Overtime

Posted on September 8, 2011 by sportsinfo

The Muhlenberg football team opened its season with an overtime game against Delaware Valley last Saturday. If the game had been played by NFL rules, the Mules would have won, since they scored first. But in college each team gets a chance, and the Aggies scored on the final play to win. We asked a few of the Muhlenberg players if they preferred the college rule or the NFL rule, and here’s what they had to say:

MJ Rus, fullback (scored Mules’ touchdown in overtime)

Even though it’s hard not to have some biases towards wishing for an NFL-style OT after this weekend’s loss, I actually think the NCAA format is a lot better. It makes for a more suspenseful finish, and as we saw, it requires both teams to be successful in multiple facets of the game, namely both offense and defense. With the NFL-style OT, although it recently changed so that a game cannot be won on a field goal, it doesn’t allow for both teams to have a level playing field and often can be decided by the coin toss. With giving both teams a shot from the 25-yard line, it forces both teams to perform at a high level when pressure’s heavy and the slightest mistake or big play can mean the game. Overall, although I obviously wish for a better outcome from this past weekend’s game, I think it is a much better format for OT and is a better measure of who deserves to win.

Andy Curley, linebacker

I like our college overtime rule. It gives both teams an opportunity to play both offense and defense; whereas, the classic sudden death NFL overtime rule might prevent one team from playing their offense or defense (if a team scores on their first drive). Furthermore, our college overtime rule places both teams within scoring range (on the 25-yard line), which is beneficial in a defensive struggle like ours on Saturday where neither team could score or move into scoring range. This starting field placement can bring a quick end to a long game where players were already starting to cramp up and getting too fatigued to continue playing.

Chris Hartzell, cornerback (Mules’ 2010 special teams MVP)

In my opinion the way college overtime is set up is exactly the way it should be. I actually wish the NFL did it the same way. It allows both teams to have a chance to win and put both their offense and defense back on the field for a last opportunity. It doesn’t bother me that special teams is taken out of the equation because even though it is a huge part of the game, overtime is a test of your team’s offense and defense and how they can withhold another series when everyone is fatigued.

Andrew Onimus, safety (special teams MVP of DelVal game)

Personally, I love the overtime rule in college, and I know just talking with some of my teammates this past Saturday on the sideline that they agree. I feel that the college rule makes the most sense because it gives the offense and defense from both teams the chance to take the field and battle for the win. To me, the NFL rule is not fair. I also think that the college rule puts much more pressure on the coaches, which I like. There is more strategy in college. For example, a coach has to make the tough decision of whether or not to trust the defense and/or kicker and kick a field goal on fourth down from the 12. Or maybe the coach is a risk taker and has that special “play” set up like Boise State did a few years back against Oklahoma. As for the special teams aspect, I feel that the game should come down to offense vs. defense so it does not bother me at all. Overall, I think the college overtime rule is one of the best in sports. Pure excitement.

“The Mighty Macs”

Posted on September 7, 2011 by sportsinfo

Muhlenberg women’s basketball coach Ron Rohn reviews the upcoming movie The Mighty Macs. Click here for more information on the movie and to watch the trailer.

Recently, I was invited to a special pre-screening of the upcoming Hollywood movie The Mighty Macs, based on the story of the women’s basketball team at tiny Immaculata College in southeastern Pennsylvania (about 40 miles from Muhlenberg). The film is scheduled to be released nationally in theatres on October 21.

Immaculata, coached by Cathy Rush (inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008), won the first ever college national championship for women in 1972 and also won the title in 1973 and 1974. These were the pre-NCAA days for women’s sports, when the AIAW (Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women) ran women’s basketball – quite simply because the “old boys” of the NCAA had no interest in “girl’s sports.” It was common for small schools to be successful, since the bigger state schools were not spending much money on women’s teams, despite Title IX becoming law in 1972.

Even so the story of the Mighty Macs of Immaculata College (a women’s college of 400 commuters) was an attention grabber even back then. The nuns who ran the college would attend games banging on empty buckets with wooden spoons, making a racket that drove opponents crazy – and of course photos of this would make the nightly news and were seen in newspapers across the nation.

