Two weeks a go the women's swimming and diving team
challenged the rest of Union's winter sports teams by capturing their first New
York State Women's Collegiate Athletic Association championship since
1994. Last weekend the rest of the
teams responded….BOY DID THEY RESPOND!!!
The men's swimming and diving
team rallied on the final day…in the final event…to win their
first state title since 1997-98. It
marked the first time in Union's history that both teams brought home the gold
in the same year. Congratulations to
all…especially to the coaching staff of head coach Scott Felix,
assistant coach Ridgley Harrison (Class of 2004), and diving coach Aaron
D'Addario (Class of 2004).
Senior Elliot Seguin earned a spot in the upcoming
NCAA tournament in Michigan as he captured the 100 and 200 freestyle
championships…shattering the previous championship, association, and Union
College records with his 45.17 in the 100.
************
The men's basketball team
used a last-minute buzzer beater by junior point guard Chris Murphy to defeat
top-seeded Hobart, 77-74, in the semi-final game of the Liberty League Championship
Tournament and then used a halftime ending 62-foot, three-quarter court shot by
junior forward Brian Scordato to help topple No. 3 Hamilton, 88-84, and earn
the program's third-ever NCAA berth.
Barring something
unforeseen, Brian's shot will appear tonight (February 28) on ESPN's 11 p.m. edition
of Sports Center in the final 15-minute segment entitled “Top 10 Plays of
the Day.”
The Dutchmen, who are making their third-ever appearance in
the NCAA Tournament, travel to play Gwynedd-Mercy College in Philadelphia on
Thursday at 7 p.m.
Union, which went into the tournament as the No. 4 seed,
seem to be peaking at just the right time. The Dutchmen, who are 16-11
overall, are 11-6 in games decided by 10 points or less, 8-4 in games decided
by five points or less, and 5-4 in contests decided by four points or
less. Most importantly, the Garnet go into the NCAA tournament riding the
crest of a four-game win streak with all four contests being decided by seven
points or less.
************
While the women's basketball team failed to repeat as the Liberty
League champions, the Dutchwomen's overall record of 17-8 earned them the No. 2
seed in the Eastern College Athletic Conference's Upstate New York Championship
Tournament. It is the third-straight
year that Union has been invited to postseason play.
************
For the third consecutive season the men's hockey team
has clinched home ice in the first round of the ECACHL playoffs by defeating
Yale and tying Princeton in the last weekend of regular season play. The
Dutchmen finished eighth in the standings, one point ahead of Clarkson for the
final home ice spot, and will now host the Golden Knights for the second
straight year. Union looks to avenge last season's firs- round exit at the
hands of Clarkson when the best of three series begins on Friday, March 4th at
7:00 p.m.
Sean Washington
************
And finally, senior Sean Washington won his third
consecutive indoor state championship in the 55-meter race. He has provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championship
Meet.
Union, which was selected as the No. 2
seeded in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Upstate New York Women's
Basketball Championship Tournament, will host No. 7 Hartwick on Wednesday,
March 2, at 7:30 p.m. in the Viniar Athletic Center.
Senior forward Katlyn Cunningham
The 17-8 Dutchwomen are making their
third consecutive postseason appearance and their fourth in the last five
years.
In the other first-round games on Wednesday, top-seeded St. John Fisher (22-5),
will play No. 8 Keuka (14-9); No. 3 University of Rochester (15-10) hosts No. 6
Utica College (17-9), and No. 4 Oneonta (18-9) will host No. 5 Rensselaer
(12-12).
The first-round winners will advance to the semifinals at the highest remaining
seed on Saturday, March 5. The winner of Oneonta/RPI will face the
winner of St. John Fisher/Keuka while the winner of Rochester/Utica will face
the winner of Union/Hartwick in the other semifinal. The semifinal winners will
meet Sunday, March 6 for the championship at the same site of the
semifinal game.
First Round – Wednesday, March 2
No. 5 RPI at No. 4 Oneonta at 7 p.m.
No. 6 Utica at No. 3 University of Rochester at 7
p.m.
No.
