Amherst College Weekly Winter Sports Wrap-Up
Issue 10 for athletic events from February 24 - March 2, 1997

Men's Basketball Earns No. 4 Seed in NCAAs

While they split their final two games of the regular season, men's basketball earned a No. 4 seed in the Northeast region of the Division III NCAA Tournament. This is only the second time in the program's history that the Jeffs have been offered a bid to the Big Dance, the first time coming in 1994 when Amherst fell to the eventual national champions in the Elite Eight. This year, the Jeffs look forward to avenging an 81-67 loss to No. 5 Colby to kick off the post-season.

On the road to the tournament, senior tri-captain Jamal Wilson (East Orange, NJ) earned his fifth NESCAC Player of the Week honors. Starting with a 31-point, 8 rebound, 5-steal show against Tufts, the guard stole the show on Senior Night with another 38 points for his fourth straight game over 30 and sixth of the season. Wilson moves into 2nd place on the All-Time Scoring list with 1,489 points, just 24 away from becoming Amherst's top scorer.

But Wilson's output wasn't enough against the Jumbos, who posted their second upset of a top-3 team in four days with an 88-81 win over the Jeffs. Tufts never trailed as they used an 8-0 run midway through the first half to take a 10-point lead 9:17 before the break. Despite 11 first half turnovers, Amherst fought back to within 1 off two jumpers from tri-captain Chris Akers '97 (Washington, DC) before the Jumbos took a 3-point lead into the locker room.

Tufts opened up the second with a 3-pointer and pushed their edge to 63-50 with 11:11 to play. Wilson then mounted a 10-2 run of his own to step up the Amherst defensive pressure and pull within 2, but the Jumbos responded with a 7-0 run that kept Amherst scoreless for nearly four minutes. With the Jeffs forced to foul, Tufts hit 12 of 14 from the line to close out the game with Amherst's fourth loss of the season.

Determined the finish off the season on a winning note, the Jeffs held off Skidmore in a 77-74 nailbiter. The teams flip-flopped leads early in the first before Wilson sank 13 of his 19 in the half over a three-minute span to give Amherst the lead for keeps. The Jeffs extended a 4-point halftime margin to 11 in the second after Wilson's Thoroughbred heckler (Skidmore's second leading scorer) was ejected from the game with two technicals.

With refs calling fouls on nearly every possession, Amherst's big men were saddled with four each midway through the half. Keeping them alive were 22 Skidmore turnovers, including at least 8 travelling calls. A jumper with 18.2 seconds to play brought the Thoroughbreds within 2, as they immediately fouled on the inbounds pass. Wilson's 1-2 from the line in the double-bonus gave Skidmore a chance to send the game into overtime with a 3, but a hasty shot off Amherst pressure rattled off the backiron at the buzzer. Junior forward John Pavelski (Ho-Ho Kus, NJ) added 25 points for the winning effort as the 10th leading scorer in Amherst history. 


No.	Name				GP	ppg	rpg	apg
21	Jamal Wilson '97		 24	24.3	   5.5	   1.8
41	John Pavelski '98		 24	18.1	   6.7	   1.7
32	Billy Skorupski '98		 24	  8.9	   6.3	   0.7
  4	Julian Rowand '98		 24	  8.1	   3.8	   2.2
44	Chris Akers '97		 24	  5.3	   5.5	   0.9
12	Patrick Mulvey '00		 24	  5.0	   2.1	   1.1
11	George Charles '97		 24	  4.5	   1.8	   3.7
23	Hugh Quattlebaum '00	 16	  3.8	   1.9	   0.8
40	Charles Field '99		   9	  3.3	   1.8	   0.2
24	Chris Ingraham '99		 19	  3.1	   1.6	   0.4
10	Josh Anish '99		 11	  2.3	   1.7	   0.2
31	Jackson Collins '00		   4	  2.3	   2.5	   0.5
  5	Mark MacLeod '99		 18	  2.1	   0.7 	   1.4
20	Caith Chapman '99		 16	  2.1	   0.3	   1.8
30	Chris Smith '00		 14	  1.6	   2.6	   0.2
  3	Peter Denby '00		   5	  1.2	   1.0	   0.6
Amherst Totals			 24	85.8	42.3	15.5
Opponent Totals			 24	72.5	39.4	10.9


Current Record: 20-4
Last Week:	Tufts, L 88-81
		Skidmore, W 77-74
This Week: 	NCAA Tournament First Round, No. 4 seed: Thu Mar 6 v. No. 5 Colby

Women's Basketball Gears Up for ECACs

With a 15-8 regular season record, women's basketball earned its second straight bid to the ECAC Tournament with a No. 6 seeding. The Jeffs will square up against third-seed Springfield, a team Amherst defeated 58-56 here in LeFrak at the end of January. Last year, Amherst finished in as a semifinalist before falling to Clark, the eventual champion and this year's top seed. 


