UMD ladies fall to Western Connecticut
Last Saturday, UMass Dartmouth traveled to Little East Conference foe Western Connecticut State. WCSU dominated from the get go, on their way to a convincing 87-57 victory over the Corsairs.
The game was tied at five early on, until WSCU went on a 21-61 run, giving them a 26-11. Tied at five would be as close as the Corsairs would get in this game. By half-time the Colonials built up a 17 point lead, 44-27, thanks in large part to excellent shooting. They shot 53.6 percent from the field in the first half, while the Corsairs shot a dismal 26.9 percent.
WSCU only increased their lead in the second half, eventually winning by 30, 87-57. The Colonials shot 57.4 percent in the game. UMD shot only 29.6 percent
Junior guard Ashley Chard led the Corsairs with 15 points in the game. She also had six steals. Sophomore guard Vicki Andruszkiewicz was second on the Corsairs with 11 points. Senior guard Merideth Morgan grabbed six rebounds for UMD. The Corsairs out rebounded the Colonials 38-34 in the game.
Western Connecticut State was led by Jennifer Kancler who scored a game high 19 points. Stacey Roberts scored 16 and grabbed 10 rebounds in the game. Katie Moffo had 12 points and Ally Greenwood added 11 for the victorious Colonials.
With the loss UMD fell to 5-20 and 0-14 in the LEC with the defeat. WCSU improved to 14-11 on the year, 6-8 in the LEC. The Corsairs returned to action on Tuesday when they traveled to Southern Maine in a first round game of the LEC Conference playoffs. That game will be covered in next week’s issue of The Torch.
Corsairs 16th, 23rd at New England Division III Championships
GORHAM, ME—Both of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s track and field teams turned in some good performances at the New England Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships Saturday. The women’s meet was held at Southern Maine’s Costello Sports Complex, while the men’s meet took place at the Merrill Gymnasium at Bates College.
The men were 23rd of 24 teams with four points. Williams was first with 136 points. The women scored 16 points, good for 16th place in the 21-team field. Williams also won the women’s competition with 151 points.
Junior Katie Malloy (Agawam, MA/Agawam HS) finished second in the high jump at 5-2 1/4. Senior Jennifer Munyon (Berlin, MA/Assabet Valley HS) made her debut in the pentathlon, finishing second with 2917 points after leading until the final event. In the shot put, sophomore Hilary Baker (Middleboro, MA/Middleboro HS) was 13th at 35 feet, 3 1/4 inches, sophomore Jihad Saba (Dedham, MA/Dedham HS) was 14th at 35-1, and sophomore Teresa McGrath (Saugus, MA/Saugus HS) was 16th at 34-9. McGrath was 15th in the weight throw at 42-3. The 4 x 400 meter relay team of sophomore Lenora Benson (Brockton, MA/Brockton HS), junior Alicia Malloy (Agawam, MA/Agawam HS), Katie Malloy and freshman Jessica Carpenter (Rutland, MA/Wachusett Regional HS) was 12th in 4:17.07.
“Our women did well,” said UMass Dartmouth Head Coach Devlyn Lovell. “Our relay team did an awesome job; they took 10 seconds off their time last week, so their time was a season best. Jennifer Munyon did a great job in her first pentathlon ever at UMass Dartmouth.”
For the men, junior Sam Machuor (Newbury, MA/Triton Regional HS) was ninth at 400 meters in a season best time of 51.45 seconds. Junior Eric Holmes (Abington, MA/Abington HS) was 13th at 3000 meters in 9:01.71, and the 4 x 400 meter relay team of freshman Michael Boucher (Byfield, MA/Triton Regional HS), sophomore Jason Muller (Norton, MA/Norton HS), Machuor and junior Chris Jodoin (Uxbridge, MA/Maine) finished fifth in 3:27.04.
“The meet started out a little slowly, but it got better as it went on, and Eric, Sam, and our relay team ran well,” said UMass Dartmouth Assistant Coach Jon Hird, who accompanied the men to Bates. “Some of the people we brought were competing in a meet like this for the first time, and they got their stage fright out of the way early and came back and did well.”
The Corsairs will return to action when they visit the Open New England Championships at Boston University next weekend.
WALKING THE PLANK
Macchi named LEC men’s basketball rookie of the week
Freshman guard Jeff Macchi (Franklin, MA/Franklin HS) has been named LEC Men’s Basketball Rookie of the Week for his performance last week.
