Sailing at the Hoyt Trophy

This weekend we traveled to Brown to sail at the Sherman Hoyt Trophy. On Saturday we packed ourselves into the vans at 845, and of course had to make a ritual stop at Dunkin’s before hitting the highway for our short, twenty-minute drive. When we got to the venue it was about 10 knots with winds gusting to about 13. Division A sailed 8 complete races with all top five finishes except for the final race where Kelly and Cy finished tenth. Overall for the day that put them in second for A division. Alec and Sophie sailed six complete races along with the rest of B division. Since the race committee wasn't sure if there would be enough wind to get many races in on Sunday, they decided to let A finish the day with two extra races, so that B division could pick up the next day with two more. Overall after racing on Saturday, Alec and Sophie were in fifth in B division. For our overall final place on Saturday our team was in second place behind BC, with a three point difference between first and second. We knew that Sunday would be a crucial day if we wanted to gain back those three points.

We met at the vans at 8:30 (earlier than Saturday, because Amanda promised us we could go to Bristol Bagelworks instead Dunks for breakfast). As we sat at the vans waiting, Amanda pulled up and asked us to help her put the Rhodes in the water so that parents could sail it later in the day. So we actually ended up going to Dunks anyways, and it was very disappointing. Well, unfortunately for us, the forecast for Sunday was right on with winds at 0 knots. We rigged up our boat in hopes that the wind would pick up and B division would be able to go out and sail, but the wait turned into a five hour wait which eventually ended up in the day being called. There was no racing on Sunday and so we had to accept our second place finish behind BC. Even though this is a frustration to the team, we will have the last laugh as we are quickly working our way to the top. Even though there was no sailing on Sunday, we had a great bonding experience as a team which we will never forget. We were also left to wonder that if maybe we could have gone to Bristol Bagelworks, the day would have turned out differently…

- Sophie Bellacosa

Equestrian at the Becker Show

The Roger Williams Equestrian Team competed this weekend at Becker College. Brown University came out on top with 39 points, and RWU tied for fourth with 29 points.

There were four personal first place ribbons received by Captain Shannon O’Keefe in open fences, Nicole McDonnell in novice fences, Rachel Asadorian in novice flat, and Cara McSoley in advanced walk trot canter.

Overall, the RWU equestrians had a very successful day with Erin DeMarco coming in at second place in novice flat. Scott Pearson received third place in both open fences and open flat and Abby Hanc, Rebecca Pettit, and Bridget Wright also received third place in their events.

This Saturday, October 30, the RWU Equestrian Team will be hosting a show at the Glen Farm right over the bridge in Portsmouth. Come out and support your riders and see what the equestrian team is all about!

- Cara McSoley

Equestrian starts off season 5th

The Roger Williams Equestrian Team kicked off the show season with a fifth place finish at the URI show. The team did a great job with multiple first place finishes on the team. Freshman and new rider Rachel Asadorian took home two first place ribbons from her first show with the team. We can expect great things from her in upcoming shows!

Chelsea Weiner, Abby Hanc, and Alex Pastor all took home a first place ribbon as well, adding to the team total points of 27. Everyone at the show had a good time supporting each other and watching everyone’s rides.

Coming up for the team is our home show at Glen Farm on October 30, 2010. Come join us at our first show at the new barn and support our team!

- Kyle Alexander

Women’s Cross Country journey to conference

The hard, long 5-10 mile practices a day continue to pay off and can be reflected in our meets. Two weekends ago, we competed at the Gordon Pop Crowell Invitational, in which we placed 6th out of 26 teams. Our top seven had some excellent performances and personal best times. Sophomore Lily Rutler pr’d (personal record and set a school record) with a time of 19:07, placing fourth out of 276 runners! Close behind, Vanessa Camiolo in 30th with 20:21, Kaitlin Crowley in 32nd with 20:25 (PR!), myself in 33rd with 20:27 (PR!), Annie Cassidy in her first collegiate race placing 36th with 20:31, Lauren Ashby 49th with 20:46 (PR!) and Katie O’Koren finishing 55th with a time of 20:55. All top seven scorers ran the 5k course in less than 21 minutes, proving our depth. Salve (our rivals) managed to win the meet, and UNE snuck by us, but I’m confident we’ll get them back at conference.

