Columbia Invitational MVP Atlanta Moye-McLaren goes for the kill

Class of 2016, cherish this moment. Your Columbia Lions football team is undefeated. The team opened the 2012 season with a narrow 10-9 victory over Marist, erasing fears that the Lions would have another 9-game winless streak to start the season and undoubtedly taking some pressure off new football head coach Pete Mangurian. The football squad wasn’t the only winner this weekend. Volleyball swept the Columbia Invitational with three straight wins and freshman Atlanta Moye-McLaren was named MVP of the tournament. To boot, Field Hockey extended their win streak to four and both Men’s and Women’s soccer teams added wins to their records.

Read on for more Columbia Athletics news and results from the week.

Volleyball (5-4):

Results:

Columbia Invitational
Colgate 3-1 (W)
Rhode Island 3-0 (W)
Hofstra 3-2 (W)

Overview: Volleyball opened their home season this weekend as they hosted Colgate, Rhode Island, and Hofstra in Levien for the Columbia Invitational. The Lion’s faced Colgate in their first match of the weekend on Friday, where strong blocking made the difference in the four-set contest. After winning the first two sets 25-18, 25-20, Columbia dropped the third set despite an emphatic kill from junior Savannah Fletcher to tie the score at 24-24. The Raiders took the next two points and the set 26-24, before falling to the Lions 25-19 in the fourth. Columbia outblocked Colgate 28 to 5 in the win.

The Lions carried the momentum from Friday’s win into Saturday as they swept Rhode Island in three straight sets. After mounting a commanding two set lead, Columbia struggled to finish off the Rams in the third, narrowly scraping by with a 28-26 win. Later in the day, the Lions faced Hofstra for a back-and-forth five-set battle to close out the tournament. The Hofstra Pride came out strong in the first set, recording 19 kills to Columbia’s seven and winning the opening set 25-19. The Pride continued to put pressure on the Lions in the second set, but Columbia broke ahead late in the set to a 24-20 lead before closing it out, 25-21. The third set went to the Lions, but the Pride came charging back in the fourth, opening with four unanswered points at taking the set 25-19. The fifth set was as competitive and nail-bitingly close as the rest of the game, but Columbia pulled ahead with three consecutive points to jump to a 10-7 lead before finishing the Pride off, 15-12.

Freshman Atlanta Moye-McLaren was named MVP of the tournament, who posted double-doubles against Rhode Island and Hofstra with 10 kills and 13 digs in each. Moye-McLaren was joined by Fletcher and senior Megan Gaughn on the All-Tournament team.

Up Next: The Lions open their Ivy League season next Saturday (9/22) against Cornell at 2 pm in Levien Gymnasium

Football (1-0):

Results:

Marist 10-9 (W)

Overview: The Lions opened the 2012 football season this weekend against Marist at Robert K. Kraft Field, winning their first home opener since 2007 (also over Marist). Neither team was able to make very much headway on offense early on as the first half saw three sacks from each defense and less than 250 combined yards. Marist, however, got on the board first late in the first quarter with a 28-yard field goal, and they carried the 3-0 into halftime. The Lions came out energized in the second half with an 11-play, 87-yard drive that put them in the lead, 7-3, with a touchdown run from Connor Nelligan and a successful extra point. With eight minutes on the clock, Columbia added to their lead when Luke Eddy hit a 22-yard field goal. Marist answered with a series of first downs and a 35-yard pass that put them on the Columbia one-yard line, but fumbled the football after a hit from Zach Olinger. Josh Martin recovered the fumble for the Lions. Minutes later, Marist came back again with a strong drive, scoring on a one yard pass to put them within one of the Lions before the extra point. With 6:30 remaining and the game riding on the extra point, Wells Childress was able to get a hand on the extra point and save the Lions from a possible overtime.

Up Next: The Lions take on local rival Fordham at 12:30 pm next Saturday at Robert K. Kraft Field.

Field Hockey (4-2, 1-0 Ivy League):

Results:

Hofstra 4-2 (W)
Brown 4-1 (W)

Overview: After dropping their opening two games, the Lions have powered back, winning four straight. On Wednesday, the Field Hockey team faced Hofstra in front of a home crowd looking for their third win in a row. After going down 1-0 and being outplayed early on, the Lions found their groove late in the half and tied the game before halftime when senior Katie DeSandis scored off a penalty corner. Columbia came out of the break firing, and took the lead within three minutes with a goal from senior Molly Andrews. The Lions found the back of the net again with eight minutes remaining to give them a two-goal lead, but Hofstra struck back less than a minute later to keep the margin at one. DeSandis secured the victory for the Lions off another penalty corner.

The Lions opened the 2012 Ivy League season on the road this afternoon with a 4-1 victory over Brown. Columbia scored all four goals in the second half.

In other Field Hockey news, senior Gabby Kozlowski was named Ivy League Player of the Week and freshman Anna Scipioni earned Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors.

Up Next: The Lions return home for more Ivy League play, taking on Cornell at 4 pm on Friday.

Women’s Soccer (3-3):

Results:


Fordham 2-0 (W)
Marist 1-0 (W)

Overview: The Lions faced local rival Fordham on Friday at home, tallying their second home win and second clean sheet. Junior Colleen Rizzo was the first to find the back of the net after a slow opening to the game. Sophomore Erin Falk found Rizzo, who was able to strike the ball through traffic and give the Lions an early advantage. The second half started with far more action than the first, with Columbia posting five shots and the Rams three. Still, the next and final goal of the game didn’t come until the 76th minute, when Rizzo won the ball in Fordham’s half and played junior Beverley Leon with a pass. Leon beat one defender and buried the ball in the back of the Rams net. Columbia keeper Grace Redmon ended the game with a season-high eight saves and the second shutout of the season.

The Lions tallied their second straight win and third home win against Marist yesterday afternoon.

Up Next: The Lions open the Ivy League season at home on Friday at 7 pm as they take on Cornell.

Men’s Soccer (2-4):

Results:

St. Peter’s 2-1 (W)
Delaware 0-1 (L)

Overview: Against St. Peter’s on Wednesday, both teams had solid opportunities early on as the Lions posted four shots to St. Peter’s five in the scoreless first half. In the second half, however, both teams found the back of the net. First, sophomore Kofi Agyapong avoided the St. Peter’s defense with some fancy footwork before scoring in the 60th minute to put the Lions on top. The Peacocks answered with the equalizer just five minutes later when the St. Peter’s striker picked up a loose ball in the box and put it passed keeper Kyle Jackson. With 12 minutes to go, freshman Kyle Culbertson sent a well-placed ball into the box where senior Brendan O’Hearn was waiting. O’Hearn headed the ball into the net through traffic to win the game for the Lions, 2-1.

Coming off the midweek win, the Lions faced Delaware on Saturday. Agyapong tallied two early shots for Columbia, but neither team was able to find the back of the net in the first half. In the second half, Columbia and Delaware traded strong chances, but it was the Blue Hens who got on the board when Delaware’s Kyle Nuel found John Dineen’s head for the only goal of the game. The Lions kept the pressure on for 90 minutes, but were unable to equalize, falling in the hard-fought game in which 35 fouls were called.

Up Next: The Lions head to Brooklyn to take on LIU at 6 pm on Saturday.