Athletics Good Stuff – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/29/2005 12:00:00 AM | General
Sept. 29, 2005
Athletes of the Week
Senior field hockey forward Leticia Fragapane was named Big TenOffensive Player of the Week after leading the Buckeyes to a 3-0record last week, including victories over Big Ten opponentsMichigan (9) and Iowa (10), both of which were ranked among the Top10 nationally. Fragapane, from Mendoza, Argentina, led the Buckeyeswith six goals in the three games. After opening the week with agoal at Ball State last Wednesday in a 6- 1 victory, she eruptedfor a career-best four goals in the Buckeyes’ 6-1 win over MichiganFriday. She scored twice in the first half against the Wolverines,including the gamewinner, and completed the hat trick early in thesecond half before adding a fourth goal with 10 minutes remaining.Against Iowa Sunday, Fragapane opened the scoring with a first-halfgoal in OSU’s 4-2 win. Junior quarterback Troy Smith had 328 yardsof total offense in the Buckeyes’ win over Iowa. Smith had 127yards rushing (on 18 attempts) and 191 yards passing with a13-for-19 clip and two passing touchdowns to Anthony Gonzalez.Smith’s 328 yards of total offense ranks 11th all-time for a singlegame at Ohio State and he is just the fifth player to have twogames of 300-plus yards of total offense in two games in hiscareer.
Athletics Good Stuff
The softball team hosts the Fifth Annual Ohio CollegiateCharity Classic this weekend at Fred Beekman Park. The event,annually one of Columbus’ Top 5 fundraisers for breast cancerresearch, features 18 teams, with all proceeds benefiting theStefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research at the Arthur G.James Cancer Hospital and the Richard J. Solove Research Institute.The Buckeyes will play four games in the event after kicking offits fall exhibition schedule with a win in three games last Sundayat the Kent State Fall Tournament. The men’s lacrosse team willhost the MRB Buckeye Classic Oct. 1. The event features theBuckeyes taking on Maryland, a 2005 NCAA semifinalist, and theMichigan club varsity team. Butler also will take on the Wolverinesand Terps. Games will be held on the Woody Hayes Athletic Centerindoor field and at North Turf Field. At 11 a.m., OSU will take onMichigan indoors and Maryland will face Butler outdoors. At 1 p.m.,the Buckeyes and Terps will meet up on the outdoor turf, with theBulldogs and Wolverines meeting inside.
The event is named in honor of Michael R. Breschi, the late son of Ohio State head coach Joe Breschi, who died in March 2004 at age 3 in an accident.
Admission is $5 and proceeds from the event will go toward the Michael Breschi Memorial Athletic Scholarship Fund at Ohio State. The scholarship is awarded annually to a member of the Buckeye men’s lacrosse team.
The women’s soccer team will kick off a five game Big Tenconference homestand when it plays host to Illinois and Iowa thisweekend at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. The Buckeyes will face theFighting Illini in their Scarlet and Gray game at 7:30 p.m. Fridayand then will take on the Hawkeyes at 1 p.m. Sunday. 18th-rankedwomen’s volleyball (8-4 overall, 1-2 Big Ten) opened Big Ten playwith a 3-1 victory over No. 19 Purdue but lost 3-2 to Illinois. OnWednesday, OSU lost 3-0 to No. 4 Penn State in St. John Arena.Danielle Meyer posted 29 points in the match against theBoilermakers while Marisa Main had a season-high 70 assists and acareer-high 22 digs. Against Illinois Meyer had a team-high 27points with Nicole Britenriker recording a career-high 18 kills.Ami Stevens had team-highs of eight kills and 10 digs against theNittany Lions. Ohio State continues at home this Friday by hostingIndiana (8-6, 1-1) Friday in St. John Arena at 7 p.m. The men’ssoccer team is ranked as high as No. 22 in the national polls thisweek and hits the road for two games this weekend, including at No.4 Akron Friday and at Wisconsin Sunday in the Buckeyes’ Big Tenopener. Ohio State is 5-3-1 and ranks second in the Big Ten inscoring. Sophomore Xavier Balc leads the Buckeyes in scoring withfour goals and two assists, while senior Kevin Nugent owns threegoals and three assists. The field hockey team is on an eight-gamewinning streak and has risen to 10th in the national rankings. Thesquad downed Ball State, 6-1, last Wednesday before opening Big Tenplay 2-0 for the first time since 2001 with victories over then-No.9 Michigan (6-1) and then-No. 10 Iowa (4-2) last weekend. The teamcontinued its hot streak with a victory over Ohio, 4-0, Wednesday.Senior Leticia Fragapane picked up Big Ten Offensive Player of theWeek honors Monday for leading the Buckeyes with six goals in thethree games last week, while junior Curlyne Wynn was named theconference’s defensive player of the week.
OSU looks to improve to 3-0 in Big Ten play when it takes on Northwestern at 2 p.m. EDT Saturday in Evanston, Ill.
The women’s golf team finished tied for fifth in the openingtournament of the fall season at the Dick McGuire Invitational inAlbuquerque, N.M.
Freshman Jennifer Cassidy (Fr., Dalton, Ga./The Baylor School) led the Buckeyes in the individual standings with a sixth-place tie. Cassidy shot 217 (69-75-73) to finish two under par in her first collegiate event as a Buckeye. Carling Coffing (So., Middletown, Ohio/Middletown) shot one over for the tournament (74-73-74=220) to finish tied for the No. 15 spot.
Ohio State is back in action Oct. 7-9 at the Lady Tar Heel in Chapel Hill, N.C.
