The Season Has Begun!!

Sorry it has been a while since I last posted. I really don’t have a good excuse except that the season has started (Hooray for Oct. 15th) and we have been busy with fundraising!!!

Homecoming was a couple of weeks ago and we did our annual “yard sale” of old gear to sale to alumni and BC friends. The best part about Homecoming is seeing some of the former players and reminiscing about the “good ole’ days.” After 14 years on the sideline here at BC I am always impressed with the number of alumni who turns out for Homecoming.

We are in our second week of practice and I have to say that I have been very impressed with the competitiveness, hustling, and work ethic that this team brings. They are really pushing one another to get better and that is what it is going to take for us to have a successful season.

Those of you who come out to games will see four new faces this year. Those freshman are: 5’8 guard/forward Holly Morgan from Buffalo Gap H.S., 5’10 Forward/Center Rebecca Reifsnider from Keymar, MD, 5’7 Guard/Forward Molly Shelley from Simsburg, CT, and 5’6 Guard Berlyn Seitz from Fulton, MO. We are excited about what these four young ladies bring to the court!!

With a solid returning class and the addition of our freshman the whole team is excited about the 2010-11 season. I can’t wait for us to tip-it up and get the season rolling.

We are having our 3rd annual spaghetti dinner fundraiser this Saturday, Oct. 30 from 3:30 – 6:00 p.m. on the upper-level of the gymnasium. There is a lot going on campus: our women’s soccer team is hosting, for the first time, a first-round game in the ODAC tournament, football plays their last home game against E & H, and men’s basketball will have an alumni scrimmage starting around 4:00. Take this opportunity to come out and show your BC Pride, while also supporting us in our fundraiser. Bring some extra money because we have some great silent-auction items too. Cost of the dinner is $6 for adults, $4 for students, and kids under 5 eat $2. Did I mention it is all you can eat??

A couple of dates to mark on your calendars are December 1st and February 19th. The December 1st game versus Virginia Wesleyan will be our annual toy drive. Bring a new, unwrapped toy and get into the game for FREE. All toys will be donated to the Harrisonburg-Rockingham County United Way. Please help us make a child’s Christmas special. The February 19th game versus Emory & Henry is our Pink Zone game. Wear pink and make a donation for admission to the game. We have great half-time door prizes and hope you will help us continue to raise breast cancer awareness.

I look forward to seeing you in the stands this season!!

As always …Go Eagles!!

It's Almost Time

Four days and it BEGINS ...October 15th will finally have arrived and the 2010-11 season will start. I am excited about the upcoming year. There is a lot of potential there and I hope the players are as enthusiastic as we will be come Friday morning at 5:30 a.m.!! :)

We had a great day selling old gear at Homecoming on Saturday. It was a beautiful day in the valley and it was fantastic to see so many of our alumni as they stopped by our table. That is one thing I think is so special about the BC family ...graduates continue to come back year after year.

We are in the midst of fundraising four our Cruzin Classic in December. We will travel to Fort Lauderdal and play two games before setting sail for the Bahamas! I've never been on a cruise (and I'm not sure how many of our players have either) and I'll admit I'm a little hesitant but I KNOW it will be a great time.

We are having what has become our annual spaghetti dinner on October 30th beginning at 3:30 p.m. That is our last home football game and our men's basketball team will be scrimmaging that afternoon as well. It is an "all you can eat" dinner!! Tickets are $6 for adults, $4 for students, and children 5 and under $2. You can see any of the players for tickets or you can contact either myself or Coach Willi . Tickets will also be sold at the door. We will also hold a silent auction with various items (a BC chair, a golf pull cart, duffle bags, etc.). We would love to see you there!!

Good luck to all the fall sports as they head into the final weeks of their season!!

As always ...GO EAGLES!!

Back at it!

Greetings to another school year!! All of our fall sports teams have opened play and it looks like it's going to be another great year. Best of luck to each team on their quest for an O.D.A.C. championship!

The summer has gone by fast and I hope each of our players took it upon themselves to improve their skills. It's tough at the Division III level because we aren't allowed individual workouts with our players out of season. At BC it is our hope to have players in the program that know that hard work pays off ... that you become a better player in the off-season. Those are things that we stress and we feel fortunate that our players have bought into that philosophy. October 15th is just around the corner and I hope the players are as excited as the coaches are ...