Looking toward the next few big meets, Coach made the decision to sit the top 7 runners out of the Westfield State Invitational, which would give that group of girls the chance to train harder, rest from race pace, and focus on Albany and conference. Meanwhile, other ladies stepped up big at Westfield. Nina Groseclose finished first for RWU placing 86th out of 311, followed close by Hailey Wolfe, Lauren Ricardi, Katie Wilson, Leah Seyer and Michele Needham. While those racing competed, the top runners from the previous meet ran a 50 minute run around the Westfield Campus (the previous day we ran hills, which we could all definitely feel the next day!!)

Some days our legs feel great, while other days we all feel like our legs weigh over a hundred pounds a piece. Regardless, as a competitive runner, we learn to mentally push ourselves through just about anything. Coach emailed us a quote that talked about running being symbolic to life and you have to drive yourself to overcome the obstacles even if you think you can’t. At the end of a race, which has proven to be the most difficult, it’s the inner strength that will mentally get you through the finish line (it’s all about fighting the pain, managing the pain, and accepting the pain; might sound kind of harsh but running takes a serious toll on our bodies!!). Coach has given us a mental guideline that’s brought us to the success we’ve had so far and I truly believe with this group of girls, we have the physical ability and competitive mentality to out run every team at conference (and defend our title!!!).

Despite some teams placing higher at meets up until now, the hard work and miles we’ve put in on a daily basis is what’s going to clinch us the title in that last mile. This weekend we have our first overnight at University of Albany, in which Coach has mentioned should be an extremely fast paced race (hopefully more PR’s!!). Let’s go get it ladies, “Believe!”

- Jessica Kraiza

Moving on to the Semifinals for Women’s Tennis!

After a tough match against Curry, finally beating Colby Sawyer, and finishing second in the conference, I know this year the women’s tennis team can go all the way and win the conference.

Playing Curry College on October 5th, as a team, we proved we can win any match. Falling fast in the doubles, down 0-3 in the match, we knew we had our work cut out for us. Coming back in the singles, as the sun went down, we tied Curry 4-4. It was literally a sight for the deciding match of Olivia Hilton at 5th singles had to be moved to inside courts down the road. Since Curry didn’t have lights and Olivia split sets with her opponent, she had to finish the final set indoors for the match. She pulled through, beating her opponent and winning us the match, well-deserved. We worked hard through that match, refusing to loose, the whole team contributing to the win. We then knew we could do anything.

After that match, Colby-Sawyer seemed to be a breeze, for we defeated them 8-1 to clinch our 2nd spot in the conference. Just two days ago (Tuesday the 12th), we won our first playoff match against WNEC taking two of the doubles and immediately 3 of the singles for the first to 5 to win the match. We are now ready for the semifinals next Wednesday, and then moving on to the finals on October 23rd.

Our team has come such a long way, always working hard, and looking to improve. We put our hearts into the game, leaving everything we have on the court. We deserve to win the conference and have proved that we certainly can. Come support our women’s tennis! GO HAWKS!

- Sam Curran

Volleyball Swag

Our goals remain unchanged as we head into the last month of our season. We continue to fight to stay in the top spot in the conference. As of now we are undefeated in the TCCC and could potentially be hosting the tournament for the championship at RWU. We can’t believe that we only have 7 regular season games left because we feel like we’re just getting started. We have improved so much this year compared to last year in basically every aspect. Serving, passing, hitting and blocking will continue to get better so that by the end of the regular season we are in tip top shape for the playoffs.

We have defeated our toughest competition thus far which includes Endicott and Colby-Sawyer both in 3 games to 1. Tonight we play WNEC which is a huge game for us being that we took the championship title from them last year. WNEC will be coming after us to try to redeem themselves, but we’re not going to let them achieve anything. In fact the opposite will happen by us further proving that the outcome of last year’s championship had nothing to do with luck. It had to do with hard work, skill, determination and heart. Our blocking is going to be on point, our defense will be unstoppable and our hitters are going to be aggressive and smart.

The RWU VB team is on its biggest winning streak of the season with 7 consecutive and this past weekend defeated RIC and JWU for the Rhode Island Championship.

We are ready to go, and to bring home another win today to be 21-3 and 7-0 in the conference. Every opposing team from here on out is going to have to bring their “A” game because we are in domination mode. We are the toughest team to beat in the conference.

Volleyball Swag.