The men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in twoseparate meets Saturday. The men posted their highest finishall-time at the 2005 Roy Griak Invitational Saturday in FalconHeights, Minn., while the women won the 2005 Greater LouisvilleClassic in Louisville, Ky.
The Buckeye men totaled 204 points behind a 17th-place effort by senior Brian Olinger, who finished the 8-kilometer race in 24 minutes, 44 seconds (24:44). Sophomore John Ealy was the second Buckeye to finish in the Top 25 with a 21st-place time of 24:52 and freshman Jeff See was 27th in 24:59.
Nicole Gliem placed second in the 5K race at Louisville in 17:09.42 to help the women’s team take first place in a field of more than 50 teams. Freshmen Rachel Stichter and Melanie Price also finished in the Top 10. Stichter crossed the finish line in sixth place and Price completed the race in 10th. The Buckeyes finished with a team score of 69 points.
Both the men’s and women’s team are idle this weekend and return to competition Oct. 7 at the All-Ohio Championships in Delaware, Ohio.
The men’s hockey team was picked to finish first by both thecoaches and the media in the Central Collegiate Hockey Associationin the annual preseason polls, the league announced Tuesday at itsmedia day at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The Buckeyes received all11 first-place votes in the coaches poll (coaches can not vote fortheir own teams). In the media poll, OSU garnered 45 of 54first-place votes.
The league also released its preseason all-conference team, with OSU leading the way with six total honorees and two on each of the first and second teams. Buckeye seniors forward Rod Pelley and goalie Dave Caruso were named to the first team. Senior defenseman Nate Guenin and sophomore forward Tom Fritsche were voted to the second team and junior defenseman Sean Collins and junior forward Mathieu Beaudoin were honorable mention selections. Thirty-six ballots were cast for the preseason all-conference teams, including all 12 league head coaches and selected media members.
After an exhibition game vs. Waterloo Oct. 7 in Value City Arena, the Buckeyes open the regular season with two games at 2005 NCAA Frozen Four participant Colorado College Oct. 14-15. The squad’s regular-season home opener is vs. Bowling Green Oct. 21.
As part of Ohio State’s “September to Remember” project to helpraise money for the American Red Cross and its Hurricane KatrinaRelief Effort, Buckeye football fans stepped up to raise$124,729.49 during the four Ohio State home games during the monthof September. The department of athletics sold the Gameday Magazinefor $7 at each of the four home games during the month of Septemberand donated $2 from each magazine sold to the project. Fans alsocould make donations directly to the American Red Cross. A total of15,002 programs were sold for the season-opener against Miami(Ohio), while another 23,515 were sold at the Texas game. AgainstSan Diego State, Ohio State sold 10,025 programs and last weekduring the Iowa game a total of 7,821 programs were sold. Duringthe four games, a total of 56,373 Gameday Magazines were sold witha donation of $112,736 being made to the American Red Cross. Anadditional $11,993.49 in cash donations was collected from fansduring the four Ohio State home games to bring the total to$124,729.49. Harry Gurley has been named an assistant baseballcoach at The Ohio State University, head coach Bob Todd announcedlast Wednesday. Gurley has been retired since 2001 after more than36 years in baseball at many different levels. Gurley, 65, who hasspent the last four years in retirement in Lake Havasu City, Ariz.,will work with the Buckeye pitchers and replaces Pat Bangtson, whodeparted after last season to become the head coach at theUniversity of Akron. Gurley has coached a total of 25 players whohave played professional baseball, including 12 players who haveplayed Major League Baseball and four who were drafted in the firstround of the MLB Draft. Head baseball coach Bob Todd welcomed 13freshmen, including nine players from the state of Ohio, when histeam reported for camp. In addition to the nine freshmen from Ohio,the Buckeyes added one player each from Michigan, Missouri,Pennsylvania and Virginia. In the offseason, Todd signed threeright-handed pitchers, three left-handed pitchers, two catchers,three infielders and two outfielders and a total of six members ofthe class attained all-state honors in baseball. The entirebaseball team continues fall practice through Tuesday, Oct. 11before splitting into two squads for the annual Scarlet and GrayWorld Series, Oct. 12-14, at Bill Davis Stadium. The teams willplay a best two-of-three intra-squad series this year and willbegin Oct. 12 at 6:30 p.m. while the Thursday and Friday games willbegin at 3 p.m.
Ohio State Athletics Schedule
Friday, Sept. 30 – Tuesday, Oct. 4
Friday, Sept. 30
Women’s Volleyball vs. Indiana, 7:00 p.m.
St. John Arena, Columbus, Ohio
Men’s Soccer at Akron, 7:30 p.m.
Akron, Ohio
Women’s Soccer vs. Illinois, 7:30 p.m.
Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
Women’s Tennis at Kentucky Fall Invite
Lexington, Ky.
Saturday, Oct. 1
Field Hockey at Northwestern, 2 p.m.
Evanston, Ill.
Women’s Tennis at Kentucky Fall Invite
Lexington, Ky.
Men’s Tennis at All-American Championships
Tulsa, Okla.
Sunday, Oct. 2
Women’s Soccer vs. Iowa, 1 p.m.
Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
Men’s Soccer at Wisconsin, 2 p.m.
Madison, Wis.
Women’s Tennis at Kentucky Fall Invite
Lexington, Ky.
Men’s Tennis at All-American Championships
Tulsa, Okla.
Monday, Oct. 3
Men’s Tennis at All-American Championships
Tulsa, Okla.
Men’s Golf at Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge
Chicago, Ill.
Tuesday, Oct. 4
Men’s Tennis at All-American Championships
Tulsa, Okla.
Men’s Golf at Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge
Chicago, Ill.