Knowing the basic story and characters, I was interested to see how the subject would be presented from a Hollywood production – how historically accurate it would be, and how bad would the basketball scenes look (action scenes from popular sports movies often look laughably amateurish).

So let me first off say that the basketball scenes, which are many, are done very, very well. Producers of the movie, of which former 76ers owner Pat Croce was a driving force, made the intelligent decision to hire former high school and college players to play opposing teams in the movie. Even the main characters are actresses with college and high school playing experience. This gives the passing, dribbling, shooting and player movement a very natural and genuine look. In a few cases maybe too good, considering how far the skills of women’s players have come in the past 40 years.

The movie opens with Cathy Rush driving to Immaculata to interview for the head coaching job there. I got to know Cathy by attending her summer basketball camps in the ’80s and ’90s, and I was amazed by how much Carla Gugino (the love interest in Night at the Museum among her many credits) looked like Cathy Rush. As the movie developed I smiled seeing how well Gugino had captured Rush’s character – a caring woman with spunk, aggressiveness and a firm belief that women should never have to take a back seat to a man, even in the world of sports. Never shy to be sure.

She coached “players,” not “girls.” Teamwork, winning, a driving desire to be the best should be the goals regardless of whether you were male or female. Remember that these were not widely accepted traits for women in 1972 – in fact they were often thought to be “un-ladylike” as were sports in general.

In this area the movie hits a home run (or I guess a three-point shot, which also did not exist in 1972). Historical accuracy in terms of wool tunics as uniforms, small basement gyms with the wall being out of bounds, and the attitudes of people towards females in athletics is also spot on. The film would be worth seeing for any female athlete, just for the lesson in how far things have come since then.

But the time-tested themes of belief in one’s self and others, the collective strength of individuals coming together to become a true team, and the underdog winning the day all make the film uplifting as well.

There are cute cameos by many of the “real-life” people the movie is based on. Cathy Rush herself plays a bank teller. My favorite is a scene in which the real members of the 1972 team play nuns, sitting together at mass. In this scene, Rush passes a note down the pew of nuns to a tall girl who plays the role of the college-aged Theresa Shank Grentz – future All-American and star of the team. Playing the nun who finally hands the note to the girl is the real-life Grentz.

Accomplished actress Ellyn Burstyn is the perfect Mother Superior, and will bring flashbacks to childhood – if like me you ever attended Catholic school.

Of course this is a Hollywood movie, not a documentary, so it is not 100 percent exactly how it happened – in some cases for dramatic effect, others for comedic purposes (there were many loud laughs at the screening I attended). In the movie a young nun becomes Cathy Rush’s assistant coach, something that never happened. Later Rush dresses like a nun herself when the college can’t afford enough tickets for the team to fly to the national tournament (nuns could fly free on United Airlines in those days, so the movie says). Again, pure fiction. In real life the school could only afford nine tickets, so Rush and eight players flew to nationals, while three players and assistant coaches stayed home.

The other area where Hollywood wins out over history is in what is known as “time compression” – merging events together, or over a shorter period of time, to make the story more dramatic or economical in length.

In The Mighty Macs coach Rush arrives in the fall of 1972, just after the gym has burned down – and after losing games early, she slowly brings the team around to where they win the national championship by season’s end. In real life Rush took over at Immaculata in 1970 (two years after the gym burned down in 1968) and built a pretty good team by 1972.

Some things that seem as if they must have been invented for the movie actually happened that way. The team did actually lose by 32 points in the regional playoffs to West Chester University, and did indeed come back one week later to defeat the same team to win the national championship.

After the screening, Cathy Rush was on hand to answer questions about the film. She said that a scene where many of the female students and all of the nuns at the college stay up late to greet the team as they arrive home after an especially dispiriting loss was so true to the actual event that she and Hall of Fame sports writer Mel Greenberg were crying as they watched it being filmed.

Somewhere along their improbable run to the championship, Rush remembers the team’s point guard saying to her – “they should be a make a movie about this.” Now they have, and it’s one worth seeing.

Running for a Fallen Soldier

Posted on September 6, 2011 by sportsinfo

Ted Albanese, a junior on the Muhlenberg men’s lacrosse team, writes about why he and his teammates woke up early Saturday morning.