- Jill Hurd

Keeping up with Men's Soccer

The team suffered their second conference loss, falling to Nichols College on a rain-drenched night, snapping a 3-game winning streak. However, the result was not indicative of how hard-fought much of the match was played. Some stellar goalkeeping by the way of Nichols helped keep us at bay. John Pearson, Brian Swindell and Jared Falconer and others had stellar scoring opportunities. You’ll get ‘em next time guys.

Last Saturday night, we traveled to Henniker, New Hampshire to battle the New England College Pilgrims. During the course of the match, we displayed stellar possession, moving the ball about the pitch with ease. It truly was a sight to see. Then in the 60th minute defender, Kamali Webson delivered a monstrous headed blast off the cross bar, then tickling the twine, providing the game’s only goal. Webson elevated over the opposition, smiled, then punished the ball into the goal. Throughout the remainder of the match the Pilgrims failed to convert on several half chances as the Hawk “D” stymied them.

September 28th the Hawks traveled up to Paxton, MA to battle the AmCats of Anna Maria College in TCCC play. The night was dreary, but our play was not. We came out rip roaring; as Brian Swindell tapped in a poacher-esque, Ruud Van Nistelrooy-like goal in the 7th minute as he out foxed the last defender and the goalkeeper. For the remainder of the game we unfortunately found the more of the side netting rather than the back of the net. From my count, we fired 8 shots into the side netting as they went on to outshoot the AmCats 22-7.

Three days earlier, the Hawks clashed with the Chargers hailing from the arctic tundra of New London, NH. Every year this is the game that is circled on my schedule, as I attended CSC before heading to greener pastures—Roger Williams. Since I am a “co-manager” I was limited to filling water bottles, vehement cheering and partaking in celebratory chest bumps with Tim Cunningham our team scores. But I digress, Roger Williams dictated the tempo throughout the course of play, however, at times, Colby-Sawyer would create some half chances, but ultimately failed to convert. In the 21st minute, Bradley MacDonald deftly maneuvered around several members of the Charger “D” before netting the only goal of the game.

- TJ Doherty

Women's Soccer still rolling

After a 4-1 win Tuesday night against Nichols College, our team continues the victorious trail with an overall record of 8-4 and 7-0 in the TCCC. Though Nichols scored the first goal of the game, we quickly retaliated with a carefully placed goal from Alexa Maher off of a rebound. Using this goal as motivation, our energy quickly picked up as we continued to dominate the pace of the game.

In the 22nd minute Laurin Pendleton tipped the ball to Noelle Marston to gain a 2-1 lead. The next goal came only four minutes into the second half when Pendleton connected with Katie Fusaro off a cross from the right, as Fusaro strategically placed the ball into the left hand corner of the net.

Maddie Howard had a spectacular game performance last night, adding to her accomplishments. Howard scored the fourth and final goal off a free kick just outside the 18 yard box. We had a strong strong the entire 90 minutes. With a sharp and consistent performance by the defense, the Bison were unable to successfully penetrate the Hawks defensive third.

Great distribution by the midfield made the course of the game fluid, fast and in the Hawks favor. We’re certainly on a roll with an exciting winning streak. We have some tough games headed our way, and we will be sure to be perfectly prepared.

- Michelle Meagher

Men’s Cross Country coming on strong

Our team has really shown its strength and depth in these last two weeks. Rookie runners, Jack Ferguson, Henry Loughlin, Chase Osgood, and Jeremy Siegel, have shown a continuing presence as they join Jon Ellis, Jeff Pini, Andrew Gallant, and myself.

We competed at the UMass-Dartmouth Invite two weekends ago and at the Gordon Invite this past weekend. Dartmouth was the first 8k of the season but that didn't seem to bother us. In the words of Forrest Gump, "That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run. So I ran to the end of the road. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd run to the end of town..." What's a couple more miles?

The big race took place this past weekend in Beverly, Massachusetts. We raced against a field of 20+ teams which included a lot of the other teams in The Commonwealth Coast Conference, such as Gordon and Endicott. We had to compete without 2 of our top 7, but when the team scores were totaled Roger Williams finished in 4th place overall, but 1st in our conference. The final team scores were, Roger Williams – 154, Gordon – 211.

So looking into the future, we seem to be on the right course as we approach the conference championship on October 30th, right here at Colt State Park.

“Life’s battles don't always go to the strongest or fastest man, But sooner or later the man who wins is the fellow who thinks he can.”

