A Look Back at 2009

With the first Monday of 2010 on the calendar, I thought I would use this installment of Cardinals Corner to reflect on 2009….

Baseball won its first-ever postseason game with an 8-6 come-from-behind victory to eliminate second-seeded Fredonia in the SUNYAC Tournament in May. Kris Doorey earned coach of the year honors for the second time, guiding the team from 15-21 in 2008 to a 24-17 mark a season ago. Graduate student Kyle Kowalowski wrapped up his career with a slew of accolades, including the first ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team Cardinal baseball player, three-time all-SUNYAC winner and two-time all-region. Freshman pitcher Matt O'Leary was selected both the SUNYAC and ECAC Upstate Rookie of the Year after tying the school record for wins in a season.

Women’s Basketball (12-14 overall) made the SUNYAC Tournament for the first time since 2005 as a No. 6 seed and gave third-seeded Oneonta a scare in a 46-39 loss. Sophomore forward Taylor Amarando (2nd team) and freshman guard Erin Silberberg (honorable mention) were All-SUNYAC. Amarando was also chosen to the Basketball Coaches Association of New York All-College Team, leading the SUNYAC in field goal percentage and averaging 13.2 points. The Cardinals had their best season since 2003.

Men’s Basketball suffered through an 8-16 campaign after losing five starters and three all-conference players from the previous season. Sophomore guard Chris Ruiz led a young squad that still played competitively, earning first-team All-SUNYAC accolades. He averaged 18.2 points as one of the conference’s top scorers.

Men’s Cross Country just missed a possible at-large entry into the NCAA Championships with a sixth-place showing out of 38 schools at the Atlantic Regional in November. The Cardinals, however, were nationally ranked for most the season. Junior Mike Heymann earned All-America status for the second straight year, finishing ninth in the nation for a personal best. Heymann and Bobby Grim made the all-region team.

Women’s Cross Country finished in third place at the SUNYAC Championships and sixth among 33 entries at the Atlantic Regional. Senior Jenny Schaffhouser and sophomore Stefanie Braun represented the team at the NCAA Championships held in Cleveland, Ohio. Both women secured first-team all-region nods. And like their male counterparts, just missed the cut for at-large consideration to the national meet despite being in the Top 35 for a good portion of the season.

Women’s Hockey (22-5-2) appeared in the NCAA Tournament for the sixth consecutive year, reaching the quarterfinals. Center Danielle Blanchard became the first Cardinal in any sport to be a four-year All-American. Stephanie Moberg joined her on the AHCA All-America First Team. In addition to Blanchard and Moberg, Ainsley Brien, Claire O'Connor and Danielle Beattie made the All-ECAC West Team. The Cardinals also had a school-best seven academic all-conference selections. Plattsburgh played in the conference championship game for the eighth time in as many season.

Men’s Hockey (24-2-2) was ranked No. 1 in the nation on Jan. 5, 2009, and stayed that way for the rest of the season – the first time in school history that Plattsburgh was the year-end poll winner by USCHO.com. The Cardinals ran their school-record streak to 15 weeks atop the national rankings until Nov. 9. The program captured both SUNYAC regular-season and tournament championships for the second year in a row. A trio of Cardinals – Nick Rolls (1st team), Dylan Clarke (1st team) and Joey Wilson (2nd team) – were named AHCA All-Americans. Plattsburgh dominated the All-SUNYAC Team that was headlined by goaltender Bryan Hince as player of the year and Bob Emery as coach of the year. Ryan Corry joined Clarke, Hince, Rolls and Wilson on the first team – the first time in SUNYAC history that a school had five players on that list.

Men’s Lacrosse qualified for the postseason for the first time ever when the Cardinals reached the SUNYAC Semifinals against top-seeded and nationally ranked Geneseo. Luke Weidlein, Kyle Norchi and Matt Maes made All-SUNYAC, tying a school record with three all-conference selections. In just his third season, Weidlein became the program’s all-time leader in total points (175) and assists (82). Norchi became the first Cardinal to earn all-region honors from the ECAC and was also listed on the New York state coaches’ all-star team. P.J. Kavanagh became the team’s winningest coach with the Cardinals’ 16-8 victory at Brockport in the regular-season finale on April 25, clinching a postseason berth. By finishing 9-8, a school record was tied (2007) for wins in a season.

