Jessica Schmidt were named to the All-Tournament Team.  McDonald had 16 kills and Schmidt 30 assists and three aces in the Davenport sweep.  Amy Police and Natalie Phillips each had eight digs and Erica Parker had two blocks.  In the five-game match win against Taylor, McDonald again led the Cavs with 25 kills, while Schmidt handed out 50 assists.  Police had 20 digs.