weekly_041706

WEEKLY ATHLETIC SCHEDULE

Monday, April 17

Softball vs. Palm Beach Atlantic (DH) – Lake Island Park – 6 p.m.

Tuesday, April 18

Baseball vs. Webber International – Alfond Stadium – 7 p.m.

Thursday, April 20

Men's Tennis at SSC Championships – Tampa, Fla. (hosted by Saint Leo) – TBA
Women's Tennis at SSC Championships – Tampa, Fla. (hosted by Saint Leo) – TBA

Friday, April 21

Men's Tennis at SSC Championships – Tampa, Fla. (hosted by Saint Leo) – TBA
Women's Tennis at SSC Championships – Tampa, Fla. (hosted by Saint Leo) – TBA
Softball vs. Nova Southeastern – Lake Island Park – 7 p.m.
Baseball vs. Palm Beach Atlantic – Alfond Stadium – 7 p.m.

Saturday, April 22

Rowing at Midwest Championships – Madison, Wisc. – All Day
Men's Tennis at SSC Championships – Tampa, Fla. (hosted by Saint Leo) – TBA
Women's Tennis at SSC Championships – Tampa, Fla. (hosted by Saint Leo) – TBA
Softball vs. Nova Southeastern (DH) – Lake Island Park – 1 p.m.
Baseball vs. Palm Beach Atlantic (DH) – Alfond Stadium – 1 p.m.

Sunday, April 23

Softball vs. Albany State (DH) – Lake Island Park – 1 p.m.

Senior golfer Mariana De Biase was nothing short of spectacular last week, out shooting the field for her first Sunshine State Conference Championship. She was just one over par in the opening round with a 73 before posting back to back 76's to get past teammate Charlotte Campbell by one stroke. De Biase led Rollins to their unprecedented fourth straight SSC team championship. The win was her first of the year and gives her four top five and eight top 10 finishes on the season. The victory caps off the senior's regular season as her and the Tars now aim for an unfathomable fourth consecutive National Championship.

The Rollins women's golf team affirmed their Sunshine State Conference dominance on Tuesday, rolling to a 39-stroke victory at the 2006 SSC Championship Tournament. The title is the Tars fourth straight and conference best sixth in the eight year history of the tournament.

Rollins led from start to finish, shooting rounds of 303-305 on Monday and 314 in Tuesday's final round. Their score of 922 is the exact same score they posted in the 2005 SSC Championship, also held at Lake Jovita Country Club.

Lynn University was a distant second, shooting 961 (325-315-321) in the tournament. Barry finished in third place with 962 (321-316-328) shots while Florida Southern was four shots back at 966 (309-328-329).

“I'm thrilled for our team and for Rollins,” said Head Coach Julie Garner. “I'm especially thrilled for our two seniors (Mariana De Biase and Charlotte Campbell). They've carried the team on their backs for the last four years so I couldn't be happier that they were able to finish on such a high note.”

Seniors Mariana De Biase and Charlotte Campbell went out on top in their final SSC Tournament, finishing 1-2 in the standings. They were two of only three golfers to shoot better than 80 in each of the three rounds. De Biase was the round one leader, shooting a one over par 73 and ended the first day in a tie for second after carding 76 in her afternoon round. She then came back and fired the day's best round on a very windy Tuesday, posting a 76 for a tournament total of 225 shots.

Campbell, the day one leader carded 75 in the opening round and 73 in round two to take a one shot lead into Tuesday. The three-time national Player of the Year carded 78 in the final round to finish one shot back at 226.

Freshman Cristina Gugler had a solid first run through the conference championship, finishing in sixth place with rounds of 78-76-81 for a tournament total of 235. Vanessa Vela gave Rollins four players in the top 10 as she finished in ninth place after carding 77-80-82 (239). Marie-Pierre Bernier finished the tournament strong after going for 83-82 on the first day, shooting 79 on Tuesday to tie for 16 th with 244 shots.

“The course played very tough today,” added Garner. “The pins were tucked back, the wind howled and the greens were very fast. We went flag hunting on a few holes when we maybe shouldn't have, but fortunately it didn't cost us too much.”