No.	Name				GP	ppg	rpg	apg
15	Kathryn Hersey '99		22	15.2	  9.5	  2.0
31	Sarah Rinaldi '98		15	11.7	  5.9	  0.6
12	Janinne  Noel '99		23	10.0	  2.7	  1.8
33	Naomi Sullivan '00		19	  8.2	  6.7	  1.7
21	Kate Sullivan '97		23	  6.0	  2.6	  2.7
34	Nora McCartney '98		23	  5.7	  5.3	  0.8
24	Liza Feldman '00		22	  5.4	  2.0	  0.5
14	Dacia Walker '00		23	  2.8	  1.5	  1.1
30	Sam Ince '97			22	  2.8	  2.9 	  0.5
10	Melissa Roja '00		14	  1.3	  0.4	  0.3
32	Molly Auth '97		19	  0.8	  0.9	  0.1
Amherst Totals			23	62.8	41.3	11.3
Opponent Totals			23	61.4	39.3	12.0


Current Record: 15-8
This Week:	ECAC Quarterfinals, No. 6 seed: Wed Mar 5 at Springfield

Men's Ice Hockey Falls to Colby in ECAC Championship

Traveling to Colby for a quarterfinal game, the fifth-seeded Jeffs fell to the No. 4 Mules 3 1 to end their quest of defending their ECAC Title. Colby took a 2-0 lead on power plays before junior Mike Noone (Swampscott, MA) scored his 15th goal of the season off a Jeff power play with a minute left in the second period. Fired up by the goal, Amherst mounted an offensive onslaught in the third, forcing 13 point-blank Mule saves to preserve the win. Amherst outshot Colby 35- 27, but fell to 14-10-1 as they concluded their season. 


No.	Name			GP	 G	  A	  P	PIM
22	Charlie Blyth '99	24	17	  22	  39	   40
24	Rob MacDonald '99	25	17	  18	  35	   22
  9	Mike Noone '98	25	15	  20	  35	     2
19	Matt Sather '97	20	  9	  14	  23	     0
23	Dan Moos '98		25	12	    8	  20	   20
21	Doug Erickson '98	25	  3	  16	  19	   34
18	Matt Rogers '99	22	  4	  14	  18	     4
11	Paul Gozzo '98	24	  3	  12	  15	   22
  2	Buster Nelson '00	25	  7	    7	  14	   39
17	Andy Jones '00	25	 . 2	  10	  12	   14
  8	Tim Kelly '98		25	  5	    6	  11	   12
  7	Tom Carideo '98	25	  4	    7	  11	   26
  5	Tim Quinn '00		25	  5	    3	    8	   30
  6	Chris Gargiulo '98	16	  2	    4	    6	     6
15	Matt Drawz '99	25	  2	    4	    6	   18
  3	John Collura '97	25	  1	    3	    4	     8
12	Dave Hale '97		19	  1	    2	    3	   16
20	Bart Molloy '97	22	  0	    2	    2	   10
14	Joe Graceffa '00	  8	  1	    0	    1	     0
10	John Maguire '00	15	  0	    1	    1	     8
29	Joe Branca '97		19	  0	    0	    0	     2
Amherst Totals		25	110	173	283	333


Goaltending		W-L-T	Min	Sht	Sav	 G	GAA	Save %
Joe Branca '97		  8-10-0           1112	571	501	 70	3.77	87.7%
Chris Addesa '99	   5-0-1		 338	159	143	 16	2.84	89.9%
Greg Morneau '98	   1-0-0		   60	  10	    9	   1	1.00	90.0%
Amherst Totals	14-10-1      1514	741	653	88	3.48	88.1%


Final Record: 14-10-1
Last Week:	ECAC Quarterfinals, No. 5 seed: at Colby, L 1-3

Women's Ice Hockey Finishes Season with Win

Just as they had opened up the winter, women's ice hockey finished off the regular season on a winning note. Posting a 5-4 victory at MIT, the Jeffs complete their second year as a varsity team with a 5-15-1 record. Junior tri-captain Jess Frisch (Bethesda, MD) generated the Amherst offense with four more goals, upping her season total to 29 as the team's leading scorer.