If you aren't a member of our Eagle Club I hope that you will check into joining this season. It's a great opportunity to meet other Eagle fans, while also supporting the athletic department. If youare interested please contact our Eagle Club director Donnie Fulk at dfulk@bridgewater.edu or 828-5390. To learn more you can visit the Eagle Club website at http://www.bridgewatereagles.com/eagleClub/eagleclub.

As always ...GO EAGLES!!

The End is in Sight

There is a light at the end of the tunnel!! A few more days of classes, then exams, and all our students will be leaving for the summer. Once again the campus will be empty ...This has been a fast school year!

Here's a recruiting update ...We have four paid deposits for next year. I know our fans are wondering about that since we only graduate one senior but you need to realize that we will have five senios next season and that is going to be a lot of scoring and rebounding to replace. It will be a great opportunity for the freshmen to play with this senior class.

Here are the recruits:
Holly Morgan is a 5-7 guard from Buffalo Gap High School and is capable of playing the 1,2, or 3 for us. She had a stand-out career and helped lead the Bison to back-to-back state titles.
Katy Bergey is another local recruit from Eastern Mennonite High School. A 5-6 left-handed guard, Katy is the all-time leading scorer at EMHS. She shot 40% from behind the arc while averaging 19 ppg.
Molly Shelley is our first recruit out of the state of Connecticut. A 5-8 guard/forward she will give us size on the perimeter.
Rebecca Reifsnider is a 5-11 post from Keymar, MD. Rebecca will give us some depth in the post position.

I think fans will enjoy watching these young ladies in the years to come!! The coaching staff is ready for October 15th - after we've had an opportunity to hit the links some this summer of course. :)

Congratulations to the baseball team for winning their 13th ODAC tournament title and to the golf team for capturing their first-ever title!! Best of luck from the women's basketball team as you head into the NCAA tournament!!

As always ...GO EAGLES!!

End of the Year

The men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments are now over and we have to wait seven months to catch any college basketball action!! I guess I’ll have to find other ways to fill my time. The men’s championship was a tremendous game and being an ACC fan I was happy for Duke but the Butler Bulldogs were sure fun to watch. What a great game!! The women’s game was another UCONN victory and an ugly one at that!! It’ll be interesting to see if some of the other programs can rise to their level and challenge next year. Teams that come to mind are Baylor (they do have 6-8 freshmen Brittney Griner), Duke, Nebraska, and of course, the Lady Vols. I can’t wait!!

We had Founder’s Day here at BC on Tuesday and retired volleyball coach Mary Frances Heishman was named Outstanding Professor. Congratulations Coach Heishman on a well-deserved honor! With Founder’s Day comes the realization that the school year is almost over! Spring sports have two weeks left until O.D.A.C. tournaments and if I counted correctly, there is about five weeks until graduation. It sure seems like it was a short school year.

Good luck to all our spring sports in their quest for an O.D.A.C. championship!! As always …GO EAGLES!!

Spring is Here!

What a beautiful day today in the Valley ...lots of sunshine!! Everyone has returned from spring break and now there's that last push until the end!! All our spring sports are in action and I wish them much success. It's great to go out and catch a game and see so many of our players there supporting other teams.

I have been working on our Facebook page and I encourage all my followers to join our fan page - Bridgewater College women's basketball. It will be a great way for you to stay in touch with the ins and outs of our program.

This is my favorite time of year - basketball on television seven days a week. The men's and women's NCAA tournament is always an exciting time. It's great to pull for the underdogs. On the men's side I like Cornell and Northern Iowa. What a great Cinderella story!! In the women's tourney I still don't think anyone can beat UCONN but I like that Tennessee might face them in the semi-finals. Two great teams, two great coaches, and lots of winning in each program. That could be an exciting game. The other team I like is Gonzaga. We don't get to see them play here on the East Coast but what a good team ...I have enjoyed watching them the first two rounds.

Then there is the NIT ...my Tar Heels are still playing and that's a good thing. :) So are the VT Hokies. In the women's NIT my friend Bonnie Henrickson has the KU Jayhawks still playing!!

It's a great time to be a basketball fan!

Good luck to all our spring sports! Now that the weather is warming up I hope to see some of you in the stands!! As always ...GO EAGLES!!

Thanks

I would just like to say “thank you” to everyone who came out and supported us throughout the season. Although the final result wasn’t an O.D.A.C. championship we did finish with a 17-9 record and that is a quality season.