Rollins will now begin their quest for an unprecedented fourth straight NCAA Division II National Championship. The Tars have won each of the past three crowns by an average of 47 strokes, including a 35 shot victory in 2005.

The Tars will take the first step of that journey at the 2006 NCAA Division II South Region Championship in Pensacola, Florida May 1-2.

Rollins' Dan Walters shot a tournament best 69 on Tuesday to grab the 2006 Sunshine State Conference Tournament title and lead the Tars to a runner-up finish. The senior out-dueled a pair of players from Lynn on Tuesday for his first victory and fourth top five finish of the season.

Rollins was in fifth place after a round one score of 300, but came back with scores of 306 in round two and 301 in a very windy final 18 holes for a tournament total of 907 strokes. Lynn University took the team title, shooting 890 (289-309-292) with Florida Southern carding 913 (295-314-304) and taking third.

“Conditions were very difficult this week,” said Head Coach Kyle Frakes. “The wind and speed of the greens made it one of the hardest tournaments we've played all year. Our guys did a fantastic job of surviving and playing it one shot at a time, it was a great test of golf for everyone.”

Walters was in third place after a first round, one over par 73, but grabbed sole possession of second place after day two with a second round 76. He then hung the best score of the tournament, a three under par 69, to record a one shot victory over Keir McNicoll of Lynn.

“Dan's 69 in today's weather was like a 62 any other day,” added Frakes. “He has been hitting the ball well the last few weeks and knocked down some big putts today. This should give him a lot of confidence going into post season play.”

Darren Lundgren picked up a top ten finish, tying for sixth place with 226 shots. He got off to a great start, shooting 74 in opening round and finishing with rounds of 78 and 74. Jeff Golden finished in a tie for 16 th with rounds of 76-75-79 (230). Senior Andrew Pranger tied for 23 rd place with 233 strokes (77-77-79) while fellow veteran Tim Acquaviva shot 243 (80-81-82) and finished in 40 th place.

The eighth ranked Tars will now head to the 2006 South Regional May 1-3 in Duncan, Oklahoma.

The Rollins women's pair of Kim Lucy and Megan Wise captured gold at the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships (SIRA) to highlight the Tars day. Rollins also had good rows from the men's pair, men's varsity 8 and women's novice 8.

Lucy and Wise powered though the course in a time of 9:04.8 to finish nearly seven seconds ahead of runner-up Stetson University. Louisville came in third with Tampa, Charleston, and Cincinnati rounding out the field.

The men's pair of Barry DeNicola and Tyler Kartzinel advanced to the A final and finished in fifth place. The duo stopped the clock at 8:15.2, just behind Georgia Tech, but ahead of the boat from Clemson.

The women's novice 8 team of Lisa Knapp, Katie Broome, Chelsi Wilkerson, Liza Hussey, Sarah Pantages, Kelly McNoldy, Rachel Todd, Shannon Van Dyke and Laura Edwards won their qualifying heat to advance to the A final, finishing in sixth place. The Tars finished in 8:01.1 and were just three ticks back of fifth place finisher Alabama. William and Mary, Grand Valley State, Virginia Tech and Georgia also competed in the race.

On the men's side, the varsity 8 of Colleen Reagan, Drew Brodnax, Shawn Tavares, Skyler Wilson, Eric Fraser, Trevor Luna, David Bagby, Brandon Koch and Collin Campbell took fifth place in the B final (11 th overall) with a time of 6:28.5.

Rollins returns to action on Saturday, April 22 at the Midwest Championships in Madison, Wisconsin.

The Rollins women's tennis team improved their record to 11-10 overall and 4-4 in conference play on the season after a 9-0 shutout over Florida Southern on Thursday. The Tars cruised in the match, winning every position in straight sets.

The seventh ranked doubles team of Tasi Purcell and Marnie Mahler got back to their winning ways with an 8-4 win over Meri Gol and Lidia Gandarias in No. 1 singles. Sonia Bernal and Cassie Webster scored a shutout win in the No. 2 position, downing Weronika Lomacka and Lindsey Willis 8-0. Anastasiya Shevchenko and Silvia Frandji completed the doubles sweep for the Tars, taking the No. 3 match 8-4 over Silje Aarum and Alysha Puleo.

