This Week in Walsh University Athletics
Tues. 17
Men's Basketball (H) Houghton College 7:30 pm (AM 900 WCER, www.wcer. us)
Fri. 20
Men's Basketball vs. Paul Smith's College at Houghton Classic 6 pm
Women's Basketball (H) Ohio Dominican University 7 pm (AM 900 WCER) www.wcer.us
Sat. 21
Men's Basketball vs. Hesser College at Houghton Classic 2 pm
Volleyball at Indiana Tech (NAIA National Tournament First Round) 1 pm
FOOTBALL: Cavs (8-3, 5-2) Finish Strong, Miss Playoffs
Despite jumping five spots to No. 16 Walsh (8-3, 5-2) in the NAIA's final regular season poll, the Cavs missed qualifying for the playoffs. Walsh took care of business with a 41-7 thrashing of Marian University on Saturday, marking a five-game improvement from their 2008 season record of 3-8. The Cavs 5-2 Mid-States Football Association Mideast record is good for a three-way tie with Taylor University and the University of Saint Francis (IN).
Kevin Beichler (Jr., Orrville, OH/Smithville) had a big day for the Cavs off the bench rushing for 110 yards and scoring twice. Beichler's 55-yard burst at the 2:48 mark of the first quarter gave the Cavs a 7-0 lead. Senior Mike McGill (Barberton, OH/Coventry) then caught a nine-yard TD pass from Jim Shiplett (So., Canal Fulton, OH/Northwest) in the second period to give the Cavs a 14-0 lead. Marian cut the lead in half (7-14) on a 36-yard TD pass with 6:56 to play in the half. After the teams traded interceptions, Marian was poised to cut into the lead a little more when disaster struck. Walsh's Sterling Tatum (Sr., Cleveland, OH/Maple Heights) blocked a 27-yard field goal attempt and Mike Welce (Jr., Columbiana, OH/HS) picked-up the bouncing ball and raced 83 yards for a touchdown with 10 seconds to play in the half to give the Cavs a 21-7 halftime advantage.
Beichler then scored on a 13-yard run late in the third quarter (4:08) to increase the lead to 27-7. Walsh would add two fourth quarter scores to ice the game. Shiplett hit Robert Wigfall (R-Fr., Youngstown, OH/Hubbard) for a 22-yard score and Rashid Sharif (So., Cleveland, OH/Collinwood) for a seven-yard score. Shiplett completed 11-16 passes for 181 yards and three scores. He was a perfect 7-7 in the second half. Wigfall caught five passes for 62 yards and Joe Morgan (Jr., Canton, OH/McKinley/Illinois) played his first game since his shoulder separation against Malone and caught two passes for 28 yards.
MEN'S BASKETBALL: Cavs Open with Back-to-Back Wins in New Alumni Arena
NAIA No. 6 Walsh (2-0) opened its 48th season of intercollegiate basketball in the new Alumni Arena with back-to-back wins last week. The Cavs coasted by Cincinnati Christian College 113-42, then outlasted Goshen College 105-100 in double overtime. This week the Cavs play three games, starting with Houghton College at Alumni Arena on Tuesday at 7:30 pm. Then on Friday and Saturday the Cavs travel to Houghton, NY for a classic against Paul Smith's College on Friday (7 pm) and Hesser College on Saturday (2 pm). The Houghton game will be broadcast live on AM 900 WCER (www.wcer.us).
Walsh opened its new arena in grand style pounding visiting Cincinnati Christian College (113-42). Walsh tied a mark for margin of victory at 71 points in the win. The Cavs rolled over Mt. Vernon Bible 96-25 in 1983. Walsh used a 26-4 first half run to settle the issue early. Ricky Jackson (6-7, Sr., Canton, OH/McKinley/West Virginia State) scored the first basket in the new arena at the 19:39 mark. CCC then tied the game at the 19:14 mark on a jumper from Alonzo Gill. Walsh would take a 6-2 lead and then a 6-4 advantage would the explosion hit. The Cavs outscored the Crusaders 26-0 to take a 32-4 lead with 10:59 to play in the first half. Walsh would shoot 58% (23-40) in the first half and led 63-20 at the break. The second half was much like the first, with the Cavs outscoring CCC 50-22 and shooting 58% (21-36) from the field. The Cavs shot 58% on the night, connecting on 44-76. The Cavs balanced attack produced five double figure scorers, led by Kyelce Cescato's (6-10, Sr., Barra Bonita, Brazil/Colmeia Entec) game-high 19 points. He also added eight rebounds. Williams added 17 points and six rebounds. Brandon Speck (6-0, Sr., Mansfield, OH/St. Peter's) added 16 points, freshman Kenny Kornowski (6-9, Marshallville, OH/Smithville) chipped in 12 points off the bench and Eric Schiele (6-0, Sr., Atwater, OH/Waterloo/Cleveland State) added 10 points and seven assists off the bench. Jeremy Shardo (6-3, Jr., Yorkshire, OH/Versailles) handed out a game-high eight assists.
