The success of the fall sports season rubbed off on the College's winter teams.
Perhaps the biggest success story came in hockey, where the team had several Division I wins by February and an overall victory total that exceeded the past two seasons combined.
Swimming continued its winning ways, men's basketball was well above .500, women's basketball was close, and track had seen several outstanding individual performances.
HOCKEY
As of early February, the Skating Dutchmen were in tenth place in the ECAC standings-good enough for a playoff spot. Overall, the Dutchmen were 89-2.
Union got out of last place on January 7, beating Cornell 6-2 while Dartmouth lost. After a disheartening 82 loss to RPI, the Dutchmen came right back the next night to play RPI hard, losing 5-3. Then came wins over Yale, Dartmouth, and St. Lawrence.
There have been numerous individual highlights:
- Sophomore Reid Simonton, of Calgary, Alberta, became the first player since 1991 to have a five-point game, with a goal and four assists in Union's first-round win in the Concordia Tournament. Union won the tournament the next night, and Simonton was named the most valuable player.
- Forwards Chris Albert, of Nepean, Ont., Chris Ford, of Rochester, N.Y., and Troy Stevens, of Coon Rapids, Minn., had scored twenty points each by
February notable since
Albert was the only player to reach twenty in all of 1992-1993. As a team, the Dutchmen have scored more than twice as many goals as last year. - Goalie Mike Gallant, of Hamilton, Ont., not only broke his winless streak but was named to the ECAC weekly honor roll four times.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
At the end of the 1993 part of the season, the team was 3-3 and coming off a tough four-point loss to Ithaca. By early February, the team was 11-7.
In January, though, the Dutchmen rallied to beat Williams, which came into the game 7-0 and ranked number one in New England. After a win over Swarthmore, Union did it again, this time beating undefeated New York University, which was ranked number one in New York.
Coach Bill Scanlon said it was the first time in his twenty-one years of
coaching that he his team had faced two undefeated and top-ranked teams.
Individual honors for the season were going to Ken Evans, of Ballston Spa, N.Y., who became the tenth Union player to score more than 1,000 points in his career, and senior guard Steve Evans, of Rome, N.Y., who was on track to establish a new Union single-season record for assists.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
After an 0-5 start, the Union team went in the other direction, winning seven of their next twelve on their way to a 7-10 record by early February.
The catalyst has been junior guard Andrea Pagnozzi, of Cresskill, N.J., who averaged more than eighteen points a game. Twice she was named to the ECAC weekly honor roll and once she was named upstate New York's player of the week.
She has been supported in scoring by freshmen forwards Amy Dougherty, of Glassboro, N.J., and Amy Hitz, of Acton, Mass., and in rebounding by senior forward Michelle Kleinhaus, of Woodmere, N.Y.
SWIMMING
The highlight of the men's season was a 128114 victory over Hartwick, the defending New York state champions. By February the Dutchmen
were 81 in dual meets and preparing for the state championships in late February, to be held on campus.
Freshman Kevin Makarowski, of Washington Mills, N.Y., set a number of Union
freestyle and individual medley records, lowering the 400-intermediate
standard by more than eight seconds at one point. Equally successful was the women's team, which was 8-0 in dual meets by early February. Freshman Jackie Crane, of Danville, Pa., set several freestyle records as she qualified for the NCAA “B” cut; also qualifying was senior Kelly Bevan in the breaststroke.
TRACK
Senior Rich Pulver, of Fort Edward, N.Y., qualified for the NCAA meet when he finished third in the shotput at the Dartmouth Relays. On the women's side, junior sprinter Nadine Filosi, of Stoneham, Mass., did well in events ranging from the 55-meter hurdles to the 300 meters.