Rollins continued to roll in singles play, winning each match in straight sets with just one set going to a tiebreaker. No. 24 Purcell was a 6-4, 6-1 winner over Gol in the No. 1 slot with Mahler taking Gandarias 7-6(6), 6-3 in the No. 2 position. Bernal defeated Aarum 6-4, 6-1 at No. 3, Shevchenko downed Lomacka 6-4, 6-1 at No. 4 and Frandji took Puleo 6-2, 6-1 in the No. 5 singles match. Webster was a default winner in the No. 6 position for the Tars sixth 9-0 victory of the year.

The match concludes Rollins regular season as they will now gear up for the 2006 Sunshine State Conference Championship Tournament. The event will be hosted by Saint Leo April 20-22 at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa.

The Rollins men's tennis team was handed a 6-3 loss from Eckerd on Friday, ending the Tars regular season and giving them the four seed in the upcoming Sunshine State Conference Tournament. The loss drops No. 12 Rollins to 9-11 on the year and 3-3 in SSC play while No. 18 Eckerd moves to 16-3, 4-2.

The start was bright for the Tars as they took two of the three doubles matches. Jonathan Gomez and David Tafur downed Sebastian Niedermayer and Nikola Vujovic 9-7 in the No. 2 match for the Tars with Adrian Tan and Michael Schwartz taking Janjar Shodiev and David Lopes 9-7 in the No. 3 position.

The top match featured a set of top 10 ranked doubles teams. The battle was close throughout, but No. 2 Javier Romero-Barrio and Elmar Koening dealt No. 9 Carlos Custodio and Brian Compton a tough 9-7 defeat.

The Tars were only able to muster one point in singles with Jonathan Gomez taking Shodiev 7-6, 6-3 in the No. 5 match.

Rollins will return to action in the 2006 Sunshine State Conference Tournament, hosted by Saint Leo at Hillsborough Community College April 20-22.

The baseball team suffered through a rough week. The Tars started by defeating Embry-Riddle on Tuesday night 11-8. However, Rollins couldn't get past the defending National Champs, Florida Southern, as they dropped a three game series to the Mocs over the weekend. The Tars found themselves down in the early innings of all four games last week, but they refused to give in at any point. Rollins fought back to tie or take the lead in three out of the four games.

Against Embry-Riddle, the Tars found themselves down 3-0 after the first inning and 5-0 after three. The Tars kept their composure and started to chip away at the lead in the bottom of the third inning when they posted three runs. After the Eagles answered back with one in the top of the fourth the Rollins bats erupted. The Tars plated seven runs in the bottom of the fourth and used the momentum to post an 11-8 victory over the Eagles. The Tars hit a season high four home runs in the game. Rollins' offense was led by sophomore first baseman Stefano Foggi. Foggi went 2-3 on the night with two home runs, three RBI, and a run scored. Junior third baseman, Gene Howard, had a nice evening as well. Howard went 3-5 with two runs scored, a home-run, and three RBI. And freshman catcher, Eugene Martinez, hit his first collegiate home-run while going 3-4 with three runs scored and a RBI. Rob Cloar got the win for the Tars throwing 4.1 innings in relief of Jon Wano giving up three runs (two earned), on two hits while walking three and striking out six. Gene Howard worked the ninth, granting the Eagles just one base runner via walk, on the way to his team best fourth save on the season.