The first overtime game for Walsh in the new Alumni Arena proved to be one to remember, as the Cavs downed Goshen College (2-2) 105-100 in double overtime. Jeremy Shardo scored 15 of his game-high 25 points in the first half as Walsh built a 47-41 halftime lead. Eric Schiele added 12 first half points and Ricky Jackson 10. The Cavs built the lead to 17 points on three occasions in the second half, the last time at 70-53 with 11:19 to play. Goshen would then outscore the Cavs 17-4 in the next three-plus minutes to trim the lead to 74-70 with 7:41 to play. Walsh would extend the lead back to 10 points at 82-72 with 3:53 to play when Goshen rallied with an 11-0 run to take a 83-82 lead with 1:36 to play. Jeremy Shardo would split free throws with 1:06 to play to tie the game. Shardo would then block Eric McCollum’s jumper with one second to play to send the game to overtime.
In the first overtime Walsh led by seven points (94-87) with 1:27 to play when Goshen rattled off the final seven points to send the game to a second overtime. Goshen's Kyle Davis scored the first two points of the second OT to give the Maple Leafs their only lead of the period. Ricky Jackson's three-point play gave the Cavs a 97-96 lead with 3:32 to play. Goshen's Nate West then split two free throws to tie the game for the final time at 97. Walsh then took the lead for good at 99-97 on a Shardo layup with 2:44 to play. Walsh placed five players in double figures. Jeremy Shardo added eight rebounds, seven assists and five steals to his 25 points in 48 minutes. Erie Schiele and Ricky Jackson each tallied 21 points and each had six rebounds. Schiele also had five steals. L.J. Sutton (6-5, So., Youngstown, OH/Cardinal Mooney) added 14 points and five rebounds and Brandon Speck chipped 10 points, five assists and four rebounds.
Walsh has six players in double figures, led by Ricky Jackson's 19.0 ppg. Jeremy Shardo is averaging 17.0 ppg and 7.5 assists. Eric Schiele is at 15.5, Brandon Speck 13.0, Kyelce Cescato 12.5 and a team-high 9.0 rebounds and L.J. Sutton 11.5. The Cavs are averaging 109.0 points per game.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Cavs Capture Mayors' Cup for First Time
Walsh improved to 4-1 with wins in two out of three games last week. The Cavs retired the Mayors' Cup for the first time with a win over Malone University, then split games in Kentucky over the weekend. This week Walsh will host Ohio Dominican University at 7 pm on Friday night at Alumni Arena. The game will be broadcast live on AM 900 WCER and on the internet at www.wcer.us. The Cavs 4-1 start is their best since the 2003-04 season when they started 5-1.
Walsh retired the Mayors' Cup for the first time, and improved to 3-0 on the season with a 86-54 win over rival Malone University. The Cavs led from start-to-finish to even the Cup Series at 7-7 and to take an all-time lead in the series at 32-31. Walsh has won the last five meetings with Malone. Walsh scored the games' first ten points and never looked back in taking a 45-19 halftime lead. The Cavs shot 61% (19-31) in the first half and held their largest lead at the break. Cara Bedard (Jr., 6-0, Randolph, OH/Waterloo) scored 13 of her game-high 19 points in the first half. Bedard shot 7-8 from the floor, nailed her only three-ball and connected on 4-5 from the stripe. The Cavs shot 56% in the second half and held the games largest lead at 70-28 with 10:40 to play. Jessie Miller (Sr., 5-10 Strasburg, OH/HS) added 17 points on 7-10 from the floor to go with seven assists. Kayla Kovach (So., 6-0, Lakewood, OH/HS/IPFW) tallied 12 points and Kristi Yoder (So., 6-1, Millersburg, OH/Hiland) chipped in 15 points and grabbed five rebounds off the bench. Walsh held Malone to 36% (20-55) from the floor and forced 31 turnovers.