- Tom Maybury

Coming through at the Danmark Trophy

This weekend, our sailing abilities, strength, and Cy Thompson's leadership skills were all put to the test on Saturday morning. Cy Thompson, Kelly Stannard, Alec Anderson, Alex Rudkin, and myself (all heading to Coast Guard Academy for the Danmark Trophy), and Andrew Tamblyn, Dan Goldman, Connor Needham, and Tyler Wilson (headed to the Conn College Invitational at Conn College), wearily piled ourselves into the van and started the journey down to Connecticut. After making a much needed dunks stop we were on our way.

When we arrived at the Danmark, there was about 5 knots of wind and we were told it would continue to die out throughout the day. Sure enough by about 3 in the afternoon the wind was beginning to die down. B Division ended up only getting in seven races, while A Division sailed eight. At the end of day one, Cy Thompson and Kelly Stannard were in sixth in A division, and Alec Anderson and Sophie Bellacosa were in fifth in B division.

We knew Sunday was going to be a tough day with the wind speeds up and the competition becoming more crucial. After a restful Saturday night, we all awoke alert and ready for Sunday's racing. When we got to Coast Guard Academy, all we really wanted to do was hide in the warm van or at least we wished that we had as many base layers and sweatshirts and sweatpants as the cool BC sailors with all their new Under Armour gear. It was about 50 degrees when we got to Coast Guard and about 10 knots, so we bundled up and headed out to the race course. Alec and I began the day with a 13 (which we slowly began to forget happened throughout the day), then got a 1, 3, 1, 4 after that.

At this point the wind was gusting at some points to about 20-25 knots so I was switched out for heavy air crew Alex Rudkin to save the day. Cy and Kelly hadn’t been handling the breeze very well (probably due to Kelly’s short stature and lack of hiking ability in the heavy winds), so I was quickly substituted back into A Division to sail with Cy. While Alec and Alex continued to struggle with their next few races, but ended the last race with a solid 6^th, Cy and I picked up our game to get a 1, 2, 1, 4 for our last four races.

Overall at the Danmark trophy, our team finished second. This was a huge accomplishment and we were all very proud of the way we conducted ourselves throughout the weekend, especially since we had to coaches to give us wonderful advice. Cy Thompson really showed his true leadership abilities as he rallied us each morning and helped wind us down at night. Also a special thank you to the freshmen Alex and Connor for performing their duties with getting lunches and cleaning the vans.

Also congratulations to Cameron Pimentel and Bianca Rom who finished an astounding six 1st place finishes on Sunday at the smith trophy at MIT, and went on to win A division. Good work Cam and Bianca!

And also congrats to our coaches Amanda Callahan and Colin Merrick for finishing first at the Hinman Trophy in Seattle, Washington!

- Sophie Bellacosa

Women's Soccer standing strong!

The Women’s Soccer team is in a great spot right now being 6-0 in the CCC with an overall record of 7-3. In our last couple games we have really been able to connect as a team. The ball movement is moving much quicker, we’re making more passes to feet, creating 1-touch plays, and just overall stepping up to win games. As a team, we all know the importance every game has on our standing in the conference and we are working every game to keep an undefeated record in conference.

Our last game was up in Henniker, New Hampshire against New England College on their brand new turf field. We came out excited to play on what we called, “the perfect day for soccer”. The weather was warm with a cool fall breeze blowing. Last year we had beaten NEC 8-1 but this year they were a completely different team with many starting freshmen, so we didn’t know what to expect for the new comers. For the majority of the game it was 2-0 after Laurin Pendleton netted two goals. One came off a header from Alexa Maher and one was a hard driven shot to the far bottom corner. We held on to our 2-0 lead until about halfway through the second half when the Pilgrims earned their first point. With this goal came a lot of energy from the opposing team and we did not feel comfortable with a 2-1 score. That was until Devon Leighton scored the insurance goal with 2 minutes left in the game. The final score was 3-1.

The four games before NEC were all shutouts against Gordon, Salve Regina, Colby-Sawyer and Anna Maria. Scoring 13 goals in these games combined. We really started to come together as a team at the Salve Regina game and I think our strong play keeps continuing throughout our games. And we all know it needs to with our difficult games coming up in the next two weeks. We have our hardest competition in our next few games and we’re ready to win them all!

-Julie Moody