Lisa-Anne Orlich’s Journey With ROTC

Double Duty

Lise-Anne Orlich balances an intense schedule taking ROTC classes off-campus and being part of the women’s rugby team, all with traditional college classes.

__ By Collin Atwood __ @collinatwood17

The choices that young adults have to make after graduating high school can be intimidating. Whether it’s stepping right into a full-time job, going to a four-year college or enlisting in a branch of the military, their adult life is about to start. A path has to be chosen and it’s rare that someone is able to do two at the same time.

Lise-Anne Orlich, a junior at Springfield College studying sports biology, chose one of those unlikely paths by joining the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program. The ROTC is a program that allows students to enroll in college and take normal college courses while training to be an officer in a branch of the military.

In 2019 Orlich was one of those students getting ready to graduate and she was battling with the choice of going to a traditional four-year college or enrolling in the United States Military Academy. It was during her decision process that she found out about the ROTC program, but she wanted to put all of her attention and focus on one lifestyle.

“I wanted the experience of either a full college experience or full military-college experience. I didn’t really want the in between,” Orlich said.

The interest in serving in the Army is in her blood. Multiple of Orlich’s family members have served in the Army and she has a cousin who is currently stationed in Alaska.

“I’ve always wanted to serve. [It’s a] big thing in my family,” Orlich said.

Originally, Orlich decided to take the traditional college route and put her interest in serving in the Army aside. She wanted to try attending Springfield College as just a student to see if college was something she would enjoy.

Even though most of her college time has been tainted by COVID-19, Orlich loved her first two years on Alden Street and decided it might be time to give the Army another look.

“I wound up loving school and made some great friends here at Springfield, so I thought

Lisa-Anna Orlich (left) with a pair of her ROTC classmates. (Photo courtesy of Lisa-Anne Orlich) that it would be a great idea for me to try both.”

Orlich decided to reach out to her advisor at the tail end of her sophomore year about joining the ROTC program at Springfield. Due to the small size of this program at Springfield, her advisor wasn’t too familiar with the program and how it worked. The ROTC program at Springfield currently has 10 cadets and no on-campus professors. The students who attend Springfield College have to take their ROTC courses at Western New England University or the University of Massachusetts. “My advisor didn’t know much about it so it was kind of me, on my own, reaching out to

people and asking a lot of questions,” Orlich explained.

It’s not uncommon for people to be unfamiliar with the ROTC program. It’s offered at 1,700 colleges and universities in America which is less than 33% of higher-education establishments. The idea of having students attend a traditional college and train for the military at the same time was introduced in 1819, but the program we know today came in 1916.

The following semester after Orlich decided she wanted to be in the ROTC program, she was sent to Fort Knox to get up to speed with the other cadets who were already familiar with the program. She wasn’t expecting an intense experience, but that’s exactly what she got.

“It was full, just straight military experience,” Orlich said. She spent 32 days going through a condensed boot camp. “Day four came and drill sergeants showed up and that’s when you got whipped into shape,” she added.

That 32 day experience going through intense military training was just the beginning of her journey in the ROTC program. Now that she is a full-time college student and cadet in the program, her days are a lot more filled than they used to be.

By the time her 9 a.m. class starts, Orlich has already been through a training session that she wakes up at 5 a.m. for. She then goes through a day of classes and goes straight into her homework.

She also takes four military credits on top of her classes that go toward her sports biology major. “I’m taking a total of 18 credits right now. It’s definitely a lot on my plate,” Orlich said.

Just like your typical science class at Springfield College, Orlich’s military courses come with a lab that she does a few weekends throughout the month. The cadets take what they have learned in the class and apply it in a real-life scenario.

Instead of doing it in the classroom or laboratory, they go to their field in Montague, Mass. to put their skills to the test. After learning about navigating the land, the weekend lab would involve the cadets looking at a map and actually learning the lay of the land.

