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FIRED Three days after the conclusion of an injury-plagued 1-9 season that ended with a 59-7 pounding by Ivy champ Penn,Athletic Director Andy Noel announced the dismissal of head football coach Tim Pendergast. In a press release, Noel said,“Tim Pendergast worked diligently in an effort to bring success to our program and the university. Unfortunately, we were unable to attain the progress that is needed.A coaching change at this time is in the best interest of Cornell University and its football program.”In his three seasons at the helm, Pendergast posted a 7-22 record (5-16 Ivy).

HIRED Former Cornell shortstop and co-captain Bill Walkenbach ’98 has returned to the Hill as an assistant baseball coach.Walkenbach, who tied a school record with 21 career home runs, was named Big Red MVP three times and twice honored as a first-team All-Ivy selection. Prior to joining the Big Red coaching staff,Walkenbach was an assistant baseball coach at Emory University, helping the team to the NCAA Division III Championship tournament and a fifth-place national ranking. He also earned a master’s degree in sports administration from Georgia State and served as an assistant coach for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox in the Cape Cod League.

SHINING STAR Men’s hockey player Ryan Vesce ’04 was named the U.S. College Hockey Online Offensive Player of the Week for November 12 after scoring four goals with five assists in a pair of Big Red victories.Vesce had a goal and an assist in a 6-2 win over Yale before exploding for seven points in a 7-0 triumph over Princeton the next night. Vesce’s three goals and four assists in that game were both career highs, and fell just one point short of the Cornell record for total points in a game. He was also named the Eastern College Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week for his exploits.

YES MEN Basketball fans will have two chances to watch the Big Red on television this season as part of the Ivy League basketball series on the YES network.The men’s team’s first appearance will be on January 30, when it travels to Cambridge to face Harvard.YES will also televise the February 14 game with Penn at Newman Arena.YES is available to many cable customers in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and parts of Pennsylvania, as well as to DIRECTV viewers.This season,YES will televise five Ivy League men’s basketball games and one women’s contest.

EN GARDE Fencer Meghan Phair ’06 earned Cornell’s first Temple Open championship, winning the épée competition. Phair topped a 66-person field to take the title, beating Penn State’s Case Szarwark in the final match after surviving two rounds of pool play to reach the quarterfinals.

TURNING PRO Six seniors from the 2003 Frozen Four men’s hockey team started their professional careers this fall. Currently playing in the American Hockey League are Stephen Bâby ’03, who was assigned to his hometown Chicago Wolves (affiliated with the Atlanta Thrashers), and Doug Murray ’03, who’s with the Cleveland Barons (affiliated with the San Jose Sharks).Three players started the season in the East Coast Hockey League, including Sam Paolini ’03, who was named ECHL Rookie of the Month for October after racking up five goals and seven assists for Atlantic City in his first seven games.Also in the ECHL are Mark McRae ’03, with Florence (South Carolina), and Shane Palahicky ’03, who signed with Alaska. Defenseman Travis Bell ’03 started the season with Bossier-Shreveport in the Central Hockey League.Also joining the pro ranks was goalie David LeNeveu ’05, a second-round choice of the Phoenix Coyotes in the 2002 draft, who left school to sign with the NHL franchise. He started the 2003–04 season with the Springfield Falcons of the AHL, joining fellow former Big Red netminder Jean-Marc Pelletier ’99.

BIG GAME (November 15, 2003) The volleyball team tallied the most wins since 1989 with a 3-0 sweep of Brown that boosted their final record to 21-4. Senior Ashely Stover (right) had five blocks in the match for a career total of 406, surpassing the former Cornell record held by Becky Merchant ’90, BS ’92. Freshman Elizabeth Bishop—a seven-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week—also set a school record, averaging 4.4 kills per game for the season.The Big Red finished third in the Ivy League behind Penn and Princeton, but had the best overall record of any Ivy team.

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