The Envoy

Full Oct. 7 Episode of “Hawk Athletics” hosted by David Horn.

The beginning of October has seen a lot of wins that have helped the Hawks in their quest to win the Commissioner’s Cup, though they have faced some losses. 

Women’s Tennis 

The women’s tennis team started the week with a 4-5 loss to Baruch, but its players still acquired individual accomplishments under their belt. Sarah Contreras and Ava Cooper won in No. 3 doubles. In singles, Julia Aksamentova, Sree Kolla, and Summer Nietubicz triumphed over the Bearcats.

On Oct 5, the Hawks swept Brooklyn in a 9-0 win, a fitting way to celebrate the tennis team’s Senior Day. In No.1 doubles, Julia Aksamentova and Anna Chapko won 8-1 and in No. 2 doubles it was Sara Novo and Sree Kolla who won 8-0. In singles, Anna Chapko, Sara Novo, Sara Contreas, Julia Aksamentova, Sree Kolla and Summer Nietubicz all won in their singles matches.

The women’s team also smashed the weekly CUNYAC awards for tennis. Ava Cooper won Player of the Week, while Hannah Butterworth won Rookie of the Week.

Men’s Soccer

This week was tough for the men’s soccer team as they endured two losses in conference play. The Hawks lost 0-1 to John Jay and 1-2 to Brooklyn College.

Against the John Jay Bloodhounds, the Hawks showed fierceness on the field. Hunter and John Jay both had 12 shots on target, yet the only goal of the match came from a misplay by Hunter’s goalkeeper, Matthew Heimowitz. Heimowitz came out of his box to block an oncoming goal, but missed the ball. John Jay attacker Alejandro De Jesus pounced upon his mistake and scored into an empty net. 

Midfielder Bradley Espejo led the team with four shots, including one on goal. Center back Conor Sullivan kept the backline of Hunter’s defense solid, reducing the Bloodhound’s scoring opportunities.

The Oct 5. game showed a remarkable effort against the Brooklyn Bulldogs, despite some problems.  Hunter’s Christopher Rodriguez opened the scoring, conceding an own goal. Forward Saleel Eldin scored an equalizer to keep things level. Despite the loss, the Hawks’s defense was notable with goalkeeper Matthew Heimowitz making six saves against Brooklyn and Rodriguez having a shot on target. 

The team showed a lot of strength in their offense, with more players involved in build-up play and creating more shots on target.

Following this game, forward Ben Avakook won Player of the Week to cap off this period of play. The junior forward scored a hat trick against the Pratt Institute on Sept. 29.

Cross Country

 The cross-country team started their week, with the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. The men’s team placed 19th out of 31 schools, with an average time of 31:51. The top runners were Brian Guillermo with 28:26, Melvil Badier with 30:52, and  Alexander Niyazov with 31:07.

The women’s team placed 30th out of 37 schools, with an average time of 28:53. Wendy Montiel was the top runner with a 25:19.18, beating her previous personal record. Samantha Suriel followed with 27:51.0.

Both teams continued this streak with another impressive performance at the Queensborough Invitational.

The women’s team placed 7th out of 17 schools at Queensborough, averaging a time of 27:09. Shannon Ferri led the Hawks with a 24:26.6 time, placing 20th overall. Emma Kilroy followed up with a time of 26:59.9, and Irving Jiang rounded out the top three with a time of 27:50.1. 

The men’s team placed 11th out of 21 schools, with a team average of 35:47. Melvil Badier led with a time of 31:59.2, placing 30th overall. Hengzhi Zhu and Alexander Niyazov also placed in the top three times for Hunter with 34:14.0 and 34:15.0., respectively.

Looking Ahead

The fall season is rounding up as the cross country team heads to the NJIT and St Joseph’s invitational. The women’s tennis team is looking forward to games against York, with two more non-conference games before their CUNYAC Championship. The men’s soccer team has two more games left against Medgar Evers and City College before gearing up to start the playoffs on Oct. 31.

“Hawk Athletics” is a sports show hosted by David Horn airing every Monday at 3 p.m on the Where Hunter College Speaks (WHCS) radio station. In collaboration with WHCS radio, The Envoy breaks down Horn’s weekly show and recaps the latest on all things Hunter athletics.