Women’s Soccer (10-6-3) received a surprise but well-deserved NCAA Tournament at-large bid. The Cardinals didn’t qualify for their own conference tournament, but impressed the national selection committee with their 3-1-1 record against the Top 25. Plattsburgh also was nationally ranked as high as No. 11 by D3soccer.com and 17th in the coaches’ poll. Senior defender Kaitlin Collica was NSCAA All-East Region Third Team, SUNYAC Fall Chancellor's Scholar-Athlete for Women’s Soccer, All-SUNYAC Second Team and ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA All-District First Team. Emily Riley also was tabbed to the all-conference team. The Cardinals captured the RPI Classic with wins over the host Red Hawks and Union, and received the NSCAA Team Academic Award.

Men’s Soccer (13-3-6) won the SUNYAC regular-season title with a 7-1-1 conference mark and hosted the conference tournament final four. The Cardinals advanced to the NCAA Tournament Second Round for the first time since the 2005 Final Four squad. Defender Bart Misiak had a banner year as a first-team All-America selection (second overall), NSCAA All-East Region First Team, SUNYAC Player of the Year, ECAC Upstate Defensive Player of the Year and first-team all-conference. Chris Taylor joined Misiak on the all-region NSCAA first team. For the first time in the program's history, three players were named to the ECAC All-Upstate Team (Misiak, Taylor, John LoGuirato). David Hickman and Mike Pinamonti joined Taylor, Misiak and LoGuirato on the SUNYAC all-star team. The Cardinals also extended a 17-year streak in the NCAA rankings, debuting at No. 22 on Oct. 27.

Softball was 19-23 overall and 12-8 for fifth place in SUNYAC. After graduating three starters and the top two pitchers in school history, the Cardinals had a respectable record in the face of what was arguably their toughest schedule ever. Amy Woo, Ashley Napear, Tanya Fedyshyn, Lauren Clark, Bri Allen and Erin Florkiewicz were part of a program-record six softball players recognized as girls got game/ NFCA All-America Scholar-Athletes. The pitching staff was third in SUNYAC earned-run average, strikeouts and opponents batting average. Woo made the all-region team as well as the ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District squad. The team also had a 10-game win streak at one point.

Women’s Tennis had three players – Rachel Hodnett at No. 1, Victoria Germano at No. 3 and Jessica Paquette at No. 5 – advance to the semifinals of the SUNYAC Singles Tournament in October. As a team, the Cardinals had their best finish in two years.

Indoor Track and Field…Mike Heymann just missed All-America honors in the 5k with a 9th-place showing. Heymann also won the SUNYAC 3k and was all-conference first team. Seth Yernye was a mile-run runner-up in the SUNYAC. The men were 9th and women 34th at the ECAC Championships, and both teams were 7th at SUNYACs. The women landed three all-conference performers while the men’s side recorded numerous all-region standouts.

Outdoor Track and Field…Two athletes competed in three NCAA events. Mike Heymann was an automatic national qualifier in both the 10k and 5k runs. The women were 30th (out of 56) and men T-27th (out of 57) at the ECACs. Senior Jen Taft was the 2009 Semmler Award winner as the female student-athlete with the highest graduating GPA. She also set a school record in the steeplechase at a Division I-dominated event. Jenny Schaffhouser was a NCAA provisional qualifier in the 10k. The women had four all-conference honorees and established six personal bests.

Volleyball finished the fall with a record of 10-25, but ended the season Oct. 31 at the Skidmore Invitational on a good note by defeating Montclair State – which went undefeated in the New Jersey Athletic Conference that produced an NCAA Tournament team – in three sets. Setter Susan Bodkin concluded her four-year career ranked second on the school’s all-time assists list with 3,056.

In the next issue of this column, I’ll look back on the Top 10 Plattsburgh State Athletics memories of the (half-) decade. I’ll also invite readers to submit their Top 10 lists for publication for the best of the 2000s.