Elmira, NY -- Elmira College Athletics celebrated its much anticipated Athletics Alumni Weekend over this past week with a bevy of action on Friday and Saturday. The program welcomed back its past graduates with a several events, highlighted by a full slate of action at the Murray Athletic Center on Saturday. The women's ice hockey team picked up a huge sweep of Buffalo State over the weekend, while men's ice hockey staged a thrilling late comeback to down Nazareth College in overtime in the team's annual Wounded Warrior Game. The men's volleyball team continued its road swing with a solid showing at the Golden Flyer Invite, while women's basketball, men's basketball and men's tennis were also in action. Catch up on the weekend's events in this jam packed issue of Soaring Eagles Weekly!
 
Headlines for the Week Ahead
 
Basketball Welcomes Houghton for Final Home Doubleheader of the Season on Tuesday
The Elmira College men's and women's basketball teams each play their final home game of the season on Tuesday, February 9^th, when they welcome Houghton College to Speidel Gymnasium. The Elmira men tip off at 6:00 p.m., while the women face the Highlanders in the nightcap at 8:00 p.m. Elmira cheerleading will be honoring its graduating Class of 2016 during halftime of both contests. The competition team will be recognized during the men's contest, while the game team will honored during the women's game.
 
Men's Volleyball Opens UVC Play With Home Tri-Match on Saturday
The nationally-ranked Elmira College men's volleyball team is set to open the gauntlet that is the United Volleyball Conference slate when it hosts its first league tri-match of the season at Speidel Gymnasium this weekend. The Soaring Eagles welcome Massachusetts Institute of Technology for an 11:00 a.m. bout, while they conclude the day against New York University at 5:00 p.m.
 
Men's Ice Hockey Welcomes Utica for Weekend Set
The Elmira men's ice hockey team welcomes Utica College for the final homestand of the regular season on Friday, February 12^th, and Saturday, February 13^th. Puck drop at the Murray Athletic Center Ice Arena is slated for 7:00 p.m. on both days. The Soaring Eagles will celebrate Senior Recognition Day during Saturday's contest.
 
Women's Ice Hockey Faces Home-and-Home With William Smith
The nationally-ranked Elmira women's ice hockey team is set for its penultimate series of the regular season when it faces William Smith College in a home-and-home series on Saturday, February 13^th, and Sunday, February 14^th. The first of those contests will be played at the Murray Athletic Center Ice Arena, with opening faceoff slated for 3:00 p.m. The Soaring Eagles will celebrate Senior Recognition Day during Saturday's contest.
 
Men's Tennis to Host Dual at the Domes This Weekend
The Elmira men's tennis team is set to make its home debut this coming weekend with matches on both Saturday, February 13^th, and Sunday, February 14^th. The Soaring Eagles welcome Salem International University to the Murray Athletic Center Tennis Dome for a 9:00 a.m. start on Saturday. EC takes on Roberts Wesleyan College at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday.
 
Basketball Hits the Road to Face St. John Fisher, Nazareth This Weekend
The Elmira men's and women's basketball teams will tip off their final road swing of the season when they travel to Rochester, NY, for a weekend set at St. John Fisher College and Nazareth College on Friday, February 12^th, and Saturday, February 13^th. The games will be at 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. on Friday. The Soaring Eagles resume play at 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. the following day.
 
Cheerleading Opens Season at Cheersport Nationals This Weekend
Elmira's competition cheerleading team is set to make its 2016 debut when it heads to Atlanta, GA, for the Cheersport Nationals on Saturday, February 13^th, and Sunday, February 14^th.
 
Henderson Moves On to Finals of 2016 GEICO Play of the Year
Thanks to the efforts of Elmira fans everywhere, Justin Henderson '16 moved on to the final round of selection for the 2016 GEICO Play of the Year. For more details, check out this link: CLICK HERE.
 
A Look Back at the Week That Was…
 
Women's Ice Hockey Sweeps Home-and-Home Series With Buffalo State
The third-ranked Elmira women's ice hockey team bounced back in a big way this past weekend, securing a huge series sweep over Buffalo State in a home-and-home series on Friday and Saturday. The victories helped give the Soaring Eagles some breathing room in the ECAC West standings, keeping EC entrenched in the second bye position in the league standings.
 
