Volleyball Regional Competition Results - Shannon Graves
Recap of the Week in volleyball.

1997 CLARKSON UNIVERSITY WOMEN'S SOCCER OUTLOOK

CU Volleyball defeats SLU
April Angelo

Clarkson has a women's Volleyball Team??? This is a common question asked by many students, both new and old. Yes, Clarkson does have a women's Volleyball Team and last Wednesday the "sassy girls" made the crowds roar at their season opener. The Lady Knights started their season off by crushing St. Lawrence in three games (15-4, 15-1, 15-11).

The team was led by Laura Mandell with eight kills and Jessica Yager with seven. They were closely followed by Katie Grayczyk and April Steenburgh with five kills each and Meghan Powrie with four. Grayczyk, Steenburgh, and Powrie are three freshmen who are new college play but obviously not new to the sport. Katie Daino cannot be forgotten because she assisted in almost all the kills that were made. Daino and Jocelyn Place, also a freshman, combined for twenty five of the assists. Stacie Breen utilized her excellent passing skills in order to setup Daino and Place.

A week prior to the victory, the team had been a group of strangers. Coach Laura Habacker had only one week to change a group of strangers into a competitive team, a difficult obstacle. Though she is an experienced coach, Habacker is new to Clarkson. She is assisted in this obstacle by Assistant Coach Jeff Reina. Two practices a day for a week would make many people lose faith, but not Habacker and Reina. They brought with them the motivation and ideas that was needed to change a group of women with a tremendous amount of potential into an undefeatable team. A trip to Stone Valley and white water rafting, without the raft, changed the group of strangers to a group of friends. The team bonding and rigorous training was needed to make a competitive team.

The beginning of the first game proved to the Lady Knights and their fans that they are completely different than teams from the past, and are ready for any challenges that step into their path.

Wednesday night's victorious ending is hopefully a sign of things to come with Habacker and Reina at the helm of a very powerful team.

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The Clarkson Women's Volleyball team has had a busy first week! They started Wednessday, September third with a home match against St. Lawrence University. Match consists of winning the best three out of five games. Each game being played to 15 points. Clarkson came out of the rally with a win to start off the season beating St. Lawrence 15-4, 15-1, 15-11.

This past weekend the ladies competed in the Holiday Inn Red Dragon Volleyball Classic. Held at SUNY Cortland it is the largest in-season collegiate women's tounament in the country. The Lady Knights won two of their five matches, both against Nazereth College. Nationally ranked teams such as Gettysburg, and Cortland also participated.

The team's next match is a tri-match at home versus Plattsburgh and St. Michael's Tuesday, September ninth starting at four pm. Come and show your support. The team and their new coach wish to extend their appreciation and thanks to all those who came to watch the St. Lawrence game and hope to have the same support at all their home matches.

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It is time to turn the corner back towards respectability for the Clarkson University women's soccer team. A competitive schedule and inconsistent performances by the Lady Golden Knights has produced a combined record of 11-36-3 over the past three seasons. Just five years ago the Green and Gold found themselves making their second consecutive post-season appearance, which included a home-field berth in the NYSWCAA Tournament. And that is the company that the Lady Knights would like to rejoin again in the near future.

Sixteen letter winners return for Clarkson this fall, giving 13th-year head coach Al Gotsch plenty of experience as the Lady Knights look to begin their turnaround. "We look to return to the success we enjoyed in the early 1990s when we advanced to post-season play in 1991 and 1992," states Gotsch. "Our schedule is not getting any easier though. We just have to really work and play hard. There is no secret formula to being successful. It is basically hard work, emphasis on strength and conditioning and a strong emphasis on the basics."

Last year's 3-13-1 record gave Gotsch the opportunity to play a lot of people and hopefully Clarkson can use that experience to its benefit this year. "We will have a very positive approach to this season," states Gotsch. "We have two very strong captains in senior Kim Bouchard and junior Caryn Kiehl. Along with three seniors, we have 11 juniors and 10 sophomores who all saw plenty of action last year. With the addition of the promising freshman class, we have the talent and experience to reach our goals."

Clarkson will look to improve upon its fortunes when its begins the 1997 l7-game schedule on September 6 by hosting Oswego at Hantz Field. The Lady Knights open the six-game Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association (UCAA) campaign on September 19 at Rensselaer. "The UCAA is one of the toughest soccer conferences in the country, and our non-league games never get any easier," states Gotsch. "We will have to minimize our mistakes on defense and capitalize on our offensive opportunities along with playing hard, fundamental soccer if we want to stay competitive."

