'Wildcat Weekly' Documents Championship Weekend

Vol. 7, No. 11

Recent Results/Upcoming Games (Through Oct. 26)

Men's Soccer Overall record: 13-0 PSUAC record: 11-0 Wednesday, Oct. 22 host Penn State Abington in PSUAC semifinal, W, 4-0 Saturday, Oct. 25 PSUAC championship at Penn State's Jeffrey Field vs. Penn State York, W, 1-0 Wednesday-Friday, Oct. 29-31 at United States Collegiate Athletic Association Championships in Rochester Hills, Mich.

Women's Soccer Overall record: 8-3-1 Oct. 30-31, Nov. 1 at United States Collegiate Athletic Association Championships at Vermont Technical College in Randolph Center, Vt.

Cross-Country Men's overall record: 30-7 Final PSUAC record: 16-0 Women's overall record: 11-1 PSUAC record: 11-1 Saturday, Oct. 25 PSUAC Championships at Penn State Wilkes-Barre, men finished first in a four-team field; women finished second in a three-team field Friday, Oct. 31 at United States Collegiate Athletic Association Championships in Buena Vista, Va.

Baseball Final fall overall record: 14-6 Final fall PSUAC record: 8-2

Golf Final overall record: 18-1-1, won PSUAC championship

Team Tennis Final overall record: 17-2 Final PSUAC regular-season record: 10-2 Final overall PSUAC record: 17-2 Oct. 25-26 PSUAC Championships at Penn State, finished first in eight-team field

Women's Volleyball Final overall record: 13-10 Final PSUAC record: 11-7

'Cat Tales Cross Country Led by the first-place individual finish of Mark Cordeiro (Canton), the Pennsylvania College of Technology men cruised to their sixth consecutive conference crown Saturday at the Penn State University Athletic Conference Championship at Penn State Wilkes-Barre. The Penn College women finished second for the fourth straight year.

Cordeiro covered the 8K distance in 26 minutes, 50 seconds, while teammate Stephen Hoffman (Ocean City, Md.) was second in 27:27. Other Wildcat men, their finishes and times included: 4. Jeff Faherty (High Point, N.J.), 28:17; 5. Tristan Mummert (Red Lion), 28:33; 6. Brad Robinson (West Chester), 28:38; 9. Seth Beckman (Linden), 29:05; 11. Corvin Oberholtzer (Wellsboro), 29:15; 23. Zach Lengel (Jersey Shore), 31:36; 25. Garrett Beers (Quarryville), 31:41; 27. Alex Kahler (Millmont), 31:58; 28. John Greenwood (Harrisburg), 31:59; 35. Russell Blankenship (New Florence, Va.), 33:11; 38. John Kriner (Lancaster), 33:24; 39. Mike Fischer (Ringwood, N.J.), 33:45.

The Penn College men topped the field with 18 points, followed by Penn State Scranton, 49; Penn State Schuylkill, 78; and Penn State Mont Alto, 104. Thaddeus Stevens also competed, but not as a PSUAC member.

Cordeiro became the 11th Penn College runner since 1982 to win an individual conference title and the seventh during Mike Paulhamus' nine seasons as head coach.

"Mark is only a sophomore and he's a really hard worker. I expect that he'll top (graduated) Greg Kammerle's record of two titles in a row (2006 and last year) and maybe get three in a row; that's how good of a runner Mark is. Actually, he kind of blew away the other part of the competition," Paulhamus said.

For the Penn College women, Tamara Pavlov (Lewisburg) finished second in the conference over a 3-mile distance in 19:34. Also for the Wildcats, Holly Schuster (Jersey Shore) was fifth overall in 19:51, Lydia Klecker (Gardners) was ninth in 20:57, Erin Taylor (Shinglehouse) was 13th in 21:52, Abigail Park (Cochranville) was 14th in 22:04; and Alyssa Giedroc (Howard) was 18th in 24:33.

Penn State Scranton captured the conference women's title with 18 points, followed by Penn College with 21 and Penn State DuBois with 40.

"One of my girls was out of position, she didn't have a good run and it just happened to be at the wrong meet not to have a good run, but that happens," Paulhamus said. "In a torrential downpour, we ran a good race."

Overall, the Wildcat men now are 30-7, they finished 16-0 in the PSUAC, while the Penn College women are 11-1 overall and in the conference.

Next up for Penn College is a trip to Southern Virginia University at Buena Vista, Va., Friday, where they will compete in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association championships.

"We're getting excited about next Friday's race in Virginia," Paulhamus added.

Men's Soccer Reflecting on his team's 4-0 PSUAC semifinal win over Penn State Abington on Wednesday, coach Enrique Castillo said, "The first half we were a little bit rusty, but the second half we did a lot better."

Stephen Lis (Elliottsburg) put the Wildcats on the board with a goal in the 45th minute, but Coleby Frye's goal 14 minutes later changed the complexion of the match.