It was a somewhat slow start for Elmira in the opening game of the weekend in Buffalo, NY, as the Bengals jumped out to an early 1-0 lead 10:04 into the game on an unassisted tally by Christine Harris. Katie Granato '19 snatched the momentum back with a big shorthanded goal towards the end of the period. Erin Kishoni '18 put the Soaring Eagles ahead for good early in the second period, sending in her first career goal on a point shot through traffic. McKenna Farole '16 sealed the game with an empty-netter with one minute remaining.
 
The start was quite the opposite the following day when the two teams resumed the series at the MAC. Shannon Strawinski '19 and Sarah Hughson '18 were in sync from the opening puck drop, combining on the first two goals in the opening 6:42 of the game. Anna Tude '17, Maddy Jerolman '19 and Granato also netted goals in the 5-0 rout.
 
Kelcey Crawford '18 was on her game throughout the weekend, denying 39-of-40 total Buffalo State shots, notching her third shutout of the season on Saturday. The Elmira netminder was tabbed ECAC West Goaltender of the Week for her efforts.
 
For more information on EC Women's Ice Hockey, please visit the following link: CLICK HERE.
 
Men's Ice Hockey Splits Series With Nazareth
The Elmira men's ice hockey team had an eventful weekend, splitting the two-game set against Nazareth College. The Soaring Eagles donned their special edition Wounded Warrior sweaters for both contests. It was a dynamite start for Elmira on Friday, as the home side jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on goals by Jarryd ten Vaanholt '16 and Tommy Sumi '16. Unfortunately, Elmira was unable to sustain the momentum, as the Golden Flyers netted four unanswered goals to take a 4-2 victory.
 
Elmira hosted its annual Wounded Warrior Game on Saturday. The Soaring Eagles honored Chuck Crusha, military veteran and Elmira ROTC program leader, in a ceremonial opening puck drop. It was the Golden Flyers who got off to a quick start on Saturday; however, Sandro Aeschlimann '19 held strong to keep things scoreless through 20 minutes. The second period was back-and-forth, with five total goals scored during the middle 20 minutes, while the Golden Flyers emerged with a 3-2 lead. The score line remained until late in the third period, when Michael Collins '16 bested the Nazareth goaltender on a silky-smooth forehand to backhand move to tie the game. The game went to overtime, where Jeremy Marginsky '18 sent home a game-winner 48 seconds in to take the 4-3 victory.
 
For more information on EC Men's Ice Hockey, please visit the following link: CLICK HERE.
 
Men's Volleyball Goes 3-1 at Golden Flyer Invitational
The ninth-ranked Elmira men's volleyball program hit the road for the second straight weekend when it took part in the Golden Flyer Invitational, hosted by Nazareth College, on Friday and Saturday. The Soaring Eagles stretched their record to 8-2 on the year with a 3-1 mark over the two days.
 
EC split its pair of matches on Friday, besting Johnson & Wales University in a five-set thriller, before falling to Medaille College in four sets in a rematch between the two programs. The Soaring Eagles rebounded to sweep Saturday's matches with a straight-sets victory over Hilbert College and a five-set win over D'Youville College.
 
Mike Ellison '16 led the way for Elmira, registering 66 kills over the four matches, including a career-high 27 kills in the victory over D'Youville College. For his efforts he was named to the All-Tournament team, while he was also named UVC Player of the Week on Monday afternoon.
 
For more information on EC Men's Volleyball, please visit the following link: CLICK HERE.
 
Men's Basketball Suffers Heartbreaker to Utica in 0-2 Week
The Elmira men's basketball team looked poised to secure a thrilling victory when it celebrated Senior Recognition Night against Utica College at Speidel Gymnasium this past Friday. With the game tied at 72-72, Justin Porrett '19 brought the noise to a fever pitch inside the gym, as he sent in an off-balanced layup with his left hand to put Elmira up two with 1.3 seconds remaining. Unfortunately, there proved to be too much time left on the clock, as the Pioneers' Robert Tutein knocked down a desperation triple at the buzzer to lift Utica over Elmira 75-74.
 