7 Hartwick at No. 2 Unionat7 p.m.
No. 8 Keuka at
No. 1 St. John Fisher TBA
Semifinals
– Saturday, March 5 (at highest remaining seed)
No. 1 St. John Fisher/No. 8 Keuka vs. No. 4
Oneonta/No. 5 RPI, TBA
Seniors, forward Katlyn Cunningham (Westwood, MA)
and guard Melissa Marra (Mechanicville, NY) along with junior guard Erika
Eisenhut (Mohawk, NY) have been the Dutchwomen's statistical leaders
throughout the year. Cunningham tops
both the scoring (12.1) and rebounding (7.1) charts while Marra and Eisenhut
are each contributing 9.9 points a game.
All three are among the program's all-time leaders.
Cunningham goes into Wednesday's contest sixth on the
all-time scoring list with 1,069 points and seventh on the rebounding list with
614. Marra, who missed eight games due
to illness this season, is ninth on the scoring list (958), third on the
three-point field goal chart (83), fifth in all-time steals (172) and second
with her 211 assists. Eisenhut,
meanwhile, ranks tied for 14th in career scoring (817), first in
three-point field goals (110), third in assists (208) and tied for third with
her 199 steals.
The Dutchwomen, who are 1-3 in post-season play, are
looking for their first ECAC Tournament victory. Union's first-ever appearance in 2000-01 resulted in a 59-47 loss
to the University of Rochester at Nazareth.
The homestanding Garnet dropped a 68-66 decision to Oneonta in
2002-03. Last year the Dutchwomen
defeated Mount St. Mary, 78-47, in the first round of the NCAA tournament at
Memorial Field House before losing at NYU, 69-50.
For the third consecutive season Union has clinched
home ice in the first round of the ECACHL playoffs by defeating Yale and tying
Princeton in the last weekend of regular season play. The Dutchmen finished eighth in the standings,
one point ahead of Clarkson for the final home ice spot, and will now host the
Golden Knights for the second straight time.
Union looks to avenge last season's first round exit at the hands of
Clarkson when the best of three series begins on Friday, March 4th at
7:00 p.m.
Union concluded its
regular season with an overall mark of 12-20-2 and an 8-13-1 record in ECACHL play. Senior assistant captain Joel Beal (Brantford,
ONT) scored the game winning goal for Union in
Friday's 3-2 win over Yale for his 100th career point. Junior Jonathan Poirier (St.
Jerome, QUE) scored the other two goals for the
Dutchmen, both of which came on the power play.
The next night freshman goaltender Justin Mrazek (Regina, SASK)
made 16 saves in his first shutout of the season to give the Dutchmen one point
in the standings and break a tie with Clarkson for the eighth and final home
playoff spot.
In the regular season Union
split with Clarkson as each team picked up a win at home. In the first game the Dutchmen defeated the
Golden Knights 4-1 back on November 6th at Messa
Rink to open up their ECACHL weekend and spark a six-game winning streak. Clarkson then handed Union a
2-0 setback on January 21st at Cheel
Arena.
Union is 7-21-4
all-time against Clarkson and 0-2 in the playoffs. The Dutchmen are 2-6-2 in their last 10 games
against the Golden Knights at Messa Rink, including
last season's two playoff losses. In the
last four of those meetings Clarkson outscored Union 15-12.
Captain Jordan Webb (Nepean,
ONT) closed out the regular season with a team high 16 goals and 27
points. Poirier and fellow classmate Scott
Seney (Silver
Spring, MD) both
finished with 25 points. Poirier
finished second on the team with 11 goals and tied for second with 14
assists. Seney
led the team with 16 assists and had nine goals. Freshman Michael Beynon (Nepean,
ONT) led all defenders with 11 points and 10 assists. Webb has seven points (2-5) in his last five
games against Clarkson. Poirier has six
points (3-3) in his last five. Sophomore Olivier Bouchard (Quebec City,
QUE) has five points (3-2) in the last five games against the Golden Knights.
Bouchard finished the regular season with 22 points (9-13).
Goaltenders Kris Mayotte (Pittsburgh,
PA) and Mrazek each finished the season with one
shutout to their credit. Mayotte
was 8-10-1
with a 3.34 goals against average and a .891 save
percentage. He is 2-3 all-time against
Clarkson with a .864 save percentage and a 3.55 goals
against average. He has a 1-2 record at Messa Rink with a 3.92 goals
against average and a .840 save percentage.