The ROTC program gives the cadets a lot of field experience during their time in college so they can be prepared for what comes after graduating. This upcoming summer Orlich will be participating in the ROTC Cadet Summer Training (CST).

“It helps with contracting and how we’re going to branch,” Orlich said. During the fall semester there was a Field Training Exercise that prepares cadets for CST. Cadets stayed in the woods for two nights and learned what the CST entails.

Unfortunately for Orlich, she wasn’t able to participate in the exercise due to an injury she received playing on Springfield College’s women’s rugby team.

She joined the team her first year on campus, but due to the togavirus, also known as Triple E, and COVID-19, her first two seasons were shortened. Her junior year marked the first full season she would partake in. That was until she was injured in the second game of the season against Tufts.

Orlich was involved in a collision during the game, but did not realize the severity of the injury until the game had ended.

“When you play rugby your adrenaline just rushes...you kind of get hurt and get back up,” Orlich said. Following the game she went to the athletic trainer and then realized she had dislocated a rib. “I’m currently sitting with a messed up rib,” she added.

Orlich is hoping that her displaced rib will heal by the time she returns from the holiday break. That way she’ll be able to participate in training and prepare for the Cadet Summer Training.

Junior year is the most intense year for cadets in the program. It’s the year that they have to decide if they want to commit to being an officer after graduation.

“It’s all optional for those first two years. Anybody can take the program and walk away at any time if they choose to,” said Minuteman Battalion Army ROTC Enrollment Officer, Travis Wright.

Before the semester ends, Orlich needs to sign a contract that obligates her to serve in the military after graduating.

“If a student completes the ROTC program and commissions as a Second Lieutenant they have an obligation to serve eight years as an officer,” Wright explained. A cadet can decide whether they want to be a reserve for eight years or jump right into active duty. After four years on active duty you can finish the rest of your time as a reserve.

Upon graduation Orlich is planning to go into active duty in either the infantry or field artillery branch. “There’s a lot of options with the Army,” Orlich said. She also has an interest in using her degree to work at a Veterans hospital and help veterans get healthy again.

“I might step down and go reserves because then I can use my sports bio degree,” Orlich said. If she pursues that route she would enroll in a graduate school and earn her masters in physical therapy.

“I think it would be cool to work in vet hospitals and watch vets get back to where they were,” she added.

Orlich and many others across the country are able to live the best of both worlds through the ROTC program. It’s a great place to start if you’re not sure what route to take after high school. For more information about ROTC at Springfield College, visit https://springfield. edu/rotc.

Orlich is on the Springfield College rugby team. (Photo courtesy of Lisa-Anne Orlich)

Lefteri Roba poses for a photo during the Pride’s swim and dive meet against MIT on Saturday, Nov. 6. (Danielle Schmelling/The Student)

Lefteri Roba

Lefteri Roba took home the win in The Student’s Women’s Athlete of the Week poll for Oct. 31 through Nov. 6. The junior on the women’s swim and dive team received 41.9% of the vote after a strong performance in the pool on Wednesday. Competing against Smith College, Roba was part of the first place 200 medley relay team (1:56.55), the winning 200 free relay team (1:45.33) and finished second in the 500 free with a time of 5:23.78. Amelia Harper, a junior goalkeeper for the women’s soccer team, finished second in the poll after a heroic performance in the team’s NEWMAC Semifinals win over Wheaton on Thursday. The game was decided by penalty kicks, a goalie’s worst nightmare. “The goalkeeper had just gone up to the ref after we missed our second shot and said ‘do we win?’ I said ‘no, I can make the next three saves’, so I had to make the next three saves,” Harper told The Student’s Hayden Choate after the match. The first one missed the net. Harper had to dive to their right on the next two. Both times they got a hand on the ball, deflecting it away from the goal. The Pride went on to win when senior Maddy Bonavita capitalized on her penalty attempt. A pair of women’s basketball stars rounded out the four nominees, with graduate transfer Sidney Wentland narrowly edging junior Sam Hourihan. Wentland, who transferred from Division II Concordia, had a tremendous start to her “Posse” career in the team’s home opener against Rensselaer on Friday. Making eight of her ten shots, including one three-pointer, Wentland led the Pride with 17 points. She rounded out her stat sheet with eight rebounds (two offensive) and five assists. Hourihan also stuffed the stat sheet in the team’s dominant 73-38 win inside an electric Blake Arena. The forward finished with 14 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals. “People came out and we really appreciated it. We hope they enjoyed it enough to come back. I think it was electric for us tonight, it was really meaningful, it’s been really hard without the game,” Pride head women’s basketball coach Naomi Graves told The Student’s Hayden Choate after the game.

