Roller hockey bows out in playoffs, lacrosse starts fast

Men’s Roller Hockey

The weekend before spring break, both of Pitt’s roller hockey… Men’s Roller Hockey

The weekend before spring break, both of Pitt’s roller hockey teams traveled to Feasterville, Pa., to participate in the Eastern Collegiate Roller Hockey Association (ECRHA) Regional Championships.

Prior to the tournament, the Division I squad went 5-7 in the regular season, earning the No. 12 seed for the playoffs, while the “B” team went 4-5-2 to earn the No. 4 seed of the tournament and the No. 17 spot in the national rankings.

In the round-robin poll play, the Division I Panthers were grouped with top-seeded Towson and seventh-seeded Drexel.

On Saturday morning, Pitt lost to Towson 7-0. The Panthers rebounded and hung on to defeat Drexel, 8-6, later that afternoon. The Panthers topped the Dragons behind a strong performance by junior goalie Ryan Gaus.

Their 1-1 record in round-robin play gave the Panthers the No. 8 seed in the ensuing single-elimination tournament. This set up a rematch of their first game of the tournament with Towson.

In what senior forward Dave Glass called “their best showing of the season,” the Panthers fell short against the Tigers, 9-3.

For Glass and the team’s two other seniors, Dave Thomas and Brian Chalmers, this would be their final collegiate game.

The “B” team lost to SUNY Buffalo 10-2 in the first round of a double-elimination tournament late Friday night.

Pitt recovered and went on to beat Maryland 10-5 on Saturday afternoon before losing 5-3 to Drexel later that night. Both teams failed to qualify for the National Tournament that will be held in Fort Collins, Colo., April 13-17.

Men’s Lacrosse

For nearly ten years, Robbie Heaps has been involved with the Pitt lacrosse program. He firmly believes that until this year, he has never been around a team with this much talent.

Heaps’ talented bunch started the season with three home wins before traveling south for three games over spring break. The Panthers defeated Clemson, Auburn, and East Carolina on that road trip by a combined score of 32-16 to move to 6-0 on the year.

The Panthers opened their road trip with the Clemson Tigers. After three quarters, Pitt led 5-2. Pitt would blow out the Tigers by scoring five unanswered goals in the final quarter to win the game 10-2. Seven different Panthers scored in the game as junior Vlady Tintchev led Pitt with three goals and an assist.

The Panthers’ offensive attack didn’t stop when they faced Auburn three days later. In the first half, Pitt scored 10 goals and never looked back. Pitt improved to 5-0 with a commanding 13-6 victory over the Clemson.

To finish out the road trip, the Panthers headed to Greenville, N.C., to take on East Carolina. The Pirates proved to be the Panthers’ toughest test of the trip, as Pitt squeaked out a 9-8 victory.

Senior Warren Maxwell and freshman Eamonn Brady each scored three goals for the Panthers.

“The trip really brought the guys closer together,” Heaps said. “We improved with each game and are playing really confident. It’s a tremendous feeling to start the year 6-0.”

Heaps attributed the team’s success on the trip to the strong play of goaltender Kyle Balliet and the Panthers’ starting defense, which features senior Ron Reed, junior Andrew Karpinko, and sophomore Mike Smith.

The Panthers will look to remain unbeaten when the No. 9 team in the country comes to town this Sunday. The Panthers will face off against the Oakland University Grizzlies in the Cost Center at noon. Heaps said that this will be one of the Panthers’ toughest games this season, and that student support would be greatly appreciated.

Dave Thomas covers all club sports for The Pitt News. Have a club representative e-mail him at dthomas7224@yahoo.com.