Mrazek was 4-10-1 on the season with a 2.32 goals against average and a .905 save percentage. He
played in both games against Clarkson during the regular season for a 1-1
all-time record with a .960 save percentage and a 1.01
goals against average.
Union is 1-13 in the ECACHL post
season. The lone win came at Rensselaer back on March 11, 1994.
Ticket prices for this weekend's
games are; $10 Box, $8 Bleacher, $5 Students and Youth (12 and under) .
Students May use their Union ID to purchase tickets. Tickets may be purchased by students, faculty
and staff & general public beginning Tuesday morning. The Messa Rink Box
Office will be open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9 AM to 7 PM and Friday from 9 AM until game time.
All Union playoff games will also be
broadcast live on ESPN 1300 “The Team.”
Play-by-play commentator Matt DuBrey will be joined by color analyst
Brian Unger.
If the Iraqi people could send Americans a snapshot or two of their lives today, what kinds of things would they focus on? Part of the answer: children at school and at play, men hamming it up at a local barbershop and everyday portraits of friends and family.
Students from a photography class at Union College look at images of the everyday life of Iraqi civilians in an exhibit in the Arts Atrium Gallery. ANA ZANGRONIZ/GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHER
An exhibit titled “Photographs by Iraqi Civilians, 2004,” on display at Union College in Schenectady through March 7, offers an intimate slice of daily life in Iraq after the U.S. invasion and occupation of the country. It features 30 large ink-jet color prints of photographs taken by Iraqis from different walks of life, including a dentist, a college student and a cigarette factory worker. None of the images are by professional photographers or journalists. The exhibit, which is in the college's Arts Atrium Gallery in the Arts Building, is free and open to the public.
“I wonder what they're trying to say with their pictures,” mused Cynthia Post, a 19-year-old Union freshman from Monterey, Calif., while looking at the images with her photography class last week. “Some make you see that they're normal people like us and have families, and they care about the same things we do.”
Cara Kantrowitz, a 21-year-old senior with a double major in psychology and anthropology, used the word “personal” to describe the photographs. She was touched by one photo of a family that lives with hundreds of others in a garbage dump, along with their cows.
“I expected to see more politics, protest, anti-Americanism,” said Kantrowitz, who spent an hour studying the images on her own before the class made its visit. “They weren't asked to make a political statement. They took pictures of their families and lives. I think it's interesting they chose not to [make overtly political statements].” That's not to say politics and war are entirely absent or hidden in the photographs. For example, there is a photo of a man walking by a banner, which in Arabic reads: “Yes, yes to Islam, Yes to peace, No to terrorism, No to the occupation.”
VIEW ON FLAGS
Another image shows an Iraqi flag painted on a wall. The caption for the photo reads: “The Iraqi people refuse the new flag and insist on the old one.” The exhibition is based on a project by the nonprofit Daylight Community Arts Foundation Inc., which distributed disposable cameras to 10 Iraqis last spring and told them it was their opportunity to “show the American public what you want them to see.”
Fred Ritchin, an associate professor of photography at New York University and former picture editor for The New York Times Magazine, was invited to view all of the more than 250 photographs from the Daylight project and asked to be the curator for an exhibit. The photos were first exhibited at NYU last year.
It received good reviews last September in The New Yorker magazine and the Los Angeles Times. Ritchin was interviewed about the exhibit by Aaron Brown on CNN. “People in Portugal and Argentina saw the broadcast, as well as in the U.S.,” Ritchin said in a phone interview last week from New York City. “Part of the point is, you can do projects like this with very limited budget and if it's well conceived and executed, it can impact the world's sense of what's going on.”
Photography students who viewed the images last week at Union College compared and contrasted them with the press images they've seen from Iraq. They noted the absence of sensational images of tanks, soldiers and, with the exception of one photo, things being blown up. “It's not about active combat,” said Cooper Braun-Enos, a junior from Boulder, Colo. “There are no American soldiers or Iraqi soldiers. You don't see adults with guns. There's no active form of warfare. It's the repercussions of war, not war [itself].”