Billy Carr

In the men’s poll, football’s Billy Carr just barely edged wrestler Chris Trelli after his performance in the team’s narrow win over MIT on Saturday. Carr, earning 34.8% of the vote compared to Trelli’s 33.6%, led the Pride with six total tackles, including four solo. The sophomore linebacker completed a key nine-yard sack which effectively sealed the game for the Pride. He also had two tackles for a loss. The Springfield College football team will look to secure the NEWMAC crown and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament with a win against Catholic on Stagg Field this Saturday, Nov. 13. Trelli’s performance at the Ithaca Invitational on Friday and Saturday earned him a nomination for The Student’s Men’s Athlete of the Week honor. Entering the invitational, Trelli was ranked the national No. 9 wrestler in the 141-pound weight class and didn’t disappoint. The senior was the runner-up in the invitational after falling in the title match, but won four matches to get to that point. Trelli’s teammate Chase Parrot rounded out the four nominees for his performance at the invitational where he also was a runner-up after being pinned in the 149-pound weight class final. Parrot, the third seed in his weight class, won three matches on Friday and one more on Saturday to earn his spot in the final match. Luca Brashear beat out Parrot for third-place in the poll after another standout performance on the diving boards earned him a nomination for the second time in three weeks. Brashear won on both the one-meter and three-meter boards when the Pride hosted MIT on Saturday. He scored a 278.92 on the one-meter and a 292.43 on three-meter. Be sure to follow The Student on Twitter (@TheSpfldStudent) to vote in next week’s polls!

Billy Carr (right) celebrates with CJ Lavery (7) after a defensive play against Merchant Marine Academy. (Photo courtesy of Springfield Athletics)

Lasting impact on Alden Street

Cathie Ann Schweitzer, the College’s first female Athletic Director, was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame on Oct. 30.

Out of all of the members of the Springfield College Athletic Hall of Fame, only five inductees are not graduates of Springfield College. This exclusive list includes Howard Davis, Richard B. Flynn, Tom Hay, and newly inducted member in the Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2020, Cathie Ann Schweitzer. Long before her arrival on Alden Street, Schweitzer grew up in a densely populated area of Akron, Ohio with one younger and older brother, an older sister, and a ton of neighborhood kids. “We always had somebody to play with, something to do,” Schweitzer explained. “We were always outside. My backyard was the baseball diamond. Somebody else had the basketball court. Somebody else had the football field. It was a very active neighborhood… we stayed outside all the time and played until my dad whistled for us to come home for dinner.” Schweitzer’s active upbringing led her to fall in love with sports. She would go on to play a variety of sports throughout grade school including softball and basketball. After high school, Schweitzer attended the University of Akron, and was a founding member of the women’s basketball program there. “There were limited opportunities in the 60s,” Schweitzer described. “When I got to the University of Akron they really didn’t have women’s sports yet; this was in 1969, so I and a couple of other women went to the director of athletics and said ‘Hey can we start a women’s basketball program’ and he said ‘Sure, you find a coach, you get the back gym.”” Despite some difficulty at the start, Schweitzer and her teammates helped grow the program, and not too long after her departure from Ohio, the Akron Zips Women’s Basketball team would become an NCAA Division I program in 1974. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in physical education, Schweitzer would continue her academic career at Bowling Green State University and obtain a master’s degree in physical education. Schweitzer would culminate her academics at the University of Iowa, earning a Ph.D. with a specialization in athletic administration. After all of the education and coaching, Schweitzer decided it was time to move up. With her Ph.D. she would attend an AAHPERD (American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance) convention in the spring of 1996. Schweitzer ran into her classmate and friend from Iowa, Linda Delano, at the convention, where Delano showed her a job description for an open assistant athletic director position at Springfield College. After meeting with the provost at the time, Schweitzer would be invited out to Springfield College for an interview, where she would be picked up by a future close friend in women’s basketball Coach Naomi Graves. “Coach Graves was picking me up at the airport,” Schweitzer said. “We were describing each other and I said ‘Well I’m the point guard’ and she goes ‘Well I’m the center’ being as tall as she is and as short as I am, and so we kind of hit it off as friends.” Graves still remembers and recalls the story to this day, and sees Schweitzer as a mentor for herself, and a role model for everyone. “In her career, [Schweitzer] has been a person that has laid the groundwork for many of us women behind her,” Graves stated. “I think she’s done a remarkable job of obviously building our facilities and building our programs up, but also in representing what