Saturday morning the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams participated in the annual 5K Race for Freedom in the Lehigh Valley Parkway. This race is held in memory of Ashly Moyer, a 21-year-old Lehigh Valley native who was serving in the War in Iraq. Ashly was killed in action when an IED, better known as a roadside bomb, exploded under her armored vehicle in March 2007.

Ashly was the 21st person from Lehigh Valley and the 71st female service member to die since the war began. Every year the team participates in the event as an act of community service.

Being from the Lehigh Valley, the race has a more profound meaning for me. Celebrating the life of someone my age and from my area who died while fighting for our freedom in another country, let alone in another hemisphere, is something you don’t really think about as a college student. It’s something you never think about unless it directly affects you. Other things are on your mind at this age, like, “when is that 10-page paper due?” Or, “where is the big party this Saturday?”

And then, on the day of this race, you start to think of other questions that soldiers face … the ones that you normally would never think of … the ones like, “am I going to have enough ammunition in case of a firefight?” or “am I ever going to see my family again?” You quickly realize that the 10-page paper and big party aren’t really that important anymore. The questions and “problems” we face here don’t compare to the questions and problems that our armed forces face, especially when deployed.

It’s easy to moan and groan over waking up early on a Saturday morning to run a 5K. What’s not so easy is leaving your family, friends and home to fight and protect the freedoms we enjoy. And on Saturday morning, we partook in the celebration of a soldier who gave the ultimate sacrifice for her country.

There’s No Place Like Home

Posted on September 5, 2011 by sportsinfo

Senior Davi Gordon of the Muhlenberg volleyball team writes about the experience of playing in her home state.

Hello ’Berg family and friends, and welcome back to the beginning of a great new school year! The Muhlenberg volleyball team can surely attest to this – just as most students on campus were shutting their textbooks for the weekend, we were jet setting (and by that, I mean riding on a bus for seven hours) to Ohio!

As I am the only Ohio native on the team, this trip was planned especially for me (thanks Coach!). Since my first year of college, I always hoped that I would be able to play in front of a “home” crowd, and although my family members are avid watchers of the live web stream when they can’t make it out to Memorial Hall themselves, I know they had the same wish as well. So, even though we were travelling to Marietta, a small town in Southeast Ohio approximately two hours away from my real home, I couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear as I boarded the bus at 6:45am on Friday because we were headed to the Buckeye State!

We have 14 players on our roster this year, including seven returners (three seniors and four sophomores) and seven freshmen. This has allowed us to do a lot of scrimmaging in practice, which was something we were unable to do during our season last year with only nine players. The team is gelling really well, and despite a few minor injuries, we are getting better and better every day. Not only are our skills improving, but also between the paint renovation in the gym and our new uniforms, the volleyball team is looking good!

The long bus ride to Ohio was a great way for us to catch some zzzZZZzzz’s, play Catch Phrase, watch a few movies, dance to Pitbull and Beyoncé, and of course, do homework. On behalf of the team, I would also like a give a shout-out to our bus driver Rafael because he was awesome! On the way to Marietta, we stopped at Moe’s and Panera to grab our meal of choice.

It was here that my team first faced one of the Midwest’s hardships. After surviving a mini-earthquake during preseason and a huge power outage caused by Hurricane Irene, I think

Alexis Inselberg and Laurainne Ojo-Ohikuare are in the driver's seat.

my teammates thought that they could survive anything. However, they were totally taken aback by the humidity! I never realized how much more humid it is at home than in Allentown, but there is definitely a huge difference!

We played two matches on Friday and two on Saturday. In total, I had 13 family members attend the tournament – my parents and brother; grandparents from Florida; grandma and aunt from Cleveland; aunt, uncle, and cousins from Akron; and cousins from Pickerington. I also played against a few people who I had played club volleyball with or played against during high school. It was nice to see multiple familiar faces in the crowd, a sight that I used to take for granted. My grandpa even tried started a wave before one of the matches!

I know my family really enjoyed being able to see me play and spend a little time with me, and I thoroughly enjoyed their presence and company. Their support and love is greatly

Seniors Brooke McQueen, Davi Gordon and Jackie Price

appreciated, and even when I’m at Muhlenberg, eight hours away from home, I know that they will always being cheering for my teammates and me!