One photo shows a man standing near the crater a bomb left, while another shows a woman consoling a child who has been traumatized by bombings in Baghdad. There are also images of gravediggers at work. The perspective of the photographs in this exhibit is different from what you'd typically see in the newspaper or on TV, said Walter Yund, a 19-year-old freshman from the Saratoga County village of Galway.
'MORE TRUTHFUL'
“It's not from the outside looking in,” Yund said. “These pictures show they are much more like us than we may think. I think this more truthful than regular photojournalism.” About a dozen of the 30 photos in the exhibit were by one man, Jassim Mohammed Al Khafajy. He is described as a 31-year-old medical instruments engineer who now works driving journalists between Jordan and Iraq.
“I wish the Americans [at home] could see what they do here in Iraq,” Al Khafajy is quoted in the exhibit. “The situation in Iraq is now very bad because we are like Palestine and Israel.” Braun-Enos was hesitant to draw too many conclusions about the Iraqi people from just 30 photos by 10 individuals. He said the exhibit raises more questions than it answers. The curator of the exhibit agrees. “It's very difficult to be authoritative and to say, 'This is Iraq, especially in a few dozen images,' ” Ritchin said. “But it's important to provoke discussion, reaction, and thoughtfulness. If these pictures make people question what they already know about Iraq, then it has succeeded.”
Ritchin said photography projects of this kind have been done before in other countries and contexts, always with the goal of getting an inside and unfiltered look at things. “They've been doing it in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” he said. “It's been done a lot with children, orphans in Rwanda. We put up a Web site of their work. . . . children in India, children of sex workers. This has been done with children quite a bit.” And there may be more of these kinds of photography projects in the future.
Kantrowitz, who studied abroad in Tazmania for one term, would love to go back and distribute cameras.
“It's an interesting way to learn about a culture,” she said.
The “Shootout at the OK Coral,” a NASCAR race at Talladega
and the NFL's West Coast Offense are just some of the images that come to mind
when trying to describe Union's two wins in last
weekend's Liberty League basketball tournament, which was held at top-seeded Hobart
College. The fourth seeded Dutchmen played inspired
basketball as they knocked off the Statesmen, 77-74, and No. 3 Hamilton, 88-84,
to earn their second league title in the last four years and the programs'
third trip to the NCAA tournament.
_______________________________________________
BASKETBALL STAR BRIAN SCORDATO TO APPEAR ON ESPN TONIGHT (FEBRUARY 28) at 11:45
Brian Scordato
Junior forward Brian Scordato scored a career-high 34 points as the fourth-seeded Dutchmen defeated Hamilton, 88-84, in the championship game of Saturday's Liberty League Tournament. Three of those points came at the halftime buzzer as Scordato launched a 62-foot shot that turned a four-point Union lead into a seven-point cushion.
Barring something unforeseen, Brian's shot will appear tonight on ESPN's Sports Center in the final 15-minute segment entitled “Top 10 Plays of the Day.”
The Dutchmen, who are making their third-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament, travel to play Gwynedd-Mercy College in Philadelphia on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Liberty League Champion Dutchmen (photo by David Bruce)
Junior forward Brian
Scordato (Mt. Kisco, NY) led an offense that saw
the Dutchmen combine for a two-game field goal percentage of .500 (56-of-112)
which included a three-point effort that saw the Garnet bury 29 of their 58
attempts from outside the arch (also 50.0%).
Scordato, who had a career-high 34 points in the 88-84 win over Hamilton
in the championship showdown, shot 61.5% from the field (16-of-26) and 60.0%
from outside the arch (nine-of-15) as he collected 50 points. Besides his incredible shooting, the 6'5
Horace Greeley graduate contributed 11 rebounds, seven assists and four steals
with just two turnovers in 73 minutes.
Scordato, who injured his ankle in a practice during the
Christmas break and missed three games, led a total team effort, which resulted
in a berth in the “Big Dance.” His
62-foot, three-quarter court basket at the buzzer turned a four-point advantage
into a 43-36 halftime lead against Hamilton, then, after Union had seen a
21-point lead with 8:04 remaining evaporate to a two point margin with 10
seconds left, Scordato calmly sank his two free throw opportunities to give
Union the title.
“I was praying I'd make one of the two so that the worse
that could happen is that we would go to overtime,” explained Scordato about
his thought process as he approached the line.
