Icecats forced to scramble for new opponent, settle for New Mexico

The Arizona men’s club hockey team was left to scramble Monday night after ACHA Division-II UNLV cancelled for this weekend’s games due to a player shortage.

Arizona head coach Leo Golembiewski scrambled to find other teams in the region to play and came up with D-II New Mexico (1-7) for the team’s seniors to finish their careers against tonight and Saturday night at 7:30.

Defenseman Eric Kowalek, wing Bryan Meagher and forward Dave Cwik will be honored with a special ceremony at Tucson Convention Center over the weekend, Golembiewski said.

“”There’s going to be a lot of emotion for the seniors and us (underclassmen) as well,”” said junior goalie Luke Edwall, adding “”you got to take care of the seniors.””

Meagher has been an important offensive weapon for the Icecats (15-13-1), while Kowalek has been a solid “”stalwart”” defensemen, Golembiewski said.

Cwik, who has been a big part of the team’s power play lineup, missed the first half of the season due to academic ineligibility and struggled without scoring any goals this semester until exploding withsix goals Friday against Texas Tech.

The Icecats missed Nationals for only the fourth time in their 28-year history but return 31 players next season.

“”This was an interesting season with a lot of ups and downs,”” Golembiewski said. “”I can best sum it up as a ‘woulda-coulda-shoulda’ year.””

– Savir Punia

Track heads to Seattle for first officially scored meet

The Arizona track and field teams will compete in their first officially scored meet today and tomorrow at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championships in Seattle.

“”Our goal is to have (the men’s and women’s) teams in the top three. We really have a chance of winning it all,”” said UA head coach Fred Harvey.

The Wildcats compete against the rest of the Pacific 10 Conference except for USC and Oregon State, which don’t have teams.

“”The level of competition is a lot higher,”” said senior Nikki Martin, who will compete in the 60-meter, 200m and 4×400m relay in her fourth MPSF Championships. “”You want to show up, you want to be seen and prove yourself.””

“”No one could prepare me for how fast (the other women) would run the 60-meter,”” said Martin of her first experience at the MPSF Championships, in 2004. “”Now it’s more of a comfort zone. I don’t have to think too hard, I just get out there and run. I know I belong there.””

Junior Antoine Cason, also a cornerback on the football team, will compete in the 60m in his second collegiate meet. Cason false-started and didn’t record a time in last week’s meet, but Harvey said he has full confidence in Cason’s ability.

This will be also the first MPSF Championships for freshman Tifney Reeve who will compete in the 400m and 4×400m relay.

“”I’m sure I’ll be nervous, but hopefully I’ll channel it correctly,”” Reeve said. “”High school wasn’t as much a team sport. I’m looking forward to the points coming together for the team.””

Harvey added that the women have much more depth than the 2006 team, which placed fourth in the meet. The men’s team also finished in fourth place.

Senior Jake Arnold will compete in the heptathlon for the first time since Jan. 27, when he automatically qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships. Arnold will also compete in the pole vault and 60m hurdles.

“”We have a great chance of getting first place this year,”” said Arnold, who set a school record with his first-place finish in the heptathlon in 2005 and placed second last season.

Senior Adam Kuehl will try to keep his streak alive in the shot put after breaking his personal record in the previous two meets.

“”I threw real bad last year, so I want to make up for that this year,”” said Kuehl, who finished sixth in last season’s Championships.

The distance team, led by seniors Obed Mutanya and Moses Mpanga, will also compete for only the third time this season.

– Justin Adler

Men’s Tennis opens conference season against top Pac-10 teams

The Arizona men’s tennis team will take whatever momentum remains what a dramatic win two weeks ago into its Pacific 10 Conference openers against No. 29 California Friday at 1:30 p.m. and No. 25 Stanford Saturday at 1 p.m.

The last time the Wildcats (2-4, 0-0 Pac-10) took the court, Feb. 13 against then-No. 46 Louisiana-Lafayette, they clinched the upset 4-3 on a three-set win by junior Jason Labrosse.