Before we started our journey back to Allentown, we stopped at da Vinci’s Italian Restaurant, which was right over the Ohio River in West Virginia. The seniors on the team have travelled to Massachusetts, Maryland, Texas, and throughout Pennsylvania, but this was the first time we stopped in two states on one trip. The food was delicious – chicken parm, pizza, subs and pasta. After filling our stomachs, my team and coaches bid farewell to my family and hopped back on the bus for our long ride home. Even though we didn’t get to go anywhere extremely exotic or to a big city, I think that everyone enjoyed their short experience of Ohio and the Midwest!

Overall, we went 1-3 over the weekend, with our win coming from our first match of the tournament against Oberlin College. Although we suffered a few losses, our team and coaches still have a very positive outlook for the rest of our season. We were still working out some kinks and trying different lineups, but we have definitely made great strides since our first practices and our preseason scrimmage. Our motto this year is “Kickin’ it up a notch!”, and we are planning on doing that over the next two months. GO MULES!

Athletes of the Week

Posted on September 4, 2011 by sportsinfo

Every Sunday or Monday, we’ll pick a male and female athlete of the week from the games of the previous week. Here are our first two honorees for the 2011-12 year:

Female Athlete of the Week – Samantha Mayden, Cross Country

Mayden was the top Division III finisher at the Lehigh Invitational, coming in seventh out of 89 runners. She improved her time from the same meet last year by almost two minutes and led the Mules to wins against local rivals DeSales and Moravian.

Male Athlete of the Week – Kyle Plifka, Soccer

Plifka helped the Mules to a 2-0 opening weekend. In the season opener against Cortland State, he scored what proved to be the game-winning goal in the first half, then preserved Muhlenberg’s 3-2 lead by heading a ball out of the goal. The Plifka-led defense also shut out DeSales, which had scored five goals the previous day.

Saturday Trivia

Posted on September 3, 2011 by sportsinfo

If you’ve been to a Muhlenberg home event recently, you know we usually include in the game program a trivia question that is based – sometimes rather loosely – on the teams and athletes in the game. We’ll present some of those questions here on The MuhlBox from time to time.

Today’s question, as the Mule football team opens its season at Delaware Valley:

Delaware Valley is not in Delaware, but in Pennsylvania. Name three other NCAA schools in the Keystone State that bear the name of other states.

Opening Weekend

Posted on September 2, 2011 by sportsinfo

It’s Friday, Friday, and everybody’s looking forward to the weekend, weekend – and looking forward to another year of Muhlenberg athletics! Seven Mule teams open up this weekend, and here’s a preview:

There’s no better way to start a season than with a game between two NCAA Tournament teams, and there are two of them on tap this weekend.

Football at Delaware Valley (Saturday, 1:00)

Both teams earned their conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament last year, and both lost to national semifinalists (Muhlenberg to Wesley, Delaware Valley to Mt. Union). Both teams return veteran, stingy defenses, but while the Mules bring back a good chunk of their offense, the Aggies graduated nine offensive starters, including seven all-conference players. Delaware Valley won last year’s game, 27-7.

Live stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/delval/football/

Live audio (WMUH): http://www.muhlenberg.edu/wmuh/stream.html

Men’s Soccer vs. DeSales (Saturday, 6:00)

The two Lehigh Valley school have developed a nice rivalry over the years – it doesn’t hurt that both teams are usually very good. DeSales lost to Swarthmore in the first round of the NCAAs last year, and Muhlenberg made it to the “Sweet 16.” The Mules, who also host Cortland State on Friday at 6:00, lead the all-time series 15-2-2 and have won the last four meetings.

Live stats (both games): www.muhlenberg.edu/sports/msoclive/xlive.htm

Live video (both games): www.livestream.com/muhlenberg

In other action this weekend:

Field Hockey at Scranton (Friday, 5:00) and Elizabethtown (Saturday, 2:00)

For the first time since 2000, the Mules open a season with back-to-back road games. Scranton was 7-12 last year, and Elizabethtown was 14-5.

Scranton game live stats: http://athletics.scranton.edu/livestats/landing

E-town game live stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/etown/fhockey/

Women’s Soccer at Kean Classic (vs. Richard Stockton, Saturday, 2:00; vs. Kean, Sunday, 1:00)

The Mules take on a couple of teams from the New Jersey Athletic Conference to start their season. In 2010, Richard Stockton was 13-8-2, and Kean went 9-6-4, including a 3-2 win against the Mules.