“After I made the first one I was playing with house money and the second
was easy.”
Head Coach Bob Montana cuts down his second championship net in the last four years.
Eighth-year head coach Bob
Montana, who has led the Dutchmen to seven consecutive winning seasons, six
postseason invitations, two league championships and an overall record of
136-106, had this prospective on Scordato's three
shots:
“I always tell the kids that they (points) are all
important,” he said. “It doesn't matter
if they are scored in the beginning of the game, at the end of the game, or in
the middle, they all count.”
Scordato, however, wasn't the lone Union hero.
In Friday night's semi-final win over Hobart,
junior point guard Chris Murphy (Hastings-on-Hudson) came through with his second-buzzer
beater of the year to help lift the Dutchmen to a 77-74 win. It was Murphy's
driving layup off the inbounds pass from sophomore
backcourt mate Joe Mackey (Flushing, NY) with 1.9 seconds left that lifted Union over a
Statesmen team that had beaten the Dutchmen twice during the regular season.
“I haven't had a
buzzer-beater since my senior year in high school,” said the Dutchmen's
point guard, who earlier this year became just the sixth player in Union's long
history to surpass 300 assists and came into the game averaging just over six
points. “To have two in one year and to have one in a game of this
magnitude is every basketball player's dream.”
mm
Murphy, who buried a three-pointer on January 18 to defeat
non-league rival Middlebury, 65-64, then proceeded to steal Hobart's
long inbounds pass and was fouled with 0.4 seconds showing. He calmly
converted both free throws to round out the final margin before senior forward Devon Bruce (Altamont, NY) ended the
game by picking off Hobart's final
pass down court.
Junior point guard Chris Murphy
“Coach challenged me,” explained Murphy after the
win. “We changed up how we were positioned after Hobart
called its time out and Joe got me the ball down low.”
The Dutchmen seem to be peaking at just the right time. Union, which is 16-11 overall, is 11-6 in
games decided by 10 points or less, 8-4 in games decided by five points or
less, and 5-4 in contests decided by four points or less. Most importantly, the Dutchmen go into the
NCAA tournament riding the crest of a four-game win streak with all four
contests being decided by seven points or less.
“People forget that we lost two key players off of last
year's team,” said Montana in
referring to forwards Imbrie Packard and Ryan Freundlich, who led the Dutchmen to a 20-win
season. “They didn't put up a lot of big
numbers, but we went from leading the league in field goal percentage allowed
the previous two seasons to last this year.
They also provided us with senior leadership.”
The team came together in the league championship
tournament. Junior guard John Cagianello
(Wethersfield, CT), who now has 1,359 career points…good for sixth on the
Dutchmen's all-time scoring list, netted 45 points, 19 vs. Hobart
and 26 vs. Hamilton, while Bruce had 13 points and nine rebounds in the two
games. Bruce now has 1,138 career
points, 13th all-time, and 650 rebounds, second to C.J. Rodgers
since 1980. Murphy, meanwhile, has 325
assists, one behind Union Hall of Fame member Bill Carmody.
The first is the sweetest for sophomore guard Joe Mackey (photo by his Dad)
Mackey, freshman forward Kyle Grimm (Sherrill, NY), senior guard T.J. Ramey (Ballston Spa, NY), freshman forward Delon McAllister (Irvington, NJ), and junior guard Jim Rahill (Buffalo, NY), were all vital
contributors to the Dutchmen's tournament championship.
“I am very pleased with the mental and physical
toughness we showed in this game,” continued Montana.
“Everyone really came through and did their jobs under very difficult
circumstances. Now we look forward to representing our league, our
program, and our college in the NCAA tournament.”
Cagianello goes into the NCAA
tournament as the Dutchmen's leading scorer with an average of 16.3 while Bruce
(13.6) and Scordato (11.8) are next.
Mackey is averaging 9.3 points while Murphy is at 7.4 with a team-high
3.6 assist average. He also has a 2.1
assist-to-turnover average. Meanwhile,
Bruce leads the rebounding department with his 5.9 average while Scordato is
next at 5.4. Cagianello
is the Dutchmen's leading three-point field goal shooter with 64 while Mackey
has 47 and Scordato 40.