The coaches would like to say “thank you” to Kristin Bosserman, our lone senior. Kristin has been a four-year letter winner for the Eagles. During her four years at B.C., the Eagles finished with a cumulative record of 66-43, an O.D.A.C. tournament title, and a berth in the NCAA tournament. We will miss her next year!!

The next month is my FAVORITE time of the year …Division I basketball at its best – the NCAA tournament!! Who’s your team? Most of you know that I’m a Carolina fan and unfortunately I don’t think they’ll get a bid unless they win the ACC tournament. On the women’s side I don’t think there is a team that can beat UCONN but I’m a Lady Vol fan and who knows if they meet up??

Good luck to the two teams representing the O.D.A.C. in the Division III tournament –Roanoke and W & L. W & L received the automatic bid after winning the O.D.A.C. tournament and RC received an at-large. Both teams are playing at CNU on Friday and I know our staff will be there cheering them onto a victory!!

I hope to see some of you in the stands to cheer on our spring sports!! Until next time ...Go EAGLES!!

O.D.A.C.'s

What time is it?? TOURNAMENT TIME!! We finished the regular season as the 4th seed and will face #5 seed Virginia Wesleyan on Thursday at 3 p.m. We have had two really good days of practice - getting back to the basics ...defense and rebounding. Our returners know that at the tournament anyone can win it all (remember two years ago when we won it as the 6th seed?).

We'll leave today for the O.D.A.C. banquet that the Salem Rotary Club hosts. We are fortunate to have their support because few Division III teams get the opportunity to play at a neutral site and have a banquet. Tonight awards will be given out to First & Second Team, Coach of the Year, Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and the Scholar Athlete of the Year as well as a hi-light video of the 11 teams. The best part of the evening is seeing the players. It's amazing to see what they look like out of uniform - hair down, make-up, & dress clothes. Coach Willi and I always like to think we have the best looking team there. :)

Now it's one and done - there is no tomorrow. We'll give everyone our best shot and we'll do our best to bring that championship back here to B.C.!!

Until next time ...GO EAGLES!

Four in a Row!

Well we closed out the next to the last week of the season on a four-game winning streak and are hoping to get three more “W’s” this week.

Tuesday night we traveled to VA Wesleyan and won in O.T. It had been five years since our last win down there so that made it even more special. It was a late night for the team and coaches though. With the extra five minutes of action that put us late starting and then our bus broke down on the way home. But our dependable driver, J.P., got us back to campus safely at 2:30 a.m.

We stepped out of conference to play at Mary Baldwin on Thursday and picked up a win. We went 4-1 in non-conference games this year …it’s been a while since that has happened.

Then on Saturday in front of 450 fans we defeated Randolph in our third-annual “PINK ZONE” game. It was a great atmosphere. Total counts are not in yet but at the game we took in over $1500 in donations!! Eagle Productions sold “dress down” buttons to faculty/staff for $5 and I do not have the exact amount that they took in then. You’ll have to check the website later for those. But EP did a TREMENDOUS job of helping us promote the event. And a GIANT THANK YOU to everyone who donated!!

Yesterday we were on the road at E & H and picked up another KEY O.D.A.C. win. Besides numbers 1 & 2 the rest of the standings are going to be decided in the last week of the season. That sure makes things interesting!! I can’t believe we only have three games left!! Time to pick up the lunch pail and get to work …

Until next time …Go EAGLES!!

Crazy Week

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while …between trying to win games and shoveling myself out from the blizzard it has been busy!!

We won at Randolph Macon for the first time since 2004!! It was a tremendous feat and a great team effort!! It was only the Yellow Jackets third loss in three years at home and the team just played with a lot of energy and intensity for the whole 40 minutes. It was a FUN bus ride back from Ashland!!

On Tuesday we had the “Poultry Road” showdown with cross-town rivals Eastern Mennonite. We prevailed with a three-point win!! We put ourselves in a good position in the standings with these two wins.

We had to change our travel plans to Guilford because of the snowstorm moving in so we played on Thursday. We dropped a heart breaker by three. It was a tough loss for the staff and players but IF we learn from the mistakes we made in the last three minutes of the game WE WILL BE BETTER!!

Tonight we travel to Virginia Wesleyan for a KEY O.D.A.C. contest. It is a game we need to win and I KNOW the team is ready!! In the O.D.A.C. standings there are a bunch of teams in the middle of the pack with five/six losses. The standings are going to be decided during the last two weeks of the season. We control our own destiny and have to be ready to play EVERY game.

