Sports

ON CAMPUS

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Bilko

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Pittston Area grad Paige Semenza has played in 14 games for the Ohio State women’s hockey team, who are 6-7-3 overall and 1-0-0 in the Big Ten. The 5-foot-4 forward picked up her first college point with an assist in a 4-4 tie with Boston University and her first collegiate goal in a 7-6 victory over Minnesota State.

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Paige Semenza is earning her keep with the Ohio State women’s ice hockey team.

Freshman Semenza (Pittston Area) has played in 14 games for the Buckeyes, who are 6-7-3 overall and 1-0-0 in the Big Ten. The 5-foot-4 forward picked up her first college point with an assist in a 4-4 tie with Boston University and her first collegiate goal in a 7-6 victory over Minnesota State.

“Paige is working hard to make the adjustment to the Division I level,” coach Jackie Barto said. “She is an excellent skating forward with good offensive skills. She sees the ice well and has a good feel for the game.”

Beside her regular line shift, Semenza is seeing action on penalty kill and the power play.

“As she plays in more games at this level and sees success, she will continue to grow and develop her game,” Barto said. “Paige is someone who will be a strong contributor for four years and represent Ohio State in a great way.”

Sophomore Barbara Bilko of Mountain Top is also on the squad. A goalkeeper, Bilko played in two games with one start last season as a freshman. She was 0-1 with 43.21 minutes of action against nationally ranked Minnesota, giving up nine goals with 38 saves. She has not seen action this season.

“Barb is one of our hardest-working players both on and off the ice,” Barto said. “She is a solid athlete who always competes. She’s involved in our student leadership group and has fantastic energy and is a very dynamic individual.”

The Buckeyes are on break and return to action at St. Cloud State Dec. 11-12.

ORTH’S FOOT HELPS BISON – Junior Drew Orth (Hazleton Area) kicked two extra points and a 30-yard field goal to help the Bucknell football team wrap up its season with a 23-17 upset victory over Holy Cross on Saturday. The Crusaders had already clinched the Patriot League title entering the game.

Orth finished as the leading scorer for the Bison with 32 points on five of six field goals and 17 of 19 extra points. He also averaged 55.1 yards on 23 kickoffs and had three kickoffs for a 60.6 average against Holy Cross.

“Drew has been consistent all season long on his PATs and short-to-medium range field goals,” Bucknell coach Tim Landes said. “He has battled through some injury problems, which I give him a lot of credit for doing. He also handled kickoff duties the last couple of games for the first time since early in the season.”

Bucknell finished 4-7 overall and 2-4 in league play.

VICTORY FOR EDWARDS – Mansfield junior Brenae Edwards (Hazleton Area) picked up a nice consolation prize last Saturday.

Edwards, who just missed earning a spot in the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships, had to settle for running in the ECAC Championships at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. She ended up winning the 5K race, in 17 minutes, 25 seconds.

Edwards took the lead in the last 200 yards to defeat a field of 192 runners – all Division I athletes.

“I just wanted to run a good race,” Edwards said. “I wanted to be among the leaders at the end and thought I could do it. Things just worked out.”

Edwards had a standout season despite missing out on the NCAAs, and Saturday’s ECAC victory was the first for a Mansfield runner.

“Brenae just worked so hard and had such a great year,” coach Mike Rohl said. “She may have been denied a chance to run in the national championship, but I’ll take an ECAC champion any day.”

ROSE WAS HEALTHY – Junior Kelly Rose (Bishop Hoban) had an injury-free season and it showed in her stats playing for the Juniata women’s volleyball team.’

Rose, a 5-foot-11 outside hitter, finished the season first on the team in kills (212) and had 76 digs and 27 blocks.

“Kelly stepped back into the starting lineup this year after major surgery,” coach Tim McMahon said. “It was a season-ending injury (ACL and MCL) that ended her freshman year and kept her at 50 percent most of her sophomore year.”

This season, she was one of the two go-to outside hitters for the Warriors, who finished 11-20 on the season.

“Kelly had some big swings for key points in some critical matches and I look for her to increase her mobility and speed over the summer and be a major threat for us her senior year,” McMahon said.

