The success of the women and men's soccer teams has been the
highlight of the fall season thus far.
Two weeks into the schedule, the Dutchwomen are nationally ranked with
their 5-0-1 record while the Dutchmen have produced a 4-2 mark in their first
six games.
The Dutchwomen, who entered the week ranked 11th
in the country (up from last week's No. 16 position), have outscored their six
opponents by a margin of 12-1 while enjoying an overall shot total of 106-25
(including a 49-14 shot on goal advantage).
All of this is quite remarkable seeing as the Dutchwomen graduated seven
players from last year's 19-2-1 team that qualified for the NCAA tournament by
winning the Liberty League's regular-season and tournament championship.
Union's midfield and defensive units have obviously
performed extremely well thus far. The
only goal given up this year was a breakaway late in the game against Oswego in
the Garnet's 4-1 victory.
Senior Brianna Bailey (Easthampton, MA/Easthhampton) leads a
defensive corps that includes junior Linsey Capeclatro (Orange, CT/Loomis
Chaffee), and freshman Cristin Tenety (West Islip, NY). Freshman Jenna Riley (Poughkeepsie,
NY) backs up the starters.
Molly Flanagan (Simsbury, CT/Loomis Chaffee) is the lone
senior on a midfield unit that includes junior Marissa VanWoeart (Schenectady,
NY/Schalmont), sophomore Jenna Ondash (New Canaan, CT/New Canaan) and freshman
Caitlin Cuozzo (Norfolk, MA/King Phillip Regional). Freshman Brianne Sosa (Oneonta, NY/Oneonta) is the first player
off the bench and has played in all six contests.
In goal, junior Julie Gawronski (Dunkirk, NY/Dunkirk)
continues to have a remarkable career.
Among the nations leaders in every single goaltending category,
Gawronski now have 15 career shutouts and an overall record of 30-5-2. She has not given up a goal this season
while facing just 13 shots.
Junior Cassandra Mariani (Boonton, NJ/Morris Catholic) leads
the team in scoring with 11 points (four goals and three assists) and is
closely followed by senior Brittany Cressman (Duxbury, MA/Duxbury) and junior
Erika Eisenhut (Mohawk, NY/Mohawk), who has two goals and nine points. Freshmen Leah Muzzioli (Belmont, MA/Belmont)
and Danielle Pamarole (Sudbury, MA/Lincoln-Sudbury) back up this explosive
unit.
Two players, Cressman and Mariani have been selected as the
Liberty League's “Offensive Player of the Week.” Cressman picked up the honor with a two-goal, one-assist weekend
in the season-opening sweep of Clark (1-0) and Oswego (4-1) while Mariani
scored a pair of goals as the Dutchwomen swept Allegheny and Geneseo (both by
the score of 2-0) in week No. 2.
This weekend (September 24 and 25) the Dutchwomen open a
five-game homestand that will carry them into mid-October. William Smith, the team Union usually has to
battle for the conference championship and the automatic NCAA berth, will be in
Schenectady on Friday for a 4 p.m. showdown.
The 16th-ranked
Herons come into the weekend with an overall record of 4-2 and have outscored
their opponents 12-3 while posting three shutouts. The game will be the Liberty League opener for both teams.
The Dutchmen, meanwhile, got off to their best start under
eighth-year head coach Jeff Guinn as they won four of their first five
games. They go into this weekend's
Liberty League opener at Hobart and Hamilton with an overall record of 4-1.
Guinn has taken advantage of the Dutchmen's depth as 17
players have played in at least four games while 15 players have started at
least one game. Senior goaltender Kevin
O'Connor (Reston, VA/South Lakes), seniors, defender Aaron Iskowitz (Randolph,
NJ/Randolph) and midfielder Mike Carey (Westport, CT/Staples), juniors, defender
Ryan McAleese (Walpole, MA/Walpole) and midfielder Mark Susko (Short Hills,
NJ/Pingry School), and freshman defender Craig Williams (Clifton Park,
NY/Shenenedehowa) have started each of the first half a dozen contests.
Senior midfielder Jeff Sullivan (Guilford, CT/Guilford) has
started all five games that he has played in while junior forward Kelvin
Martinez (Garifuna, Honduras/Northfield Mt. Hermon), senior midfielder Jeff
Marcoux (E. Hempstead, NH/Brooks School), and sophomore defender Brendon Keinath
(Wilbraham, MA/Minechaug) have started four games each.
O'Connor, who has played all but 37 minutes sports a goals
against average of 0.89 with and has stopped 11 of the 16 shots he has
faced. On the scoring end, Martinez,
who has three goals and two assists, and Carey (two goals and four assists) top
the Dutchmen's chart with eight points each.
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
(Editors Note: The following is a reprint of a
New York Daily News story abut fireman Craig Mosia..Union Class
of 1994. A three-year starter for the
football team and eighth on the Dutchmen's all-time tackle chart with 227,
Craig saved the life of 13-year old Tab Miller).
MIRACLE IN BAY (by Daily
News staff writers Tamer El-Ghobashy, Richard Weir and Corky Siemaszko)
A teenager, a firefighter and a homeowner teamed up to
rescue a pair of cousins who were drowning in Jamaica Bay.
Little Devin Erwin, 7, was saved when 15-year old Saide
Palmer tossed him a basketball, enabling the terrified boy to float to shore.
But to rescue 13-year old Tab Miller, Firefighter Craig
Mosia had to swim through treacherous currents and float the boy back to a
private dock in Arverne, where he and homeowner Robert Denni took turns trying
to revive him.
“Hang in there,” Mosia cried as he and Denni pumbed the
boy's chest. “Spit out the water.”
Tab still had not regained consciousness when an ambulance
arrived. He was listed in critical
condition after the episode at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. Tab had been
face-down in the water between five and 10 minutes.
The drama in Rockaways began just before 1 p.m. when the
boys, who live in the neighborhood, apparently slipped on the rocks off Beach
67th Street and fell into the water. Relatives said Devin could swim, but Tab could not.
Saide was surfing the web at his Bayfield Avenue home when
he heard Devin's screams and ran into his backyard, which abuts the water. “I saw one kid in the water floating and the
smaller kid was screaming, and his head went down in t he water and came back
up,” Saide said. “I panicked and called
the police.”
Then Saide picked up a basketball and tossed it into the
floundering Devin. “I thold him to get
the ball and to try to float, but he couldn't reach it,” he said. So Saide ran inside his house, fetched
another basketball and threw it to the boy.
This one hit the mark.
By then, Mosia and the rest of his crew from Ladder 121,
Engine 365, had arrived and began searching the shoreline for Tab. When Mosia reached Beach 70th
Street, he spotted the boy about 60 feet from shore. Mosia, 32, quickly stripped down to his skivvies and leaped into
the water. He felt the tug of the currents and he could see Tab drifting
head-first toward a concrete pylon.
“I was thinking about my kids when I was swimming out to
him,” said Mosia, a father of twin toddlers, Jake and Luke.
The firefighter made it to Tab in time to prevent him from
hitting the pylon. But rather then
fight back to shore, Mosia cradled the boy in his arms and let the currents
carry them to the dock, where Denni helped them up.
If you have
story you would like to share, please email it to: George Cuttita at cuttitag@union.edu