Upperclassmen Look to Continue Last Season’s Success

by The Cowl Editor on September 13, 2018

Friar Sports

By Jack Belanger ’21

Sports Co-Editor

In terms of consistency, it would be hard to find a team more solid than the Providence College Field Hockey Team. In the past 12 seasons, the team has qualified for the Big East tournament eight times. Only four out of eight teams qualify for the tournament.

Last season, the Friars finished fourth in the Big East with 11-8 record overall and 4-3 in Big East play. The team faced the University of Connecticut Huskies in the semi-finals for a chance to compete for the Big East finals. Unfortunately, the Huskies, who would go on to finish the season undefeated and win the National Championship, beat the Friars 3-0, ending their season.

This season, PC returns six starters including Corinne Kenney ’19 and Mikayla Michals ’20, who were named to the all Big East Preseason Team. Kenney was named All-Big East Second Team last year and she returns as one of PC’s top defenders.

Last season, Michals was tied for the team lead in goals with five. She was second on the team in points and returns as the top scorer from last season. Izzy Mendez ’20 also had five goals last season, giving PC its top two goal-scorers for 2017.

In goal, Lydia Rice ’19 takes over this season after Megan Guilbert ’18 graduated. Rice comes into the season with only two career games under her belt. Rice should have plenty of help in front of her as the Friars return multiple defenders from a team that allowed the second fewest goals in the Big East with 35 goals.

Allyson Parker ’20 is another returning starter to watch out for. Last season, Parker started in every game for the Friars. After scoring two goals last season, she will be tasked with picking up the scoring as several of the top scorers left the team.

Two freshmen who are looking to make an immediate impact this season are Jenna Puleo ’22 and Amanda Collins ’22 who play forward and midfielder/defense, respectively. Through seven games this year Collins has registered three assists and started every game, while Puleo has appeared in six games.

So far this season, PC is 3-4 and has not played any Big East games yet. The team started 0-3 after a trip out to California. Once the team came home, the Friars responded with a three game winning streak, followed by a loss to the University of Iowa.

The 2018 Big East Field Hockey Preseason Coaches’ Poll picked the Friars to once again finish fourth in the league. The University of Connecticut, the defending champs, are once again picked to finish in first, receiving seven first place votes.

Fall Sports Wrap-Up

by The Cowl Editor on November 16, 2017

Friar Sports

By Joe Myko ’19

Sports Staff

As the year creeps further into November, fall sports at Providence College are beginning to wrap-up. With the exception of volleyball, all the fall sports have ended. Now, before we fully turn our attention to hockey, basketball, and other winter sports, let’s take a look back on an exciting fall season for PC athletics.

Cross Country:

Providence College’s Cross Country Teams remain ranked in regional and national polls this year for their performances, with the most recent and potentially most notable event being October’s Big East Cross Country Championships, in which the men’s team finished fourth overall.

The team began the season in impressive form on Sept. 2, managing to successfully sweep the University of New Hampshire Dual Meet. The men’s team also came in first at the Nassaney Invitational on Sept. 9, with Tom O’Neill ’18 winning the race.

The women finished second, behind Brown, with Millie Paladino ’18 coming in first. The women’s team successfully finished second in the Big East Cross Country Championships, with graduate student Catarina Rocha ‘17G impressively picking up the individual title. The women’s team also deserves praise for winning Battle-in-Beantown on the Sept. 22 for the third season in a row, as well as accumulating their third straight NCAA Northeast regional title.

Soccer:

The Providence College Men’s Soccer Team was ranked first in the New England Journal Division and in the Big East Preseason Coaches’ Poll this year, before they kicked off their season with a hard-fought loss againt the University of North Carolina on Aug. 25.

October’s game against Brown University was one of the most notable wins for the Friars, with Joao Serrano ’20 scoring the decisive golden goal in the 96th minute. On Nov. 8, former Friar Julian Gressel ’16 picked up the Major League Soccer Rookie of the Year award for his impressive performances for Atlanta United.

It was a successful season for goalkeeper Colin Miller ‘19RS, who has continued his good form from the last campaign where he earned the Big East goalkeeper of the year, with two consecutive Big East Goalkeeper of the Week awards.

The team was unfortunately knocked out of the Big East Tournament on Nov. 4, bested at the quarterfinal by Xavier University.