Katie Berry (5-11, Jr., Cleveland, OH/St. Joseph) scored a career-high 31 points to lead the unbeaten Cavs to a 79-62 win at Berea College on Friday. Berry shot 10-19 from the floor, 4-6 from three-point and 7-8 from the line. She also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and had six assists and three steals. Kayla Kovach added 19 points and eight rebounds and Cara Bedard 17 points and five rebounds. Walsh shot 53% (16-30) from the floor in the first half and led 43-23 at halftime. The Cavs held their largest lead at 59-35 in a game in which they led from start to finish.
St. Catharine College (1-3) won its first game of the season and handed Walsh its first loss of the season, 71-63 on Saturday. Walsh shot well (48%), but turned the ball over 25 times in the defeat. The Cavs shot a blistering 64% (14-22) in the first half, but trailed 33-30 at the break. The Cavs cooled off in the second half, connecting on 13-37 (35%) from the floor and were outscored 38-33. Kayla Kovach recorded a double-double scoring a game-high 20 points and adding a game-high 10 rebounds. She was 9-14 from the floor. Cara Bedard put together another fine effort with 18 points and seven rebounds. She was also 9-14 from the field. Katie Berry, who scored a career-high 31 points on Friday night, added 11 points.
Cara Bedard is averaging a team-leading 16.8 ppg and is shooting .654 from the field. Jessie Miller is averaging 15.3 ppg and is shooting .545 from the field and .833 from the line. Transfer Kayla Kovach is averaging 14.8 ppg and a team-best 6.6 rebounds. Kovach is shooting .558 from the field and .800 from the line. Katie Berry is averaging 13.6 points, 7.0 assists per game, 4.8 rebounds and is shooting .480 from the field and .833 from the line.
Walsh is shooting .522 from the field and .730 from the stripe. The Cavs are averaging 79.8 points, while holding the opponents to 65.4 points.
VOLLEYBALL: Cavs Win AMC Tournament, Face Indiana Tech in NAIA First Round National Tournament Match
Walsh (28-8) played some of its finest volleyball of the season in winning the American Mideast Conference Tournament last weekend to advance to the NAIA National Tournament for the second straight year. The Cavs will travel to Fort Wayne, Indiana to meet Indiana Tech University (32-6) on Saturday at 1pm. The Warriors captured their second straight Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference Championship with a 3-1 win over NAIA #22 Madonna University last Tuesday night. The Warriors are currently ranked 17th in the nation. This will be their second trip to the NAIA National Tournament. The Cavs will be making their fifth trip and second straight under Krista Burrows (168-58, 6th yr.).
Third-seeded Walsh advanced to the championship match of the American Mideast Conference Tournament with a five-set victory over second-seeded Cedarville University (15-23) on Saturday afternoon. After dropping the first set 22-25, Walsh rallied to win games two and three by scores of 25-21 and 25-23. Cedarville evened the match with a 25-19 win in game four, before the Cavs took the deciding game 15-9. Brittany Morris (5-11, Fr., North Royalton, OH/Padua) paced the Cavs with 15 kills, with Natalie Phillips (5-10, So., Wooster, OH/HS) adding 15 and Natalie Borland (6-0, Sr., Kent, OH/HS) 11. Freshman setter Hannah Duran (5-9, Grafton, OH/Midview) handed out 50 assists. Kristen Rohlfs (5-8, So., Loveland, OH/Mount Notre Dame) paced the effort with 26 digs. Phillips added 17 and Marie Jubak (5-8, So., Cincinnati, OH/McNicholas) 15.
The Cavs then won the championship match in five sets over fourth-seeded Point Park University (32-8) by the scores of 25-22, 20-25, 25-15, 23-25, 15-10. The win was especially impressive after Walsh dropped game four after holding a 22-18 lead. Julianne O'Donnell (5-10, Fr., Willowick, OH/Lake Catholic) paced a balanced attack with 18 kills and 25 digs. Brittany Morris added 17 kills and 15 digs, Natalie Borland 13 kills, and Natalie Phillips 12 kills and 23 digs. Kristen Rohlfs led both teams with 35 digs. Setter Hannah Duran handed 64 assists and Marie Jubak (5-8, So., Cincinnati, OH/McNicholas) 18 digs.
