Cross Country
Three-peat has a nice ring to it and that is what both the women’s and men’s squads will be attempting to do – repeat as East Coast Conference (ECC) championships.
“We have three strong seniors returning for both the men’s and women’s sides,” co-head coach Andrew Dorr said. “The rest of the squads will be filled by juniors, sophomores, or freshmen and we cannot predict who those scorers will be.
Seniors Aaron Bellomo, Matthew Watson and Second Team All-American Keith Pease lead the men’s squad while seniors and First Team All-Americans Elizabeth Valento, April Sablan with Rachel Hutchinson headline the women.
“We always set our sights on qualifying for the NCAA DII National Championships,” Dorr said. “The women have qualified the last two years and the men in 2014. Our success this season will likely hinge on the four through seven runners and so we’re counting on young talent to step up.”
Some of that young talent on the women’s side is local in All-Greater Rochester Honorable Mention Alyssa Kalen of Hilton and Spencerport’s Moriah Martone.
“We’re always striving to better strike the balance between freshness and fitness,” Dorr said. “College students are busy and under a lot of stress. Couple that with poor eating habits and inadequate sleep and athlete development becomes a war on fatigue. The questions I ask myself at the beginning of every season are: (1) What’s the appropriate amount of training? (2) How much is too much?
“We don’t know just what the potential of these teams are and neither do any of the team members. And that’s the best way to start off a season.”
The annual Harry F. Anderson Invitational is September 24 and the Redhawks will host this year’s ECC Championships October 22.
Women’s Soccer
A new head coach with 14 returning players and 14 newcomers means lots of getting-to-know-each-other time as training camp opened.
Churchville-Chili grad Bella Mitrevski enters her senior campaign just eight goals from 50 in her career and will again be the go-to up front. Fellow former Saint Taylor Fletcher started all 20 games at midfield last season and sophomore Adrianna Russell (Spencerport) started all but five games in her first year at midfield.
Senior Christina Burke will anchor the backline in front of two new goalkeepers in junior Ashley Exner and freshman Kelsey Brinkel. Junior forward Orla Martin will need to help more offensively to create balance and take the pressure off of Mitrevski.
“I’m eager to work with the team in my first year at Roberts,” new head coach Sarah McClellan said. “I want to first get to know each player, learn about them, and develop training to highlight each player and our team’s strengths.
“We have committed to being a very fit team as we want to play with a fast speed of play and an attacking oriented game. Our goals are to continue to grow the program, to hold high standards in our training each day, and to see that translate into our results on game day.
“I look at our team and see a huge opportunity to establish our identity in our style of play and our passion for the game to overflow. We want to love having the ball, to defend together with great intensity, and to collaborate with excellent communication and organization.”
Men’s Soccer
The men won four of their final five games last season before falling in the NCCAA regional second round and return four of their top five scorers from last season in Malcolm Shaw, Logan Wood, Taiwo Aderounmu and Sam Moody.
“Looking to build on last year’s success and make our conference tournament and receive a NCAA bid to the national tournament,” head coach Scott Reber said about his team’s goals. “We have a great group of guys coming back and have worked hard in the off-season to prepare for the fall. Our incoming class is a solid group with several international players as well as many local guys.”
Those include Brockport Blue Devils teammates Matt VanDuzee and Karl McNulty and Spencerport grad Dan Reger on the backline. The Redhawks also welcome international players Jeremiah Ochepo from Nigeria plus Terrell Spencer and Barrington Smith via Canada.
“We’ll be a young team this year and will rely a lot on our seniors: Kenny Aderounmu, Taiwo Aderounmu, Will Cornfield, Malcolm Shaw and junior Sam Moody. Looking for these guys to provide leadership on and off the field.
“I’m excited and optimistic about the season. We have a great group of guys coming into the team which will supplement an already solid core.”
That season begins with seven non-conference tilts including August 27 against Gannon before their East Coast Conference opener at home versus St. Thomas Aquinas on September 16.