__ By Jac St. Jean __ @jacsaintj

Schweitzer was recognized for her 15 years of service to the College. (Photo courtesy of Springfield College Athletics)

other female coaches and administrators could be.” Only four years after her arrival, Schweitzer would take over for Ed Bilik in 2000, and become Springfield College’s first ever female director of athletics. In her 15-year tenure, Springfield College Athletics obtained 59 conference championships, 24 individual national championships, and eight team national

See Schweitzer continued on Page 12

Schweitzer

continued from Page 11 championships. Schweitzer also received a handful of awards and accomplishments as an athletic director, including NACWAA Division III Administrator of Year, and served as President of the National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators. But Schweitzer does not take as much pride in these accomplishments as she does in her time spent at Springfield. “It wasn’t like a job, it was like a labor of love,” Schweitzer described. “I never looked at my watch at work… and when I walked up that ramp to go to the office I always had a smile on my face. It was just a pride and joy being at Springfield College. The best thing is seeing the student-athletes come in as first-year students, young, and have a lot of room for development, and to see them walk across that stage at graduation is so fulfilling to see the growth and development of the individuals.” Since stepping away from her position in 2015, Schweitzer now teaches at UMass Amherst in the sports management program. Although she has been at an array of colleges, she still calls Springfield her home, and has left a huge impact on some of the coaches, like Graves, that are still here today. “When I started, there weren’t a lot of female head coaches, and there weren’t a lot of full-time positions for women,” Graves added. “[Schweitzer] was an advocate of promoting females in many different roles, and I think her impact on athletics, especially at Springfield, will be her greatest legacy. For me she’s a friend but she’s also been a great mentor and a person I reach out to for guidance. She’s just that kind of person.” Schweitzer, like many others that have traveled through Springfield, is a one of a kind individual. She has paved the way for women at a handful of colleges and universities in multiple realms of work such as sports and athletic administration, and has nurtured the culture that Springfield College Athletics fosters today. “I always say there’s givers and takers in the world,” Graves mentioned. “Cathie is a giver, and she gave herself and did her best with everything she did here. Her greatest asset would be that she was always willing to support us at any time… she didn’t want to just trailblaze alone, she wanted to bring people with her, and she certainly brought me with her.”

(Photo Courtesy of Springfield College)

On to the NCAAs

Grappling with a new season

The Springfield College men’s wrestling team competed in it’s first match since March 1, 2020.

Springfield’s wrestling team placed sixth at the annual Ithica Invitational (Photo Courtesy of Springfield College).