Amherst scored early in the first, but MIT answered Amherst's first four goals to keep it close. But late in the third period on a power play, Frisch capped off the game with a feed from fellow tri-captain Val Klein '98 (Philadelphia, PA) for the game winner. Rookie Genevieve Furst (Deephaven, MN) added a goal and two assists to the winning effort. 


No.	Name				G	A	Pts	P-Min
18	Jess Frisch T98		29	10	39	2-4
  4	Genevieve Furst T00		14	16	30	3-6
  9	Brittany Evans T99		10	14	24	0-0
16	April Zenisky T97		2	8	10	9-18
11	Lisbeth Rowinski T00		2	4	6	15-26
12	Val Klein T98			0	5	5	30-58
15	Margaret Seiler T98		0	2	2	1-2
24	Amanda Ash T97		0	2	2	0-0
17	Rebecca Asmar T97		1	0	1	0-0	
  7	Sarah Carr T97			0	0	0	1-2
21	Alice Taggart T00		0	0	0	1-2
Amherst Totals			58	63	121	51-118
Opponent Totals			123	148	271	55-110


Goaltending	GP/GS	W-L T	Min	Saves	Save%	GA	GAA	SOs
  1	Cindy Matsushita '98	12/8	3-5-1	577	 263	  85.7%	 44	 4.57	   1
22	Sarah Evans T99	10/9	1-8-0	507	 293	  82.3%	 63	 7.45	   0
31	Catherine Cugell T98	3/3	1-2-0	160	   77	  82.8%	 16	 6.00	   0
Amherst Totals	21	5-15-1	1244	633	83.7%	 123	5.90	  0
Opponent Totals	21	15-5-1	1244	450	88.6%	 58	2.78	  4


Final Record: 5-15-1
Last Week:	at MIT, W 5-4

Squash Competes at NISRA Individual Championships

Both men's and women's squash pitted their best competitors players against the top 64 in the nation this past weekend. Senior co-captain Harriet Ells (Brooklyn, NY) entered the draw with a No. 4 seeding and compiled a 4-0 record before falling to the eventual winner, Katherine Johnson of Princeton whom Ells had defeated during the regular season 3-0.

After finishing 3rd at Team Nationals last weekend, men's squash took its top six to Individuals. David McNeely '00 (Newtown Square, PA) entered the competition with a No. 4 seeding while Kevin Orphan '99 (Atlanta, GA) led Amherst in the lower half of the draw with a No. 12 rank. Amir Give'on of Princeton, whom Orphan had battled to a 15-14 win in the fifth game at the Potter Trophy, felled first Evan Khan '98 (Seattle, WA) in the second round (15-12, 15-10, 17-15) before taking out McNeely in the quarterfinals.

Orphan fought to five- and four-game wins before dropping his two matches. Co-Captain Collin Bell '97 (Villanova, PA)Jand Hayden Felice '98 (Radnor, PA) compiled a 1-1 record before entering the feed-in consolation rounds, while Stephen Seelbach '99 (Short Hills, NJ) progressed to the semifinals of the consolations before falling to the eventual winner. 


Final Individual Records season (at Indivs)
Harriet Ells '97		25-5 (4-1)
David McNeely '00		16-5 (3-1)
Kevin Orphan '99		15-7 (2-2)	
Collin Bell '97			13-8 (1-2)
Hayden Felice '98		11-8 (1-2)
Evan Khan '98			17-5 (2-2)
Stephen Seelbach '99		16-7 (3-2)

Men's Swimming and Diving Claims 2nd at New Englands

With 12 national qualifying times and five varsity records, men's swimming and diving returned from New Englands with a 2nd place finish with 1105.5 points. After one day of competition, Amherst already had a lock on the runner-up position after every swimmer was invited back for the finals, consolations or bonus consolations that night.

Matt Smith '99 (North Bridgton, ME) was named the Diver of the Meet while Mandy Hixon earned Diving Coach of the Year recognition. After a 7th place finish on the 1-meter last year, Smith found himself in 2nd place after the morning preliminaries in which he claimed several of the sparse 8s given by the judging panels. He claimed the title of New England Champion after placing first in the evening finals with a record-breaking 434.30 points. Smith shattered the 3-meter varsity record the following day by leading the 29 divers with 473.60. However, the sophomore was edged out by a mere 1.05 points for the title. Fellow diver Dan Fernandez '97 (Tampa, FL) finished 11th on both boards.