“”After the win … it would have been nice to play the next weekend and keep (the momentum) going,”” said UA head coach Tad Berkowitz. “”But that’s just the schedule. However, I think the break does help us freshen up and be healthy and ready for the Pac-10 season.””

The Wildcats will need to be ready for this weekend, as they will face two teams against which they’ve compiled a combined 15-94 record all time.

But this season, neither Stanford (1-6, 0-2) nor Cal (4-4, 0-2) has played up to potential.

Cal was on a four-match losing streak before picking up a win Saturday against UC-Santa Barbara.

Stanford started the season ranked No. 9 in the country but dropped its first six matches before picking up its first win Sunday against No. 26 Miami.

“”This is a good opportunity to possibly catch (Cal and Stanford) on their heels,”” said sophomore Peter Zimmer. “”They’re probably not going into this match giving us a ton of credit, but hopefully we’ll come out, compete hard and capitalize.””

– Bobby Stover

Women’s tennis to face No. 1 Stanford

Some teams may feel intimidated when going up against the two of the nation’s top-10 teams, but for the No. 46 Arizona women’s tennis team, intimidation isn’t exactly the feeling. It’s more like anxiety.

The Wildcats (5-3, 2-0 Pacific 10 Conference) play host to No. 9 California on Friday at 1:30 pm. No. 1 Stanford comes into town Saturday for a noon showdown. Both matches will be played at Robson Tennis Center.

The rankings “”motivate me,”” said junior Juliette Mavroleon. “”Last year, against their No. 1 player, I had a match point. So I am definitely excited and pumped up for this weekend.””

While the Wildcats may not be intimidated by the Cardinal (5-1, 2-0) or Golden Bears (6-2, 2-0), they still have respect. Both teams’ lineups are filled with individually ranked players, so the possibility exists of an athlete defeating one of the nation’s top players.

“”People see Stanford and think that everything is different,”” said UA assistant coach Brian Ramirez. “”That is one of the reasons they win so much. But I can say from personal experience, they are nothing to freak out over.””

– Bobby Stover

Golf climbs the leaderboard

The No. 32 Arizona men’s golf team moved up the leaderboard on Thursday, jumping seven spots to ninth after shooting a second round 281 (7-under-par) at the John Burns Intercollegiate in Wahaiwa, Hawaii.

The Wildcats trail UNLV by 21 strokes going into tomorrow’s final round.

Senior Brian Prouty fired a 66 (6-under-par) and is tied for eighth place entering Friday’s final round. He trails Jarred Texter of UNLV by 5 shots.

Junior Creighton Honeck finally found his swing, shooting a second round 69 (3-under-par) to end the day tied for 43rd.

Sophomore Nick Park and Senior Nathan Tyler both shot a 73 to contribute to the overall team score on Thursday. They are tied for 54th and 68th respectively.

Senior Josh Esler carded a 4-over-par to end the day tied for 77th.

Senior Ben Marsh, who is competing as an individual, shot a 68 to move to 1-under-par on the tournament, good enough to tie for 25th place. His score will not be eligible to be used toward Arizona’s team score.

The Wildcats are looking to finish in the top five for the fifth time this season. They will close out the tournament with today’s round at Leilehua Golf Club.

– Arizona Daily Wildcat, Information taken from a press release on
Arizonaathletics.com

UA alums bounced out of Match Play Championship

Arizona alumni and professional golfers Jim Furyk and Rory Sabbatini returned to Tucson this week to compete in the World Golf Championships – Accenture Match Play Championship at The Gallery at Dove Mountain Golf Course.

Furyk came into the tournament ranked second in the world and Sabbatini was ranked No. 48. Furyk, the No. 1 player in the his bracket, defeated Brett Quigley 2 and 1 in his first match. He went on to play Chad Campbell in the second round on Thursday, but was upset in 19 holes.

Sabbatini, a No. 12 seed in his bracket, defeated Englishman David Howell 2 up in his first round match on Wednesday. His second round didn’t go as well however.

Sabbatini lost 2 and 1 to Nick O’ Hern, who holds the world’s No. 16 ranking. Had Sabbatini defeated O’ Hern, he would have played Tiger Woods in the third round.

– Arizona Daily Wildcat