Macchi averaged 9.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game as UMass Dartmouth won both of its conference games last week, defeating UMass Boston and Eastern Connecticut State. He made eight of 16 shots from the field and also shot 50 per cent from the three-point line. He scored nine points, grabbed four rebounds and had three assists in the Corsairs win against the Beacons, and scored 10 points in UMass Dartmouth’s win against ECSU Saturday that allowed the Corsairs to clinch a top four seed in the LEC Tournament. Macchi has started eight games this season, including the last six.
“It’s a nice surprise,” said UMass Dartmouth Head Coach Brian Baptiste. “Jeff has been playing very well. He is one of our outstanding freshmen. We’ve had three players named Rookie of the Week this year, and that’s pretty rare.”
Macchi is the third UMass Dartmouth men’s basketball player to earn LEC Rookie of the Week honors this season, joining freshman guard Tyler Turtoro (Shelton, CT/Shelton HS) and freshman forward Matt Walker (Brockton, MA/Brockton HS).
Twelve Corsairs named all-conference at LEC/Alliance Championships
Twelve members of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s track and field teams earned All-Conference honors at the Little East Conference and New England Alliance Track and Field Championships, held at Tufts University’s Gantcher Family Sports and Convocation Center last weekend.
Five members of the women’s team received honors. They included junior Katie Malloy (Agawam, MA/ Agawam HS) in the high jump, sophomores Teresa McGrath (Saugus, MA/Saugus HS) and Hilary Baker (Middleboro, MA/Middleboro HS) in the shot put, junior Leanne Nygaard (Medway, MA/Medway HS) at 800 meters, and freshman Jessica Carpenter (Rutland, MA/Wachusett Regional HS) at 1000 meters.
All-Conference honors also went to seven members of the men’s team. They were Chris Jodoin (Uxbridge, MA/Maine) at 600 meters, junior Sam Machuor (Newbury, MA/Triton Regional HS) at 400 meters, freshman Erik Gonzalez (Methuen, MA/Methuen HS) at 800 meters, sophomore Tyler Buck (Valley Center, CA/Valley Center HS) at 1000 meters, junior Eric Holmes (Abington, MA/Abington HS) at 3000 meters, and the 4 x 400 meter relay team of Jodoin, Machuor and senior Brian Vatcher (Stoneham, MA/Stoneham HS).
UMass Dartmouth falls to ninth in USCHO.com Division III poll
The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s hockey team has dropped one spot in the latest United States College Hockey Online Division III poll. The Corsairs are ranked ninth this week after being ranked eighth in each of the previous three weeks.
Manhattanville is ranked first in the poll, ahead of St. Norbert and Wisconsin-River Falls. Oswego State and Wisconsin-Stout are fourth and fifth, respectively. Neumann, Wisconsin-Superior and Norwich occupy the next three positions. Bowdoin, Castleton State, Hobart, Middlebury, Geneseo State and Southern Maine fill out the rest of the top 15.
Corsair swimmers at New England Division 2/3 Championships
The UMass Dartmouth men’s swim team finished ninth and the women finished 14th at the New England Division II and III Championships, which concluded Sunday at Swasey Pool at the University of New Hampshire.
The men finished with 142 points in the 13-team field, while the women had 195.5 points in their field, which included 22 teams.
For the men, freshman Craig Scheel (East Lyme, CT/ East Lyme HS) was sixth in the 200 yard breaststroke in 2:23.18, senior Tom Cakounes (Chelmsford, MA/Chelmsford HS) was third in the 200 yard butterfly in 2:05.09, senior Peter DiBenedetto (North Andover, MA/North Andover HS) was 10th in the 50 yard backstroke in 29.11 seconds, and the 400 freestyle relay team of Cakounes, freshman Nate Landry (Worcester, MA/North HS), Scheel and senior Adam Barkley (Berea, OH/Berea HS) was seventh in 3:28.06.
For the women, junior Renee Kruszyna (Cheshire, MA/Westfield State/Cheshire HS) was eighth in the 1650 freestyle in 19:19.05, freshman Kathleen Foley (Haverhill, MA/Haverhill HS) was 14th in the 200 breaststroke in 2:44.72, junior Katelyn Chase (Acushnet, MA/New Bedford HS) was eighth in the 200 butterfly in 2:24.28, and the 400 freestyle relay team of senior Meagan Coache (New Bedford, MA/New Bedford HS), Chase, Foley and Kruszyna was 14th in 3:57.53.
“We swam well on the final day,” said UMass Dartmouth Head Coach Cathy Motta. “We finished up strong.”
The meet was the final competition of the season for the Corsairs.