After a long, grueling season away from competition, Springfield College and men’s wrestling have been once again reunited, bringing to a close the seemingly eternal offseason. The Springfield wrestling team was ecstatic to make its return to the mats this past weekend during the annual Ithaca Invitational, marking the first competition since the NCAA Division III Northeast Regional Championships that occurred on March 1, 2020. “It feels great to compete again, get around the country, see where everyone else is at,” said Sam Ware, a junior in the 197-pound weight class. “It just feels great to be back on the mat in a competitive sense.” In their first event in 614 days, the Pride placed sixth out of the 11 teams during the two-day competition, posting 84.5 points, falling behind Ithaca who scored 89.5 points, Baldwin Wallace with 130 points, Castleton with 135 points, Stevens with 152 points, and Johnson & Wales, who won the event with 154 points. Although finishing sixth, there were some promising performances for Springfield. Senior Chris Trelli and junior Chase Parrot were runners-up in their respective weight classes. Trelli, who earned NWCA All-American honors during the 20192020 season, put on quite the performance in an incredibly deep 141 pound weight class, one in which that highlighted four of the top 10 wrestlers in the nation. In day two of the competition, after powering through Norwich’s Joseph Lotruglio in a 13-0 major decision, he took down the nation’s No. 4 ranked Hayden Brown of Johnson & Wales, 5-4, in the semifinals. Trelli would eventually fall to Kyle Slendorn of Stevens by way of pinfall in the finals. Parrot had similar success in the 149 pound weight class. The junior from Stamford, Conn., began his second day with a quick win over Victor Perlleshi of Johnson & Wales by a score of 6-4, and was granted a championship berth by way of injury default against Gabriel McDaniel of Johnson & Wales. In the finals, Parrot was pinned by Brett Kaliner of Stevens. For the rest of the season, Springfield looks to build upon what they were able to achieve two years ago. During the 2019-2020 season, the last time a season was held, the wrestling team posted a record of 17-5 and capped off its season by placing fourth of 17 at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championship, including having four wrestlers qualify for nationals. First-year students Zack Lawrence and Joey Manginelli, sophomore Chris Trelli and senior Joseph Fusco each placed top three in their respective weight classes, earning them an automatic qualification to the NCAA Division III Championships that were slated to take place on March 13 and 14 in the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, before the global pandemic called for a cancellation. Along with the great athletic performances, head coach Jason Holder’s efforts were acknowledged, earning him the Northeast Region Co-Coach of the Year. There is optimism from the team that they will be able to do just as good, if not better, than two years ago. “I think we expect some big things this year. We have a lot returning, and we have some returning national qualifiers from the past,” said Ware. Some of the key returnees for the upcoming season are of course Chris Trelli, who ranked ninth in the preseason National Division III rankings in the 141 weight class , along with junior Joey Magnelli, who ranked seventh in the 125 weight class. Along with the recognition of Springfields athletes, just the concept of competing again is all that they need. “When we actually have a goal to compete towards, it’s nice,” explained Ware. To begin the season however, the goal is quite simple: “Getting back into it is all we really want to do,” said Ware.

__ By Braedan Shea __ bshea2@springfield.edu

Deep and dominant

After a year without competition, the Springfield women’s basketball team carries a stacked roster into the 2021-22 season.

The Springfield College Women’s basketball team returns this year for a full season in 2021-2022.

The Pride were able to practice all last season but only played one game; a 56-47 win at Wheaton last April.

Now back with a 25game schedule, Springfield not only looks to be competitive this year but to dominate their opponents.

“We’ve got a lot of depth,” Springfield College women’s basketball coach Naomi Graves said. “The strength of our team is that I’ve got ten kids that probably could have started for me at some point in my career here.”

“Our biggest strength is our depth I think,” senior Grace Dzindolet said. “We’ve never really had a team where there’s no difference in play between the starters and the people coming off the bench, it’s really going to help us stay healthy in the long run.

The team, known as “The Posse” only return five players from the 20192020 campaign where they lost in the NEWMAC semifinals to Smith College. Springfield has an array of sophomores and first-years with two graduate students that not only add depth, but give them a skilled roster.