Two freshmen will be vying for the starting role in goal. Jen Bashant and Kelly Kral put up some all-star numbers in high school and will look to make up for the loss of last year's two starting keepers Michelle Jones, who is out for the season with an injury, and Jessica Whisher, who decided not to play this fall.

A native of Tupper Lake, Bashant was a two-year CVAC Division II All-Star. She recorded 20 shutouts and 16 one-goal games in 41 attempts during her high school career. Kral is a good size keeper and an excellent athlete from Warsaw, who posted five shutouts last season.

"We should be able to solidify a very important area with the three candidates we have in goal," states Gotsch. "I see the three of them pushing each other's level of play higher, which will make for a very competitive and productive atmosphere."

The back line should be an area of strength for Clarkson with six veterans returning. Anchoring the unit will be last year's MVP in sweeper Caryn Kiehl. A first-team UCAA All-Star last fall, Kiehl is one of the few juniors in the soccer program's 16-year history to be named a captain. Senior Noelle Gotsch and junior Patty Waterhouse along with sophomores Kiersten Dunbar, Jessie MacFarlane and Monica Young provide proven experience and a solid nucleus.

The Knights lost to graduation veteran Beth Lucia, but sophomore Heidi Trodler who was on the training squad last year and freshmen Briana Salak (Guilford) and Danielle Zimmer (Kenmore) are expected to contribute this fall and give the Green and Gold plenty of depth at back.

"I feel the defense will be very solid and will help if the goal situations calls for a new person to handle keeper duties," states Gotsch. "We are going to work extremely hard to keep our goal differential down and I believe we have the players back there who can make the difference."

Perhaps the strongest area on the team heading into preseason workouts, Gotsch is expecting the veterans and several newcomers to produce one of the more consistent midfield units at Clarkson in some time. "We have the experience up the middle," states Gotsch. "I anticipate that these players will allow us to play our type of game, to be very strong on transition, to control the middle and to give us the opportunity to get the ball up to our forwards. The heart of our team is at midfield and I feel very confident that they will get the job done."

The lone three-year letter winner for Clarkson, Kim Bouchard has recorded 16 points, including six goals, in her career and provides the Lady Knights with invaluable leadership.

Bouchard was named a GTE and UCAA Academic All-Star last season. Junior Sara D'Agostino, a UCAA All-Star in 1996, returns fully recovered from injuries that have hampered her play the last two seasons and should be one of the more productive mid-fielders in the league.

After a two-goal effort last year, junior Sara Zidovsky will be counted upon to provide a large share of the offensive production, while classmate Diana Musante should continue to be one of the top play-makers on the team after a three-assist outing last fall. Carrie Layhee, a junior- transfer from Potsdam State, was a tri-captain for the Bears last year and will be a welcomed addition. A two-sport standout for Clarkson on the soccer field and basketball court as a freshman, Erin Parrish supplies the Green and Gold with excellent athletic ability.

Newcomers, sophomore Petra Sergent along with freshmen Rachael Kaschak (Cropseyville), Kelly Merkel (Rochester) from two-time Section V Champion Bishop Kearney, and Angela Palmer (Parishville) should help make up for the loss to graduation of Caryn McCarthy and battle for playing time on a talent-heavy unit.

The Lady Knights have managed to score just 19 goals in each of the last two seasons, but with the experience gained during those seasons Clarkson's returning veterans should be able to increase their offensive production in 1997.

The top three scorers return up-front led by last year's productive rookie and UCAA All-Star Laurie White, who tallied a team-high five goals. Another league all-star last season, junior Pam Dashaw, who also stars for the women's basketball team in the winter, scored nine points (2-5) in 1996 and should be a top striker this fall. Sophomore Staci McDonald, another standout for Clarkson's women's basketball team, made a solid contribution as rookie scoring six (2-2) and four (2-0) points respectively and will be counted upon to continue their improvement.

Senior Christina Reil returns healthy after playing in just five games due to injuries last year and will look for her share of playing time along with sophomore Sarah Giguere. Freshman Mandy Heitzke (Shrewsbury, VT) will face some stiff competition to break into lineup, but has the talent and desire to make her mark with the Green and Gold after earning all-state honors in Vermont the past two years as Mill River Union's leading scorer.

"We have a good combination of speed and power among our forwards," states Gotsch. "Speed being provided by Laurie, Pam and Staci. Then we have some power players in Christina, Sarah and Heather. If we can get the ball up field I feel our veterans along with Mandy Heitzke will be able to finish it off and turned those 1-0 games around in our favor."

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