Vickie PapageorgeThe Cabrini roller hockey team is gearing up for its 2007 season. With eight returning players, they look to greatly improve on last year’s mark of 8-6-1-1.
“I didn’t know we actually had a roller hockey team at Cabrini,” Angela Lindle, a freshman exercise science major, said.
Not many students here on campus, however, know about the roller hockey team.
“The team made shirts for last season,” Mike MacDonald, a sophomore graphic design major, said. “When I wear mine on campus, people ask me if Cabrini actually has a team. Half don’t know we exist.”
Considered a club sport, the Cavaliers are opening what will be their eighth season in the Philadelphia Collegiate Roller Hockey League. Cabrini calls the Marple Sports Arena their home court, which is located in Broomall, Pa.
Coming off of a modest eight-win season, the team has high hopes for their upcoming season.
“I’m definitely excited for this season,” Mike Holland, a sophomore finance major, said. “I know the guys returning from last season really want to come out with a chip on our shoulder and show that we are a better team than the one that lost in the first round last year.”
The team made it to the playoffs and faced the University of Pennsylvania in the first round. They lost in the best of three series, two games to one.
“We got knocked out of the playoffs by a team we could have beaten,” Holland said. “We did not play well in the third game of the series and that was the difference.”
Though the Cavs are not the biggest crowd drawer, they do have a few dedicated fans.
Gina Mulranen, a sophomore math secondary education major, said, “We had to carpool to games because there was no transportation, especially as freshmen.”
Mulranen attended four games last season.
“Every sporting event on campus gets great attention and advertisement,” Mulranen said. “People don’t know about sports played off campus. I wish there were more support for those teams.”
Holland agrees.
“We’re not well known, but we’re a good team. We are all about having fans come and support,” Holland said.
The official schedule for the league has not yet been released, but the Cavalier action starts in mid-October.
The roster is far from completed, but there are three definite freshman additions on top of the eight returning players. Four of the eight are sophomores.
