By John Manley
Slippery Rock’s Sonya Maher was recently named the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference’s Player of the Week in women’s soccer. The senior from Clare scored the goal that sent the Rock’s match with Mercyhurst into overtime, then she assisted on the winning goal in the 3-2 victory. Maher also put Slippery Rock ahead for good in its 3-1 triumph over Shippensburg.
Maher, who played for the Irish national team in its recent contest against the U.S., is second in the PSAC in points per game with 24, from eight goals and eight assists. Teammate Annette Berg leads all scorers with 31 points. Slippery Rock is 7-1-0 overall and 2-0-0 in PSAC action. Irish native Noreen Herlihy coaches Slippery Rock.
Mary Reid of St. Joseph’s (Ind.) scored a goal in each of the Lady Pumas’ most recent contests. They blasted Indiana-Purdue of Fort Wayne, 7-0, before losing to Northern Kentucky, 3-2, in overtime. St. Joe’s is 5-5-0. Reid is second on the team in scoring with 11 points. She has converted five of 23 shots on goal and has an assist.
The wins keep piling up for South Carolina and its coach, Sue Kelly, originally of Cork. The Gamecocks went to overtime to defeat Furman, 4-3, then downed North Carolina State, 2-0. South Carolina is 8-2 overall and 3-1 in the Southeastern Conference.
Keene State was tripped up last week, first settling for a tie with Salem State, 1-1, before losing to Middlebury, 2-1. The Owls, coached by Denise Lyons, a native of Newcastle West, Co. Limerick, are 4-3-1.
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Men’s Soccer
Sometimes the best defense is a good offense. Perhaps that explains backfielder Paul Cleary’s two goals in New Hampshire College’s 6-0 rout of Binghamton. The senior from Waterford also had the Penmen’s first goal in their 4-4 tie with Dowling. NHC, ranked 15th in Div. II, is now 5-2-1 overall and 2-0 in the New England Collegiate Conference.
Norwich University outshot Emerson, 20-7, but Gavin Woods had the only one of those 20 shots that counted. The Belfast junior scored with 4:12 remaining in the second overtime to lift Norwich to a 1-0 victory. In the Cadets’ previous match, a 2-1 loss to Johnson State, Woods assisted on their only goal. Woods is third on the team in scoring with five goals and three assists. Norwich stands 7-1-0 overall and 4-0-0 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference.
Christian Brothers University knocked off its cross-city rival, Memphis, 3-1, with sophomore forward Barry Gibney picking up a goal. Gibney, of Swords, Co. Dublin, also parked the ball in the net during a 2-1 victory over Bethel. CBU, coached by Gareth O’Sullivan of Ballina, Co. Mayo, is 7-2-0.
Rio Grande’s Marty Rodgers set up the winning goal in the 23rd minute of overtime in a 2-1 win over Ohio Dominican. Rodgers is a sophomore from Co. Antrim. Rio Grande is 4-4-0 overall and 3-0-0 in the American Mideast Conference.
Rhode Island’s Gareth Elliott set up the first goal and put in the final one himself in the Rams’ 5-0 thrashing of St. Joseph’s (Pa.) Elliott is a sophomore from Belfast. Rhode Island is 6-2-1 overall and 2-0-0 in the Atlantic 10.
Villanova’s Conor Porter scored his first goal of the season in a 2-1 loss to West Virginia. The senior co-captain from Raphoe, Co. Donegal finished off a series of passes at the 54:58 mark. The Wildcats are 2-7-0 overall and winless in five Big East matches.
Fairfield’s Brian Harkin, a freshman from Derry, scored the second goal in the Stags’ 2-0 win over Rider. Harkin prepped at St. Columb’s. Fairfield is 4-5-1 overall and 3-2-0 in MAAC play.
Winthrop’s Gareth Hayden continues to prove dangerous to enemy defenses. The sophomore from Dublin scored just over three minutes into Winthrop’s 3-2 loss to Georgia Southern. Next out, he set up the initial score in a 2-1 victory over Radford. Hayden leads Winthrop in scoring with four goals (15 shots on goal) and one assist. Winthrop is 3-5-0 overall and 1-0-0 in the Big South Conference.
Alan Foy converted a penalty kick in St. Leo’s 3-2 loss to St. Thomas. Foy is a senior sweeper from Galway. St. Leo is presently 4-4-0.
Mercyhurst’s Mark Fitzgerald made good on a free kick to propel the Lakers to a 1-0 triumph over Gannon. Fitzgerald is a junior from Co. Kerry. John Melody, from Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, coaches Mercyhurst (6-4-1, 2-0 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference).
Penn State got its first taste of defeat courtesy of Big Ten rival Indiana. The seventh-ranked Hoosiers applied a 4-2 hurting to Barry Gorman’s top-ranked Nittany Lions in Indiana. Penn State is now 8-1-0. Gorman hails from Belfast.
Séamus McFadden’s University of San Diego team got back on a winning track, defeating Fullerton State, 4-2. The Toreros are now 8-1-0. McFadden is a Donegal native.