Women’s Volleyball
Coming off their worst season since moving to the Division II level with only a pair of wins over Mercy, head coach Doug Porterfield is looking forward to three former starters returning who all had to sit out 2015 due to injuries.
“I am excited about the team this year. We will have a slightly smaller roster but everyone is healthy.
“Coming back from hip surgery, Olivia Zureck, a (fifth year) senior, will be back to full strength playing the Libero. She will be paired with sophomore Shelby Strausbaugh who, as a freshman, stepped into that roll last year. Our other seniors include (Hilton native) Kate Steger, moving to the right side hitter position, Anjali Thomson at 6’2” returning to the middle position and Alex Tahauri back from ACL surgery on the left.
Steger finished second on the squad last year in kills.
“At the helm for the team will be setter Elisabeth Rivera, Jr. and Courtney Taylor, Jr. – in my opinion one of the most talented outside hitters in the conference.
Returning sophomores include middle Kristina Button, Riley Moll up front, Alissa Borlaug on the right side and Samantha Ess as a defensive specialist (DS). Incoming freshmen include Kortney Schaum at DS/outside and Rachel Holmes also at outside.
“The sophomores garnered some valuable experience last year stepping into some of the crucial roils left by our injuries,” Porterfield said. “That will play a big role in our game. We are looking at some unique blocking strategies as we work our 5-1. I learned a lot from last season’s struggles and I believe in this team’s ability to play at the highest level.”
The team will be strangers to home fans for the first month with their first home match not until September 30 versus NY Institute of Technology.
Men’s Tennis
It will be a new chapter for the Redhawks with the loss of seniors and school career wins leaders Charles Ferres and Rob Beer.
“We will be a very young team with three incoming freshman: Dennis Barlotta and Matthew Cruz from New Jersey and Paul Langbroek from Germany,” head coach Tom Linhart said. “We also have a junior transfer, Hugo Ball-Greene, from McPherson College in Kansas.
“The challenge will be to create a positive team chemistry with so many new players. Our goals are as always to qualify for ECC championships, remain in the Top 10 rankings for the NCAA East Region and qualify for the NCAA National Tournament in May.”
Senior Guilherme Plentz de Liz will be team captain and play in the top of the lineup with juniors Dustin Eshleman and Jose Carrillo expected to step into leadership roles and solidify the lineup. Walk on Joshua Moore continues to improve and will be a role player this year.
The team will play ten fall events with two at home – September 21 vs. University of Rochester and September 25 against RIT with conference play beginning in the spring.
“This is going to be an exciting year and it will be interesting to see who steps up and performs.”
Bowling
The Redhawks announced in July that they will become the fourth East Coast Conference member to add women’s bowling joining Molloy College and Daemen. LIU Post joins Roberts as a new program for this coming year. The ECC also brought on Adelphi University, Felician University, Franklin Pierce University, Kutztown University, and Lincoln Memorial University as associate members for the new championship sport.
The season will run from mid-to-late October through late March.
Local professional bowler Heather D’Errico has been hired as the new program’s head coach. D’Errico is currently competing in the Professional Women’s Bowling Association after earning NAIA All-American honors in 2011 at Roberts Morris University in Chicago.
“I am very excited and anxious to get the first ever women’s bowling season under way for Roberts Wesleyan,” D’Errico said. “Being a first year program this will be my first time working with all of the ladies on the team so my goal is to improve their athletic ability and skills on the lanes as much as possible to become competitive in our conference quickly.
“My tactics as a coach are a cultivation of coaching philosophies I have learned from being an athlete myself and working under other head coaches in different sports. I believe making each player a well-rounded athlete with proper physical conditioning is the key to being able to coach them in their sport specific skills. I also think coaching must go far beyond the physical game to include team bonding, mental toughness, positivity, and character.”
Recruitment for competitors will begin on campus this fall with the opening of classes.