Saturday is our PINK ZONE game at 1:00 versus Randolph. The men play W & L at 3. We have some great door prizes to be given away at half-time of our game, between games, and at half-time of the men’s game. We are asking fans to wear pink and make a $2 donation for admission to the game and we will also have a donation box set up in the lobby. All the proceeds will go towards the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund. We hope you’ll be able to come out and help us in this great cause.

Until next time …GO EAGLES!!

Time Flies

Hard to believe that spring semester started Wednesday and that the school year is almost over. Wow! I looked at the calendar the other day and suddenly realized we only have three home games left!! This season has flown by - FAST!

On Tuesday night we defeated Virginia Wesleyan here 75-42. It was by far the best two halves of basketball that we have put together all year. Our game for tomorrow at RMC has been postponed because of the weather. We'll travel on Sunday to face the Yellow Jackets at 3:00 p.m.

Instead of practice yesterday we got the players together and tie-dyed t-shirts!! It was so much fun. It was a first for a lot of the players as well as the coaches. We will wear the shirts for our "PINK ZONE" game on February 13th against Randolph at 1:00 p.m. We have had Eagle Productions join in with us for the event and we are hoping to have a huge turnout!! There will be door prizes for fans in attendance, which we will give out between games and at half-time of the men's game. They will follow us that day and face ODAC-foe W & L at 3:00 p.m. Last year we raised $1,996 and our goal this season is $2,500. For admission to the game we are asking fans to wear pink and make a $2 donation. We will also have a donation box set up in the lobby for anyone who wants to make a donation. All the proceeds will go to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund. I hope you will come out, cheer us onto a victory, and help support a great cause.

As always, "GO EAGLES!"

Half-Way Point

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Eagle Productions and the Nininger Nuts for their involvement in our “white out” game on Saturday. As a coach I really appreciate all the hard work these two groups did to get community and student involvement to our games. It was a great atmosphere to sit on the sidelines and see so much white in the stands!! Unfortunately Coach Willi didn’t find her John Travolta style white suit. HaHa!!

We went 2-1 last week with wins over Lynchburg and Hollins and a loss to W & L. Last night we lost a tough game to league-leading Roanoke and on Thursday we will step out of conference to face NAIA opponent Southern Virginia. We’ll then have the weekend off before the final push of the regular season.

It’s hard to believe that we only have 12 games left …that our season is half-way over. As coaches, we are going to do our best to really push the players during this last stretch and continue to find ways to improve as a team and individuals.

Mark your calendars for February 13th. That will be our Pink Zone game. We ask fans to wear pink and make a $2 donation for admission to the game. There will also be a raffle for door prizes at half-time of the women’s game. Raffle tickets will be $3 for one or two for $5. We will also have a donation box set up at the gate for anyone interested in making a donation. All proceeds from the game will go to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund.

Happy New Year

Happy 2010 to all of our BC fans!! We are now really in the heart of our season, 20 games in two months. Wow!! We opened 2010 with a road win over the Wildcats of Randolph. It was good to get that first conference win under our belts. We had gone 28 days without competition so it was good to get back into the routine of practice and games. Kudos to our players for coming back in shape!! That's a long break and it takes dedication to keep working diligently on your game when you know you aren't going to be playing.

We had four games last week. After traveling to Randolph we then went to cross-town rival EMU and dropped a 68-55 decision. It was a tough loss but the players responded and we were able to get two wins this weekend over Guilford and Emory & Henry. Two in a row and with three of our next four games at home we hope to keep that streak going. There is nothing like a "home court" advantage and we have the best fans in the conference.

Congratulations to Jordan Burkholder on scoring her 1,000th point on Saturday. It is quite an accomplishment! She became the 17th player in Bridgewater's history to surpass the mark!

On Saturday - Eagle Productions and the Nininger Nuts - are sponsoring a "white out" game! All fans are encouraged to wear white to the double-header. The first 50 students at the men's game at 1 p.m. will receive a t-shirt. The women play at 3 p.m. and the first 50 students to that game will also receive a t-shirt. I'm really excited about this event!! If you tuned in last night to the Louisville-Villanova game at LU they were also hosting a "white out" game. Rick Pitino (LU's coach) was decked out in a white suit. I'm wondering if Coach Willi will be out in the 'burg this week trying to find a white suit??

I hope you guys are enjoying the new year!! Come out and support the Eagles whenever you can!! We truly appreciate the support of the students and the community!!

Three games this week ...Let's make it three in a row tonight against LC!!

As always ...GO EAGLES!!