In the first event of the weekend, the 200 free relay team of Nathan Johnson '98 (Harwinton, CT), Flori Fischetti '99 (Potomac, MD), Adam Kerstein '00 (Aurora, CO) and Brian Porter '99 (Farmington, CT) clocked a 1:24.80, enough for an NCAA B-cut. This was the first of four relay teams to break national qualifying standards. That same day, Kerstein, Fischetti and Johnson teamed up with breaststroke-ace Pat Lahey '00 (Northfield, IL) for a 3:31.22 finish.

While the 200 medley relay disqualified in the finals, Kerstein, James Ross '98 (Hopkinsville, KY), Andrew Grossman '99 (Chappaqua, NY) and Porter time trialed to a 1:36.38 finish that snuck under NCAA standards as well as the 3-year-old varsity record by 0.09 seconds. Rounding out the relays, Alex Hawkins '99 (Arlington, VA), Kerstein, Co-Captain Jeff Barnes '97 (West Lafayette, IN) and Porter clocked a 3:09.06 for 3rd place.

Lahey made a splash at his first New Englands, taking home three finalist prizes, two B cuts and a college record. As one of three Lord Jeffs in the 200 IM final, Lahey took 6th with a 1:59.05 before moving into 4th in the 100 breast with a B-cut of :58.82. The freshman capped off his weekend by shattering the varsity record in the 200 breast by two seconds with a 3rd place finish in 2:07.60. Two events later, Ross took down the 100 IM college record by 0.03 seconds with a :54.01 for 2nd. Josh Oberwetter '00 (Washington Depot, CT) and Christophe Di Falco '98 (Miami, FL) joined Ross in the finals, placing 4th and 5th respectively.

Di Falco swam in his first meet of the season after returning from shoulder surgery. The junior had time trialed during the season to qualify for New Englands and returned to the 100 butterfly with a 4th place finish in :52.10 for an NCAA B-cut. Also hampered by injury, Barnes earned 3rd place in the 200 IM with a 1:57.28, just enough to sneak under the B-standards, followed by Lahey and Grossman in 8th place.

While Kerstein led four relays to a chance at Nationals, he helped himself in the 100 back with a :53:58, just 0.11 seconds behind the New England Champion. Fellow backstroker Oberwetter clocked a 1:56.94 for 6th in the 200. Kerstein and Porter also made NCAA B-cuts with morning swims in the 100 free, as did Johnson in the 50.

Final Season Record: 8-1
Last Week: Division II/III New England Championships, 2nd place (1105.5 points)
Up Next: Thu-Sat Mar 20-22 NCAA Division III National Championship at Miami (OH)

Women's Swimming and Diving To Send 10 to Nationals

After a 3rd place finish at New Englands last week, women's swimming and diving will send eight swimmers and two divers to the NCAA Division III National Championships to be held on March 13-15. Of the 90 institutions represented at the Championship, Amherst has the 5th highest representation and 2nd of the seven NESCAC schools.

All five relay teams that broke varsity records at New Englands have received top-10 seedings for the competition. A-cuts by the medley team of Karen Vaites '98 (West Chester, PA), Kerry Weeks (Longmeadow, MA), Sarah Lukaska (Edina, MN) and Sarah Moran '00 (Bristol, TN) clocked the 2nd fastest time in the nation with a 1:49.24 in the 200 and 4th fastest in the 400 with a 4:00.35. While the 200 free relay earned an 8th place seeding with a 1:39.19, the 400- and 800- free relays both gained 6th with 3:36.64 and 7:52.11 times, respectively.

Weeks is seeded in the top-10 of her three qualified events, including a 3rd place rank in the 200 backstroke with her 2:06.28 from New Englands. She is seeded 8th in the 200 breaststroke and 10th in the 100 breast. Moran is also seeded 19th in the 200 back.

Lukaska claimed top-20 seedings in all four individual events. Ranked 13th in the 100, she is 16th in the 200 and 19th in both the 50 and 100 butterfly. Weeks, Moran, Deny Soto '00 (New Haven, CT) and VaitesJare also entered in optional events.

Up Next: Thu-Sat Mar 13-15 NCAA Division III National Championship at Miami (OH)

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3/5/97