SNYDER HONORED – Junior forward Katie Snyder of Trucksville (Wyoming Seminary) was named to the Mid-American Conference second team in field hockey for her play with Miami, Ohio.

Snyder finished third best on the team in scoring with 10 goals and three assists for 23 points. She had two game-winners and started all 23 games for the Red Hawks, who posted a 13-10 overall record and a 7-3 MAC mark. Miami lost 2-1 to Ohio University in the league title game.

“Katie had a signature season for us, providing our team with offensive power in the midfield, and up front,” coach Jill Reeve said. “She really became a dynamic leader both on and off the field, and I’m certain her leadership will be a primary catalyst for us down the road.”

ZAVADA WRAPS IT UP – Senior Amanda Zavada (Bishop Hoban) ended her career with the Dickinson field hockey team. The forward played in 13 games and started one and had three goals and an assist for the Red Devils, who finished 7-10 overall and 5-5 in the Centennial Conference.

Zavada played in 54 games during her career and ended up with 11 goals and two assists for 24 points.

“Amanda was a spark on the field and extremely aggressive for us,” coach Allison Risser said. “She was someone who was a joy to coach and I’m truly going to miss her energetic personality.”

RYAN IMPROVING – University of New Hampshire freshman Michael Ryan (Lake-Lehman) lowered his times at the end of the cross country season.

Ryan finished 63rd in the America East Championships with an 8K time of 28:16.30 and followed that up by finishing 105th out of 204 runners in last Saturday’s IC4A University Division race at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City. His 8K time for that race was 27:57.9. Earlier in the season, he had good efforts at the Paul Short Invitational and in a dual meet against Maine.

“Mike had a solid cross country season after having a good summer of training,” coach Jim Boulanger said. “Throughout the season, he worked his way up the depth chart to become a member of the conference team.”

Ryan already is in training for the indoor and outdoor track seasons.

“He’s training for the 5K indoors and the 10K outdoors,” Boulanger said. “His hard work and dedication are the attributes that will make him a good collegiate runner and a contributing member in our program.”

MONAHAN GETS TO RUN – It took a while for freshman Alexis Monahan (Holy Redeemer) to get on the track for the Stonehill women’s cross country team.

Monahan had some paper work problems and didn’t get started until late in the season.

“Once she got going, Lexxie was an extremely dedicated and committed team member,” coach Karen Boen said. “We have a very strong, young team this year, which made it difficult to make an immediate impact, but she worked hard and contributed to our overall depth.”

Monahan finished 63rd out of 158 runners in the recent Northeast-10 Championships. Her 5K time was 20:35.

“I look forward to watching Lexxie’s development and I am sure if she continues to work as hard as she has been thus far that she will continue to improve and eventually become an impact runner on our squad.”

TR IO HELP WARRIORS – The Lycoming football team ended its season with a 4-6 record and a 3-4 mark in the Middle Atlantic Conference and three former Wyoming Valley Conference athletes saw action with the Warriors.

They were junior offensive lineman Matt Landsiedel (Tunkhannock), sophomore defensive back Ray Bierbach (Northwest Area) and sophomore defensive lineman Chris Kish (GAR).

Landseidel was a 6-foot-3, 300-pound starting right guard.

“Matt is our smartest O-lineman, a real coach on the field,” head coach Mike Clark said. “He really does a good job of getting all of our young players going in the right direction.”

Bierbach, a 5-foot-11, 185-pounder, had a standout season. He finished with 37 tackles and had four interceptions. He also forced a fumble and recovered a fumble, returning the latter 34 yards for a touchdown.

“Ray really stepped up and became the voice of our secondary,” Clark said. “He was also very good as a punt returner for us.”

Kish, a 5-foot-10, 220-pounder, had 30 tackles and 1.5 sacks. He had a team-high seven tackles in Lycoming’s season-ending 28-21 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson-Florham.

“After starting most of the year as an end, we moved Chris to linebacker and he really took control of our defense,” Clark said. “This young man is really a pleasure to coach.”