February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By John Manley
John Costigan booted home a rebound in the 104th minute to provide Providence College’s men’s soccer team with its first victory of the season, a 1-0 overtime win against Syracuse. This was the first game winner of Costigan’s career. He is a sophomore from Dublin. The Friars, coached by Dubliner Brian Ainscough, are 1-5 overall and 1-2 in the Big East.
Hofstra’s Patrick Geraghty has planted the seeds for what looks to be a prolific season for the Long Island school. The freshman from Dublin scored a goal and assisted on another as the Dutchmen (4-1-1) defeated Fordham, 4-1. Fellow Dubliners Declan Condron, a junior, and John O’Hagan, a senior, also earned assists in that victory. Geraghty also put Hofstra on the board in the Dutchmens’ 2-1 upset of 9th-ranked William & Mary. He knocked in their first goal in the 38th minute.
Kenyon College of Ohio has Leon Blanche in the backfield once again. The junior from Dublin was a first-team selection in the North Coast Athletic Conference last year and has helped anchor the defense as the Lords are off to a 3-1-1 beginning. Kenyon has posted two shutouts thus far and surrendered only one goal in two victories.
One of the teams Blanche and Kenyon will have to shut down later in the season is Ohio Wesleyan, which employs sophomore David Pedreschi from Dublin to supply it with goals. Pedreschi started the season in big fashion with two goals in a 4-1 victory over Aquinas College in a first-round game of the Fred Myers Invitational. Pedreschi also assisted on another goal. Ohio Wesleyan then lost the championship, falling to Clarkson, 1-0.
Roy Patton’s Vermont Catamounts sprung a 2-1 defeat on 20th-ranked Hartwick last weekend. Sophomore John O’Connor from Derry was cited by Patton for his strong midfield play, although he did not get his name in the scoring column. Vermont (4-2) suffered a letdown the next day, when they were humbled by Fairfield, 1-0. Patton is a Belfast native.
Sign up to The Irish Echo Newsletter
Freshman Rory Hussey from Dublin scored the only goal of the match, leaving the scoreboard to read Mercyhurst 1, Slippery Rock 0 in a battle of Western Pennsylvania schools. John Melody of Dungarvan, Co. Waterford coaches Mercyhurst.
Noreen Herlihy, the Slippery Rock mastermind from Ireland, gathered her troops after the match and refocused them so as to defeat Shippensburg, 1-0, in a subsequent outing. The Rock is 2-3.
Fran O’Leary has Dartmouth out of the gate quickly. The Big Green is 3-0 after victories over Maine, 1-0 (overtime), Penn, 3-1, and Stanford, 2-0. O’Leary is a graduate of Moyle Park College in Dublin.
Trevor Adair’s Clemson Tigers suffered their first defeat of 1998, a 2-0 shutout to Duke. Clemson, ranked first in one of the nation’s two Div. I soccer polls, is now 5-1 overall and 1-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Adair is a Belfast native.
Barry Gorman’s Penn State team split their two games at the Nike Soccer Classic hosted by Virginia Commonwealth in Richmond. The Nittany Lions lost to American, 2-0, in the first contest, then recovered to defeat the host school, 1-0. Gorman, a Belfast man, said of his squad, "We are young and we are making some mistakes, but we are improving each game." Penn State is now 4-2-1.
If you see scratch marks on Seamus McFadden’s head, his own fingers likely administered them. His University of San Diego team has played ranked opponents tough, losing close matches to 3rd-ranked Virginia, 1-0, and No. 16 Washington, 1-0 in overtime. Then the same team goes out and trips over their feet, losing to Point Loma Nazarene, 2-1, and Cal State-Fullerton, 5-2. The Toreros have, however, prevailed over Kentucky, 1-0, Oregon State,
2-1, and Cal State-Northridge, 2-0. McFadden is a Donegal man.
Ed Kelly had nothing to cheer about in Chestnut Hill, Mass. last week. His Boston College Eagles (3-3-1) began a winless jag with a scoreless tie to Yale, followed by identical 3-0 losses to Big East Conference rivals Syracuse and St. John’s. Kelly is a Dublin native.
Wingate University dropped below the .500 mark after losing to Carson-Newman, 2-0. Belfast native Gary Hamill coaches Wingate (3-4).
Women’s Soccer
Mary Reid didn’t let any moss grow on her shoes during the off-season. The St. Joseph’s (Ind.) junior from Belfast scored both goals in a 2-1 victory over Quincy. She now has 7 goals and 5 assists in St. Joe’s first seven outings. Teammate Sara Booth, also from Belfast, got into the act with a goal during a 2-0 triumph over Missouri-St. Louis. St. Joe’s sports a 7-0
record and is ranked 6th in Div. II.
Slippery Rock upended Mercyhurst, ranked 20th in Div. II, 3-2, leaving Noreen Herlihy, who also prowls the women’s sideline, 1-1 against her Erie, Pa. rivals. The Rock also delivered a 2-0 shutout upon Shippensburg. Senior Sonya Maher from Clare provided all the scoring in the latter match to boost the team’s mark to 3-1.
Freshman Rosie Power set up the winning goal in New Hampshire College’s 5-1 thrashing of Bridgeport. Power learned the game in Waterford. NHC, ranked 12th in Div. II, is 2-3 overall and 1-0 in the New England Collegiate Conference.
Sue Kelly has South Carolina in fine fettle after consecutive wins over Wofford, 2-0, and Auburn, 5-1. The Corkwoman has the Gamecocks at 5-1-1 overall and 2-1 in the Southeastern Conference.
Gary Hamill does double duty at Wingate by handling the women’s team, which also fell to their counterparts at Carson-Newman, 3-0. Wingate’s ladies are 1-3.
Cross Country
Boise State began the season successfully with team and individual victories in the men’s race at the Idaho Invitational. Boise junior Tom Carey was the first man to cross the finish tape, stopping the clock in 20 minutes, 3 seconds after four miles. Carey is a junior from Castleconnell, Co. Limerick. Teammate Gearoid O’Connor, a sophomore from Dublin, was 8th in 20:54.
Providence College’s men’s squad ran off with the titles in both the team and individual categories at the Boston Cross Country Festival in Franklin Park. The Friars won the team title over Boston College, 26-47. Larry Morrissey, a junior from Waterford, broke the tape after covering 5,017 meters in 15:32. Ciaran Lynch, a sophomore from Limerick, finished fourth in
15:39.
Providence’s Stephanie O’Reilly didn’t score any points for her team with her finish in the Rhode Island Invitational, but that’s only because she finished sixth and had five teammates ahead of her. Ray Treacy’s women swept the board, with Sarah Dupre first across, after running 5,000 meters in 18:16. O’Reilly, a sophomore from County Wicklow, posted a time of 18:37, just a fraction of a second off the fifth-place finisher, Gladys Ganiel, and only two seconds behind Dana Ostrander in third.
Western Kentucky’s women finished fifth in the UT-Chattanooga Open, with two runners from Cork placing in the top 10. Claire Gibbons, a junior, finished fifth in 11:33 and sophomore Lisa Cronin was ninth in 11:54. They ran a two-mile course.