Who’s hot, who’s not in Kean sports

By Raymond Gurbisz

Field Hockey-Hot

The Kean field hockey team has been making quite a lot of noise this season, as the team has gone undefeated in its last five games. The team now sports an impressive 13-1 record, after dropping its first game of the season in a 1-0 loss to a tough opponent in The College of New Jersey on Sept. 24.

The Lady Cougars were on an eight-game winning streak before the loss, but have continued the success they found at the beginning of the season. The big story for the team remains sophomore goalkeeper Katie DiCarlo.

DiCarlo has been red-hot all season and currently leads the nation in save percentage and goals-against average. She has accumulated 49 saves and 13 victories this season, eight of those victories being shutouts.

The team has four of their five games remaining on the road. The team will look to continue its solid play over the next few games, before returning home to Kean for the final game on familiar turf against Montclair State University on Oct. 29.

Women’s Volleyball-Hot

Currently on a four-game winning streak, the women’s volleyball team has had a very productive season thus far. The team brought its record to 17-6 after powering through the Kean Invitational on Oct. 4 and 5. During the two-day invitational, Kean won a tough matchup 3-2 against SUNY Canton and swept Centenary College 3-0 during the evening game.

The following day Kean built off their momentum and swept both Brooklyn College and City College of New York 3-0.

Women’s Tennis-Not

After losing six of its first nine games under new head coach Jodi Valenti, the women’s tennis team has gotten off to a slow start to the season. Now 5-6 on the year, the team will try and build off its recent two-game winning streak in which it beat Baruch College in a close 5-4 matchup and John Jay College 7-2.

October looks to be a turnaround for the lady Cougars, as they are 2-1 this month, coming off a rough September that wasn’t kind to the team.

Kean was scheduled to play Ramapo on Oct. 10, however the game was postponed and pushed back to Oct. 17. Kean will instead play next at Drew University in the New Jersey Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (NJAIAW) women’s tennis tournament on Oct. 12 through the 13th.

Men’s Football-Not

The tough season for the Kean football team continues as the Cougars dropped a close game against SUNY Cortland 17-7 in their most recent game on Oct. 5. The score was tied 7-7 in the fourth quarter until SUNY Cortland scored 10 unanswered points in the final nine minutes of the game to get the victory. Turnovers proved to be the difference as Kean had three turnovers and forced just one.

“It was heartbreaking,” said senior offensive-lineman Mike Orlando. “We got to rebound into this week. It’s not how hard you hit, it’s how hard you get hit, and keep going.”

Before losing to SUNY Cortland, the one bright spot this season came against Endicott College where the Cougars won 24-17. The team looked great during the first half, jumping out to a 16-0 lead and hanging on to get the first win of the season. Once again, turnovers played a huge factor, as Kean had five take-aways.

Kean will have their next game on Oct. 11 against The College of New Jersey, a team that is coming off a two-game winning streak.

Women’s Soccer-Hot

Good defense and goalkeeping has been a big part of the Kean women’s soccer team so far. The team now has an 8-3-1 record and is on a five-game winning streak. Four of the last five victories for the Cougars have been shutouts.

Through the first 12 games, the Lady Cougars have only let up 13 goals, while netting 28. The team has also done a terrific job of limiting opponents goal-scoring chances, as the Cougars have 220 total shots, as opposed to their opponents combined total of 133.

Aside from good defense, a big part of the success for the team has come from stand-out sophomore Angie Lopez, who was named New Jersey Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 30. Lopez had four goals, along with eight points, during the week she was selected.

She also lead the NJAC in both goals scored with 6, and goals per game average with 0.67.

The Lady Cougars next matchup comes on Oct. 16 when the team will take on rival squad Montclair State University at home.

Men’s Soccer-Not

The past two weeks for the Kean men’s soccer team has brought some struggles for the Cougars

overall productive season. With a record of 9-5, the Cougars have dropped three of their last four games since a tough 2-1 loss to Rutgers-Camden on Sept. 28. The team was then defeated by New Jersey City University and Ramapo College, failing to score a goal in both matches.

Fortunately, Kean’s most recent game came against John Jay College where the Cougars won a lopsided matchup 4-0, with its goalkeeping only facing one shot all game. Four different members of the Cougar squad netted goals.

 

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