The Geneva athletic programs set a very high precedent of success this past weekend. It may be difficult to duplicate throughout the rest of the fall season, but nobody is complaining. After posting mixed results early in the week, the Golden Tornadoes swept through each of their opponents across the board on Saturday. The culmination of the weekend came Saturday night when Genevaâ??s football team held on for an exciting 41-28 victory over Frostburg State in front of a capacity crowd that turned out for â??Experience Geneva Nightâ??.

Over 6.000 people packed their way into Reeves Field for a thrilling curtain raiser to the 2009 season. If anyone had paid to get in, they certainly would have gotten their moneyâ??s worth, but Geneva College welcomed all fans in attendance to experience a football Saturday night free of charge. Big play after big play highlighted the first half with Genevaâ??s offense and defense each posting a pair of touchdowns in the first 30 minutes. Rich Kolesar turned in the play of the night when he scampered 97 yards on an interception return, the second longest in school history, for a 2nd quarter touchdown. The offense was led by junior quarterback David Girardi who threw for 200 yards on 19 completions. Senior Brian Wilson proved to be dominant once again with a pair of receptions on offense and a sack, two tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery for a touchdown on defense.

The menâ??s soccer team matched the football excitement with a pair of pressure packed victories in the first Geneva College Invitational. On Friday night, Bruce Fox tied the game against Franciscan with five minutes remaining in regulation. Josh Mann completed the dramatic comeback with the overtime game winner just four minutes into the extra session. On Saturday, Fox struck again with the only goal of the game in a 1-0 victory over Mt. Union. David Callahan turned away five shots to pick up his first shut-out of the season. Genevaâ??s menâ??s soccer team finished its first week of action with a 2-1 overall record.

Genevaâ??s womenâ??s soccer team also picked up an impressive victory on Saturday, however they had to travel to Pitt-Bradford for the win. The Golden Tornadoes fell behind 1-0 just four minutes into the game but responded with a pair of goals for the comeback 2-1 victory. Jamie Gessner scored in the first half to tie the game and Annissa Halulko scored the game winner midway through the second half. The womenâ??s team was 1-1 in the first week of the season after dropping a 2-1 heartbreaker to Marietta to open the season.

The Golden Tornadoes volleyball team spent most of the Labor Day weekend in Gettysburg and came away with a solid performance. Geneva split a pair of matches on Friday with a win over Penn State Behrend and a loss against host Gettysburg. On Saturday, the Golden Tornadoes won matches against Richard Stockton and Galluadet to finish the weekend with a 3-1 record. Adriane Blake once again led the offense with an impressive hitting percentage at the net in all four games, while senior setter Brandi Snavely picked up over 100 assists in the first weekend of action.

The womenâ??s tennis team opened its season early last week with a 6-3 victory over Chatham College. Ashlyn Mallison picked up a pair of victories in her first collegiate match. Mallison won her singles match and then teamed with Amy Weller for a win in doubles action. Bethany Ragonesi also won twice, including a win in singles and a doubles victory alongside Maura McLaughlin.

Finally, the cross country team traveled to Westminster on Saturday and turned in a solid performance. The menâ??s team finished fifth overall and the women took home a sixth place overall finish. The men were led by Nick Edinger and his 20th place finish at 28:45 while teammate Owen Struck came across one second later in 21st position. In the womenâ??s race, Shannon Rech was Genevaâ??s top finisher in 19th place with a time of 25:43 in the 6K event. Teammate Samantha Miller finished 22nd just 12 seconds behind Rech.

Following is the athletic schedule for the week of September 7:

We thank everyone for their tremendous support on Saturday night and throughout the week. Keep up the good work!!

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