Icecats keep lamp lit against Lumberjacks
Saturday night was Senior Night for the No. 10 Arizona men’s club hockey team, and the seniors certainly played their part.
After NAU (2-10) opened the game with a goal past Arizona freshman goaltender Nick Boddy, senior Brian Pollock broke open the Arizona scoring with a backhanded goal 12 minutes into the first period.
The Icecats (21-11) would never look back.
Senior forwards Cole Dunlop and Tim Wochok and defenseman Mike Pelletier all had hat tricks for the Icecats on their way to a 15-3 victory Saturday night after Friday night’s 13-0 Lumberjack drumming.
“”It was a lot of fun,”” senior defenseman Eric Kowalek said. “”Everyone was really piling it on in the beginning of the third period, trying to get the points, trying to top each other.””
And pile it on they did. In the last two weekends of the season, the Icecats nearly burned out the lamp at home, scoring 53 goals.
– Anthony Tarnowski
California trip proves too tough for men’s tennis
Knocking off the defending national champions is always the upset that underdogs hope to pull off. The No. 53 Arizona’s men’s tennis team had a chance to do just that on Friday, but once Saturday was done, the Wildcats upset hopes washed out with the tide in California.
The Wildcats’ early-season winning streak ended in a 6-1 Friday loss at No. 8 UCLA (8-3, 4-1), the 2005 national champions. On Saturday the Wildcats (6-2, 0-2 Pacific 10 Conference) hoped to upset No. 23 Southern California (6-4, 2-2), but fell 4-3.
“”It was a good building block,”” Arizona head coach Tad Berkowitz said. “”We are planting seeds for the future.
“”It gives us confidence that we can go in and challenge top 25 teams,”” he said.
The only pair that defeated the Trojans was sophomore Bruno Alcala and redshirt freshman Peter Zimmer in the No. 3 spot against senior Whit Livingston and sophomore Kaes Van’t Hof by a score of 8-5.
– Katie Miller
Women’s tennis suffers back-to-back losses
After sweeping plenty of their opponents, members of the No. 45 Arizona women’s tennis team found out how their competitors felt, as the
Wildcats (9-2, 0-2 Pacific 10 Conference) were dropped 6-1 by No. 4 Southern California (7-1, 3-1) on Saturday after being swept 7-0 by No. 11 UCLA (7-2, 3-1) on Friday at the Robson Tennis Center.
The Wildcats had hoped to regain their strength and momentum and upset the Trojans on Saturday but came up short, as only sophomore Juliette Mavroleon won her singles match and nobody won in doubles.
In the No. 3 position in singles, Mavroleon upset No. 48 Luana Magnani, a senior, by a score of 6-3, 6-7, 6-2.
“”It was mostly mental,”” Mavroleon said. “”I had to keep telling myself that I could beat her.””
– Katie Miller
Men’s golf finishes sixth in Hawaii
Despite the fact that the No. 25 Arizona men’s golf team did not finish as well as it would have liked, the Wildcats had their best tournament as a team this season, finishing sixth overall in the three-day John Burns Intercollegiate tournament that concluded Friday in Wahiawa, Hawaii.
Arizona’s combined score of 833 was their lowest tournament total for the entire season and fourth lowest in school history. The event also marked the first time this season that all five golfers on the team shot under par for the tournament, as juniors Henry Liaw, Nathan Tyler, Josh Esler and sophomores Travis Esway and Trey Denton all did so.
Liaw and Tyler tied for 18th place in what was Tyler’s lowest overall score for the year.
The field proved to be too tough, as No. 52 Southern Methodist earned a come from behind victory to win the tournament over No. 6 Brigham Young by one stroke.
– Allison Hamila
Wildcats place fourth at MPSF Championships
Even without All-American senior distance runner Robert Cheseret, the No. 7 men’s track and field team still managed to place fourth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships, thanks in large part to the success of the team’s throwers.
“”There was definitely more pressure on the men’s side with Cheseret being gone because he is our biggest scorer,”” said junior decathlete Robert Arnold.
Senior thrower Sean Shields led the men by claiming his second consecutive MPSFC title in the shot put with a school record and personal best toss of 19.87 meters. Shields’ throw is currently ranked third in the NCAA this season. Freshman thrower Shawn Best placed second in the competition with a toss of 18.50m.
The women’s track and field team also placed fourth in the competition, scoring a total of 64 points.
Senior thrower Kelli Burton led the way by claiming second in the shot put with a personal best throw of 16.30m, good for one of the top 15 throws in the nation.
– Cassie Blombaum