The first game of a three game set between Sunshine State Conference rivals, Florida Southern and Rollins was a four hour dog fight. Florida Southern galloped out of the gate to a 3-0 lead by the fifth inning. Rollins responded with two in the bottom of the fifth and was able to take a temporary lead at 5-4 in the bottom of the sixth. Florida Southern had a big inning in the seventh, posted five runs in the top half. But Rollins wouldn't die tying it all up at nine in the bottom of the eighth inning, even with last year's World Series MOP, Florida Southern's closer, Kyle DeYoung on the mound. But the Tars luck seem to run out once they hit extra innings. The Mocs plated five runs in the top of the tenth inning, and Rollins fell 14-9 in extras. Stefano Foggi led the Tars offense once again, going 2-2 with two runs scored, two RBI, three walks, a double and a triple. Third baseman Gene Howard went 3-6, including a game tying RBI single in the bottom of the eighth. David Nathanson started for the Tars. He went 6.1 innings giving up seven runs, only three earned, on nine hits while walking one and striking out four. Rob Cloar took the loss for the Tars. He pitched a scoreless ninth but struggled in the tenth walking three and giving up all five runs in the inning.

In the second game, Rollins found itself down big in the early innings. After three, the Mocs led 5-0. The Tars were able to tie it up with a big number of their own, scoring five runs in the bottom of the fourth. The Mocs took a 7-5 lead with two runs in the top of the sixth, but Rollins once again came back to tie it with two more runs in the bottom of the seventh to make it 7-7. Florida Southern kept the magic going though, with a run on a sac fly in the top of the ninth to make it 8-7. The Tars couldn't come up with any more rallies and they fell 8-7. Stefano Foggi was the Tars top hitter once again going 2-3 with a run scored, a double, and four RBI. Brent Magnuson was the only other Tar with multiple hits. The right fielder went 2-5 with two runs scored. Kevin Schnacke stepped in and had a big pinch-hit RBI double off of the right field wall to tie it in the seventh. Eduardo Chile started for the Tars, throwing six innings while giving up seven runs, four of which were earned, on seven hits while walking four and striking out three. Jon Wano got the loss in relief, going three innings and giving up just one run on one hit while walking four.

Mocs pitcher Ken Wadsworth pitched a three hit complete game shutout to give the Mocs a 4-0 win. Wadsworth allowed only five base runners the entire game while striking out eight Tars. Mario Lombardo started for Rollins. Lombardo went 5.1 innings, giving up four earned runs on eight hits while walking three and striking out three. The only runs he surrendered were via the home-run in the fifth and sixth innings. Gene Howard led the Tars offensively. He was the only Tar to get multiple hits in the game, going 2-3. Sophomore designated hitter, Steve Mannenbach got the only other hit. Stefano Foggi had his best week of the season. Foggi posted a .545 batting average going 6-11 on the week, with two homers, nine RBI, and 16 total bases. His slugging percentage was an astronomical 1.455 and he posted a .706 on base percentage thanks to his six walks.

The Tars will stay at home again this week for four games. The week kicks off with the Tars hosting NAIA foe, Webber International on Tuesday. The Tars defeated Webber on the road earlier this season, 6-2. First pitch is scheduled for 7 pm in Alfond Stadium. Then on the weekend, Rollins will welcome Palm Beach Atlantic into town for a three game set. Friday night's game is scheduled for a 7 pm start. Saturday the two teams will square off for a double-header beginning at 1 pm.

In a Saturday afternoon double header at Lake Island Park, the Eagles of Florida Gulf Coast University took two games from the Rollins College Tars, winning game one 7-6 in a 13 inning marathon and game two 5-0. The Tars fall to 36-15 on the season while the Eagles improve to 52-4.

Game one was a three-hour marathon as both teams fought inning after inning to gain the upper hand. The Eagles put up three runs in the top of the thirteenth to pull ahead 7-4 and Rollins answered back, but could not get the tying run across the plate, losing 7-6. Rachael Edinger pitched all 13 innings for Florida Gulf Coast, allowing 12 hits, two earned runs, nine walks and 10 strikeouts. For the Tars, sophomore Ingrid Schumacher (Naples, Fla.) started the game in the circle before freshman Nicole Anderson (Brandon, Fla.) came on for two innings of relief in the sixth and seventh innings. Schumacher returned to the circle to finish out the game and ended up surrendering six hits, three earned runs, four walks and eight strikeouts in 11 innings of work.