Elmira basketball returned to the Murray Athletic Center for the first time in over two decades on Saturday when EC welcomed Hartwick College during Athletics Alumni Weekend. Gino Leonardi '16 knocked down a layup at the buzzer to cut the deficit to eight at the half. However, the combination of the Hawks inside-outside play proved too much for Elmira in an 83-65 defeat.
 
Porrett had a monster weekend, tallying a career-high 24 points against the Pioneers, which was the highest total netted by an Elmira freshman this century. He followed that up by tying Leonardi with a team-high 17 points against the Hawks on Saturday. He was named Empire 8 Conference Rookie of the Week for his immense efforts.
 
For more information on EC Men's Basketball, please visit the following link: CLICK HERE.
 
Women's Basketball Drops Pair to Utica and Hartwick
The Elmira women also suffered some second half heart break against Utica on Friday night. Leading by as many as 12 points in the third quarter, Elmira slowly had its advantage chipped away by a relentless Pioneers team. The visitors nailed a three-pointer just ahead of the buzzer to take a three-point lead to the final quarter. EC struggled to get back on track during the fourth, as Utica built up a double-digit lead, before holding off a late Elmira charge to win 69-63.
 
Elmira honored its Class of 2016 with Senior Recognition Day at the domes on Saturday. Unfortunately, the contest was a difficult one for the Soaring Eagles from the outset. Hartwick built up a 12 point lead at the halftime break, before pulling away with a 20-to-5 scoring advantage in the final quarter in the 61-33 loss.
 
Despite the two difficult performances, the team did witness some changes to the program's all-time lists. Meghan Loya '16 passed Erin Ruppell '11 for sixth place on Elmira's all-time rebounding list. After pulling down 13 boards over the weekend, Loya has 565 for her career. Danielle Cleary '18 also moved up the single-season charts for free throws. She has 102 makes from the charity stripe, tying her with Rachael Brown '00 for fifth-most in a single-season in program history. Cleary is seven free throws short of tying the 109 that she made during her rookie campaign last season.
 
For more information on EC Women's Basketball, please visit the following link: CLICK HERE.

Men's Tennis Drops Spring Opener at Division II Daemon College on Saturday
The Elmira men's tennis team opened the spring portion of its schedule when it hit the road to face Daemon College on Saturday afternoon. Although Elmira failed to win any of its six singles and three doubles matchups, the Soaring Eagles played competitive tennis against the NCAA Division II opponent. Patrick Tracey '18 took his matchup at fourth singles to a decisive third set, while Austin Mansell '16 dropped his first set in a tiebreaker (7-6), before falling 6-3 in the second, in his third singles matchup. Overall, it was a fairly positive start to a busy spring for the program.

For more information on EC Men's Tennis, please visit the following link: CLICK HERE.
  
The Week Ahead…
 
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
*Men's Basketball vs. Houghton College, 6:00 p.m.
*Women's Basketball vs. Houghton College, 8:00 p.m.
 
Friday, February 12, 2016
*Men's Basketball at St. John Fisher College, 6:00 p.m.
*Men's Ice Hockey vs. Utica College, 7:00 p.m.
*Women's Basketball at St. John Fisher College, 8:00 p.m.
 
Saturday, February 13, 2016
*Men's Volleyball vs. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 11:00 a.m.
Men's Tennis vs. Salem International University, 2:00 p.m.
*Men's Basketball at Nazareth College, 2:00 p.m.
*Women's Ice Hockey vs. William Smith College, 3:00 p.m.
*Women's Basketball at Nazareth College, 4:00 p.m.
*Men's Volleyball vs. New York University, 5:00 p.m.
*Men's Ice Hockey vs. Utica College, 7:00 p.m.
Cheerleading at Cheersport Nationals (Atlanta, GA), All Day
 
Sunday, February 14, 2016
*Men's Tennis vs. Roberts Wesleyan College, 2:00 p.m.
*Women's Ice Hockey at William Smith College, 4:00 p.m.
Cheerleading at Cheersport Nationals (Atlanta, GA), All Day
 
Bold Indicates Home Contest
*Indicates Conference Opponent