"The second goal was the one that broke Abington's momentum. They were putting a lot of pressure on our players. After we scored that second goal (by Frey of York), it just opened it up," Castillo said.

Also scoring against Abington were Morris Sayon (Upper Darby) and Steve Bullock (Manheim). The win extended the Wildcats' two-season victory streak to 28 in a row.

Some things never get old. Just ask Pennsylvania College of Technology men's soccer coach Enrique Castillo.

On Saturday night at Jeffrey Field on Penn State's main campus, the Wildcats won their fifth consecutive Penn State University Athletic Conference championship, third under Castillo, 1-0 over Penn State York. Penn College now is 13-0 for the season, finished 11-0 in the PSUAC, and has won 29 straight matches over two seasons.

"Every championship is different. One of my captains, Steve Lis (Elliottsburg), was there for four of them (titles) and Steve Bull (Hampstead, Md.) for three of them. It is an amazing accomplishment. It's something great. A lot of people don't get to do that," Castillo said.

Lis (Elliottsburg) scored the lone goal of Saturday's match on a pass from Sean Kowalik (Seven Valley) during the first half.

"The first half, we played one of our better games. We controlled the ball and did excellent," Castillo said. "They (Penn State York) did a heck of a job. They played well and we played well. It was a good game," Castillo said.

"The second half, we played it a little bit more cautious defensively instead of just playing like it was 0-0. I thought we could hold the lead, which we did, but I'm not planning on doing that again. I'm just going to keep playing our style (attacking)," the Penn College coach continued. "Usually we're a second-half team, but Saturday it was just the opposite."

Daniel Shaffer (Shermansdale) was perfect in goal for Penn College, as it recorded its 11th shutout of the season. "He did a phenomenal job," Castillo praised. "There were a couple of times I thought (the ball) was going in, but he made some wonderful saves."

"We're excited. One of our goals was to win a championship. We accomplished that now. The second goal was to go out to Michigan (site of this week's United States Collegiate Athletic Association championships that begin Wednesday at Rochester College in Rochester Hills) and represent well and get a chance to play for a championship. The guys are very excited and ready to go," Castillo said.

Team Tennis For the first time since 2004, everything came together for the Penn College coed tennis team as it claimed its first Penn State University Athletic Conference championship over the weekend.

Through play on Saturday, when rain forced matches indoors to the Sarni Tennis Center on Penn State's main campus, Penn College held a narrow four-point lead over Penn State Abington and Penn State York.

Playing eight game pro-sets on Saturday, the Wildcats had five singles players advance to Sunday's finals: Shane Burridge (Ephrata) at No. 1, Austin Moran (Mount Joy) at No. 2 and Rob Kemrer (Milton) at No. 3 for the men and Erica Logan (Montoursville) at No. 1 and Rachel Emmons (Washington, N.J.) at No. 2 for the women.

In doubles play Saturday, Burridge-Moran, No. 1 men; Kemrer-Dan Kerstetter (Milton), No. 2 men, and Logan-Angela Charcas (Williamsport), No. 1 women, advanced to the semifinals.

During Sunday's finals, the Wildcats roared as Burridge, Moran and Logan claimed singles championships, Burridge and Moran won a men's doubles title and second-place finishes were recorded by Kemrer and Emmons in singles play and Kemrer-Kerstetter and Logan-Charcas in doubles action. Last year, Kemrer won at the No. 4 men's singles spot.

Penn College topped the eight-team field with 71 points, followed by Penn State York, 62; Penn State Abington, 57; Penn State Hazleton, 37; Penn State Wilkes-Barre, 33; Penn State Lehigh Valley, 33; Penn State Brandywine, 31, and Penn State Mont Alto, 21.

Other players who competed in a Nos. 5 and 6 men's tournament were Jonathan English (Hershey), Chris Carroll (Norristown) and Kyle Canavan (Erie).Charcas reached the finals of the women's No. 3 singles tournament. Their points were not included in team's scores.

The Wildcats finished 17-2 overall, including a 10-2 record during the conference's regular season.

"It was a fantastic regular season," Wildcats first-year coach Aimee Plastow said afterward. "These are a talented and determined group of tennis players. They set their goal at winning the conference title and it is thrilling to have accomplished it. I am very proud of this team.

"Their performance was the result of hard work, positive attitudes and a will to win. We are a young team and if everyone returns for play next season, I look forward to many more successful seasons. I am sure some of these players will set records for the school and conference," Plastow continued.

"The athletes were provided an opportunity and they responded. It was a sweet victory for everyone.No doubt, something like this helps our program. I amthrilled to be a part of it. "¦ I want to make sure the players get the credit because I'm sitting on the sideline and they're doing all the work," the coach added.

Penn College's last team championship came in 2004, when it went unbeaten and won titles in the Pennsylvania Collegiate Athletic Association and Eastern Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference. Prior to that, it captured EPCC team titles in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

(Complete rosters and season schedules are available on the college's Athletics Web site).