The Women’s Soccer Team secured Big East All-Tournament honors on Nov. 5, concluding a commendable season in which they made it to the semi-finals of the Big East competition, before losing 3-0 to Butler University on Nov. 2. Two Friars, Katie Day ’19 and Hannah McNulty ’21, were also picked for the All-Tournament team for their impressive performances through the season.

Field Hockey:

The field hockey team concluded an incredible season with a hard-fought loss in the Big East semi-finals, losing 3-0 to top-ranked University of Connecticut on Nov. 3. The Friars were very successful in the Big East field hockey post-season awards, which were released on Nov. 2, with four different players earning honors.

Defender Manon van Weezel ’21 picked up the Freshman of the Year award. She was also unanimously selected for the All-Big East First Team, alongside midfielder Megan Hamilton ’18. Defender Corinne Kenney ’19 and goalkeeper Megan Guilbert ’18 also deserve congratulations for accumulating All-Big East second team honors.

Volleyball:

Prior to the season commencing on Aug. 25, in a 3-0 win against University of Alabama Birmingham, the volleyball team was awarded team academic honors from American Volleyball Coaches Association for their 2016-17 season.

Providence College’s volleyball team then went on to sweep the Hatter Classic on Sept. 2, as well as the 13th Annual Friar Classic on Sept. 9. In terms of individual honors, McKenzie Lydon ’21 and Allison Barber ’21 both deserve praise for picking up Freshman of the Week awards in August and September, respectively.

Most recently, the team just dropped a match against Xavier University, losing three sets to one. The team will look to get back in the win column on Nov. 17 versus Georgetown University. The Friars will close out their season at Villanova University on Nov. 18.

Field Hockey Bursts Into Big East Play

by The Cowl Editor on September 21, 2017

Friar Sports

Field Hockey Team celebrates victory
photo courtesy of Kara Sanford ’20

by Jack Belanger ’21

Sports Staff

The Providence College Women’s Field Hockey Team had an eventful week. The team began Big East play against Temple University Friday night, then took the University of California-Davis, a team that traeled all the way from the west coast to play in Rhode Island. The Friars took both games, scoring nine goals over the two games and holding their oponents to two goals each.

Friday night marked the begining of Big East play for the Friars as they took on a Temple team that was 1-4 coming into the game. Allyson Parer ’20 got things started for PC as she scored the first goal of the game off a penalty corner shot that was assisted by Mary O’Reilly ’20 and Maddie Babineau ’21.

Temple responded with two goals of their own and took a 2-1 lead into halftime. In the second half, the Frars took control of the game, scoring three unanswered goals. Megan Hamilton ’18 tied the game for the Friars early in the second half on a tip-in shot from Manon van Weezel ’21.

With less than 20 minutes left to go in the game, Izzy Mendez ’20 gave the Friars the lead for good with a deflection off a pass from Babineau. This marked Mendez’s first career goal for the Friars. Later in the game, Babineau gave PC some insurance with her own goal, scoring three points (one goal, two assists), giving the Friars a 4-2 lead which they would hold on to.

Turning the page to Sunday morning, PC played a 1-6 UC Davis team that was looking to steal a win from the Friars. Those hopes were put to the test early on. Van Weezel scored her first goal of the season off a corner with assists from O’Reilly and Natalie Mitchell ’19. Mikayla Michals ’19 would give the Friars a 2-0 lead going into halftime off a pass from Mendez.

UC Davis showed some fight as they scored the first goal in the second half to cut the lead to 2-1. Mendez and van Weezel responded with each of their own goals to put the game out of reach at 4-1.

Each team would score another goal in the final minutes including a goal from O’Reilly from a corner penalty after the clock had already expired. Goalkeeper Megan Guilbert ’18 had a solid game in goal, coming up with several key saves when UC Davis started to amp up the pressure, keeping the game just out of reach for the visitors.

With the two wins this weekend, the Friars improved their record to 5-3 (1-0 in the Big East), while gaining some momentum as they start to settle into their Big East play.

PC will have a full week of practice as they don’t play until Sept. 22 ,when they go on the road to take on Villanova (1-6, 0-1 in Big East), then take on undefeated University of Connecticut in Storrs on Sept. 29. These are two big games for PC as a matchup against Nova is always big and UCONN will likely be a tight game.