Live stats (both games): http://sidearmstats.com/kean/wsoc/

Live video (Kean game only): http://www.keanathletics.com/general_news/012309live

Volleyball at Marietta’s River City Classic (vs. Oberlin, Friday, 5:00; vs. Kenyon, Friday, 8:00; vs. Marietta, Saturday, 11:30; vs. Methodist, Saturday, 1:00)

The volleyball team travels to Ohio for a season-opening tournament.

Tournament updates: http://pioneers.marietta.edu/sports/2010/8/3/WVB_11RiverCityTournament.aspx?path=wvball

Live stats (match vs. Marietta only): http://www.sidearmstats.com/marietta/wvball/

Cross Country at Lehigh Invitational

All but one of the Mules’ seven meets this year are in the Lehigh Valley, and this is the first.

Brett Rosen, International Man of Baseball

Posted on September 1, 2011 by sportsinfo

On June 30, we wrote about baseball player Brett Rosen, who had just completed his freshman year at Muhlenberg, qualifying to play for the British national team. Here’s a follow-up on how he did:

After playing hundreds of games during his baseball career, Brett Rosen has grown accustomed to the normal routine of standing along the base line for the playing of the “Star-Spangled Banner” before first pitch.

So when that routine was thrown for a loop before one of his games this past summer, it took his mind a couple moments to remember just what jersey he was wearing.

Rosen spent part of the summer playing for Team Great Britain in the European Championship qualifying tournament in Tel Aviv, Israel. And according to Muhlenberg sophomore, it wasn’t until he heard something other than that familiar tune that he truly felt the magnitude of the moment.

“The overall experience of playing in an international competition was mind-blowing,” the catcher said. “It was surreal suiting up for, and representing, Great Britain. Honestly, it didn’t really hit me until they played ‘God Save the Queen’ before our first game. That was an incredible feeling.”

While he was born in the United States, Rosen’s mother was born in England, giving him dual citizenship. His brother, AJ, has competed for team Great Britain at the past two Winter Olympics.

Brett Rosen saw action in two games, both wins, to help Great Britain win the qualifier with a 4-1 record and advance to next summer’s European Championships in the Netherlands.

Rosen’s best game was against Georgia when he went 2-for-4 at the plate with a double and a stolen base in an 8-7 win. He also caught all nine innings in an 8-6 win over Israel and finished the tournament with a .286 batting average.

The trip was also Rosen’s first time traveling the world alone, so when he wasn’t playing he used the opportunity to take in a lot of Israel’s ancient history.

“Tel Aviv was beautiful,” he said. “But Jerusalem was truly amazing. It was the best part of the trip. Our entire team was led all over the city on a tour. We got to see all the holy sites and the history behind them. That was very fascinating.”

One of the youngest members on the squad, Rosen said it did not take long to grow accustomed to his new teammates and international competition.

The team was comprised mostly of Canadians, Australians and Americans with British heritage. But while the players’ backgrounds may have differed drastically, Rosen said they all shared one common passion that brought them all together: baseball.

“It was great bonding with everyone, especially since so many of my teammates are from all over the world,” Rosen said. “One was from Calgary and another was from Australia; it was great getting to talk about our cultures.

“It also helped on the field because many of my teammates have been on the team for awhile and play professionally in leagues all over the world. I was able to learn a lot from their veteran knowledge.”

Rosen said the style of play did not differ much from the one he plays at Muhlenberg. But one big difference he did note was the passion of the fans.

While American baseball fans tend to be more laid back from pitch-to-pitch, Rosen said the crowds in Tel Aviv were loud and rowdy the entire game, especially during Great Britain’s three games with the host Israeli team, including the final.

But that just made winning the qualifier even more special, he said, adding he hopes his team can achieve similar success at next summer’s championship tournament.

“The atmosphere was definitely much more hostile,” he said. “I think this definitely made me a better player and should help during this college season.

“I can’t wait to go to Holland next summer to try to win the European Championship.”

pictures courtesy British Baseball Federation

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Monthly Archives: September 2011