Wingate is still hanging a goose egg in the ‘L’ column. Gary Hamill’s team won over Lander and Lenoir-Rhyne by identical 2-1 scores, before settling for a 2-2 tie with Francis Marion. Wingate, ranked sixth in Div. II, is 7-0-1. Hamill is a Belfast product.
Nobody’s tipping over Alan Dawson’s apple cart. The Belfast native’s Old Dominion squad improved to 6-2-0 overall and 2-0-0 in the Colonial Athletic Association after a 4-0 shutout of George Mason.
New York University may be ready to compete for the University Athletic Association crown. The Violets defeated Rochester, 1-0, last Saturday to go 6-2-1 for the campaign. Dubliner Joe Behan coaches NYU.
The best Boston College could do last week was tie with Boston University, 3-3. The Eagles then fell to Georgetown, 1-0. Dublin’s Ed Kelly coaches B.C. (3-4-1, 1-4-1 Big East).
Clemson dropped to 3-5-2 following losses at home to Santa Clara, 2-1, and Akron, 3-1. Clemson’s coach is Belfast native Trevor Adair.
Fran O’Leary is still looking for his first win of the season. It didn’t come in the Big Green’s 2-1 defeat to Princeton. The Dublin-born coach’s squad is now 0-3-1 overall and 0-1-1 in the Ivy League.
Providence was defeated by seventh-ranked Connecticut, 3-1. The Friars, coached by Dublin’s Brian Ainscough, are now 3-4-1 overall and 2-3-0 in Big East play.
Cross country
Western Kentucky’s Valerie Lynch earned the Sun Belt Conference’s Cross-Country Performer of the Week for her victory in the WKU Old Timers Classic. The senior from Cork won the 5,000-meter race in 17 minutes, 30 seconds. Behind Lynch were teammates Olga Cronin, a freshman who was fourth in 17:59, Terri Hennessy, a sophomore who was eighth in 18:16, Caroline Daly, a freshman who was 13th in 18:35, and Lisa Cronin, a junior who was 27th in 19:29. All these young women are from Cork.
Following this, Western Kentucky contested the Sam Bell Invitational at Indiana University. Lynch finished seventh in the 190-woman field, with a time of 18:02. Daly was 44th in 19:05 and Olga Cronin was 47th in 19:08. Arkansas’ Amy Yoder won the race in 17:06.
Brown’s Enda Johnson finished a close second in the Iona Meet of Champions at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx last Saturday. The sophomore from County Monaghan was two ticks off the winner, Dartmouth’s Adam Wallace, who got home in 24:51 for five miles. Iona’s Vinny Mulvey, a junior from Ashbourne, Co. Meath, was first across for the Gaels, finishing in 24:58. Teammate Barry Egan, a sophomore from Cahir, Co. Tipperary, was 11th in 25:25. Dartmouth won the team trophy, with Mick Byrne’s Gaels second.
Fairfield’s James Butler ran to a seventh place finish in the Fairfield Invitational. Butler, a junior from Cork, covered the course in 27:37. The St. Peter’s duo of John Oliveira and Aarao Santos dead heated for win in 26:48. Fairfield finished second in the team standings to St. Peter’s.
Tennis
Rice’s Robert Collins won the Flight A singles title at the Tom Fallon Invitational at Notre Dame. Collins claimed the trophy after defeating Indiana’s Gabriel Montilla, 6-4, 6-4. Earlier, the Dublin senior disposed of the Notre Dame duo of Javier Taborga, 6-4, 6-2, and Casey Smith, 1-6, 6-2, 6-1.
Brown’s Nick Malone teamed with Josh Hoskins to win the A Flight doubles crown in the Northeastern Intercollegiate Tennis Championships in Providence. The sophomore from Greystones, Co. Wicklow contributed to an 8-6 victory over Harvard’s Joe Green and William Lee. Green, the Crimson’s senior co-captain, is from Dublin. Malone also advanced to the ‘A’ Flight singles consolation final, where he lost to Harvard’s Anthony Barker, 6-2, 6-1.
Golf
Chris Devlin cruised to a six-shot victory in the Precept Peach State Invitational at the Golf Club at Cuscowilla in Eatonton, Ga. Devlin shot consecutive rounds of four-under-par 66 to finish with a 36-hole score of 132. The Alabama-Birmingham senior comes from Ballymena, Co. Antrim. UAB won the team title as well.
Toledo’s Tim Rice tied for sixth place in the Kansas Invitational at the Alvamar Golf Club in Lawrence, Kan. The senior from Rosbrien, Co. Limerick, was three over par for the 54-hole event, shooting 219 (74-71-74). He was five strokes in back of Kansas’ Ryan Vermeer for medalist honors. Toledo’s Ricky Elliott tied for 31st place at 228 (75-74-79). He is a senior from Portrush, Co. Antrim. Toledo placed fifth of 17 teams. Missouri was the team winner.