Rollins struck first in the game, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first on RBI singles by juniors Stacy Sanders (Orlando, Fla.) and Amanda DeFilippo (Winter Springs, Fla.). The Eagles answered back by scoring three runs in the top of the third and the Tars tied the game at three in the fourth when senior Kelly Cruz (Winter Springs, Fla.) doubled to center field, scoring junior Devon Kontos (Orlando, Fla.) from second.

The game remained tied at three until the eleventh inning when both teams recorded a run, the Eagles on a sac fly to left field and the Tars on a Jen Olsen (Winter Haven, Fla.) single up the middle. The game remained tied at four heading into the thirteenth inning when the Eagles opened up a three-run advantage. Rollins came to the plate in the bottom of the thirteenth and Cruz once again doubled home a run, narrowing the deficit to two. Olsen, who singled to open the inning, scored the second run of the inning on a passed ball, putting the score at 7-6 with one out and Cruz on third. The Eagles then calmly recorded the next two outs to seal their 7-6 victory.

In the game, Olsen went 4-7 from the plate with one RBI and two runs scored. Also recording multiple hits in the game were Cruz, Sanders and Kontos. Rachel Homan was the lone Eagle with two hits, going 2-6 from the plate.

Game two was a different story from game one as Florida Gulf Coast put five runs on the board, four in the fourth inning and one in the sixth, and put the Tars away in seven innings 5-0. The Tars out-hit the Eagles, seven to five, but left eight runners on base compared to the Eagles two. Sarah Backe threw a seven inning shutout in the circle for Florida Gulf Coast, surrendering the seven hits and striking out two. Anderson took the loss for the Tars, with one earned run on five hits, no walks and nine strikeouts. Sophomore Rachel Almengual (Odessa, Fla.) went 2-4 from the plate to lead Rollins. Also recording hits in the game were Olsen, Cruz, DeFilippo, and freshmen Jamie Rausch (Ocoee, Fla.) and Ashley East (Pace, Fla.). Hillary Johnson and Natasha Johnson both went 2-3 from the plate with one run scored for the Eagles, with Hillary Johnson hitting her sixth home run of the season in the fourth.

Rollins will look to rebound when they host Palm Beach Atlantic on Monday, April 17. The first pitch at Lake Island Park is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.

I am so excited to extend to you a wonderful opportunity to “Share the Vision” of Rollins Women's Golf. David Lord, Rollins class of 1969 and a member of the board of Trustees, has graciously donated his home at Reunion, Florida, site of the LPGA Ginn Open for use by the women's golf team during the entire LPGA event, from April 27-30. David's house is located just off the number one green of the Palmer course with a spectacular view. His home is a perfect venue to celebrate the return of the LPGA to Orlando, as well as to share the history and tradition of excellence that Rollins women's golf has enjoyed since the beginning.

Attached is your personal invitation to the brunch and hospitality house. The brunch on Saturday will celebrate all of the legendary women who have helped establish the Rollins women's golf program as one of the premier teams in the country. We are honored to have Carolyn Bivens, the Commissioner of the LPGA, as one of our honored guests. We will gather to venerate our successes, including Marlene Streit's induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame, as well as the 14 USGA Championships won by Rollins golfers. And, the house will be open all four days of the tournament for Rollins friends and family to enjoy some refreshments as they soak in the LPGA atmosphere. Please check our website after April 1 for updates on events. Please RSVP to me via email at jgarner@rollins.edu , or call (407) 646-2601.

I hope you caught some of the season's coverage on the Golf Channel on “College Central.” We have received wonderful press with a very nice quote about Rollins Women's Golf and a “College Dynasty.” I am so proud of our team, their performance on the golf course and their ability to excel in the classroom. Our team GPA was 3.52 for the fall semester, which was the highest of any team at Rollins. Immediately following the brunch on Saturday, we will take the first step in NCAA regional tournament play to capture our fourth consecutive NCAA National Championship!

On behalf of the 2005-06 women's golf team, we look forward to seeing you at Reunion as we host this exciting and fun event, share our vision for growing the golf program, unveil our plans for a new on-campus short-game facility and honor the Legends of Rollins Women's Golf. If you have any questions, or need any further information, please don't hesitate to contact me. GO TARS!!

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