Seniors Dzindolet, Stephanie Lyons and Amanda Carr are the leaders of the team who all have contributed big minutes since they were first-years. They look to lead the team back to the NEWMAC championship for the first time since 2019 when they lost to MIT.

“I feel so incredibly lucky to be leading this team with my best friends Steph (Lyons) and Sis (Amanda Carr) and I’m just ready to get to the NEWMAC championship again,” Dzindolet said.

Sam Hourihan and Rachel Vinton are the only two juniors on the team, but both are big pieces to the puzzle for the Pride. Hourihan was named the 2019 NEWMAC Rookie of the Year.

Due to only having one game last year, Springfield’s sophomores and first-years are both experiencing their first collegiate year. The four sophomores of Riley Robinson, Kayla Madden, Jaelan Daubon and Kayla Thomas with the three first-years, Angela Czeremcha, Lindsey Laughlan, and Emma Glazer will all be contributing factors for the Pride.

The other two additions in their first year with Springfield are graduate students, Sidney Wentland and Summer Matlack. Wentland played at Concordia-St. Pauls and Matlack played at West Virginia Wesleyan College.

The Posse are two games into their season. They started off last Friday by winning in blow-out fashion, 73-38, over RPI. Following that was a 72-45 road win over Western New England Tuesday night.

Springfield has not only shown the strength of their roster through the first two games, but has also shown that they are willing to work together, as the team has had 41 assists in the two games.

“This team is really a pleasure to work with because they have great energy as a unit and their unselfish,” Graves said.

Not only does the team have a lot of talent and connect on the court but early on in the season they have connected off of it.

“We’re all super close, all of us love each other and we love the game of basketball and that is such a good way to start the season off,” Hourihan said.

“This team is incredibly connected, we worked hard to really work on the cohesion of it,” Graves said. “We’ve really worked hard on having that communication so our freshmen can talk, sometimes

___ By Hayden CHoate ___ @ChoateHayden

Springfield women’s basketball team lines up for national anthem before Friday’s game against RPI (Photo courtesy of Springfield College Athletics)

teams, its upperclassmen right but I think our freshmen really feel connected and our sophomore group do and that’s a big deal, we’ve worked hard at that.”

The team also has big goals for the season like getting back and winning the NEWMAC championship. Having collective goals has helped the team every day so far.

“I’m feeling really confident about this season,” Dzindolet said. “I think we look the best we’ve looked in a long time. Our team has an amazing culture and a lot of trust on the court. I’ve been enjoying every practice more and more because I know I can just go out and play with my sisters.”

Springfield begins NEWMAC play on January 8 and will play 10 non-conference games in addition to the RPI and Western New England contests. The upcoming stretch includes playing Vassar at home and traveling to Williams and Connecticut College.

Dzindolet has a strong belief in her team but knows that it is a long season.

“I think it’ll be a huge wake up call for all of us when a team does break us down and beat us,” Dzindolet admitted. “Every team has its highs and lows and I think that first loss is going to teach us a lot and prepare us for what we’ll need in the future.”

As the season ramps up the Posse are ready to take on what challenges lay ahead.

“I absolutely love this team and everything we’ve gone through together,” Dzindolet said.

A new identity

After the departure of two Alden Street greats, the Springfield men’s basketball team takes on some rebranding for the 2021-22 season.

Springfield men’s basketball takes a quick huddle during stoppage of play. (Photo courtesy of Springfield College Athletics).

__ By Chris Gionta __ @Chris_Gionta

For a few years, the Blake Arena audience was able to get used to a couple of key stars from the Springfield College men’s basketball team. An incredible guard-forward duo in Jake Ross and Heath Post captivated Springfield for all of the four years that they were there. Ross was the pinnacle of basketball at the Birthplace while he was there. He averaged 24.4 points per game along with 9.3 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game in 108 career games with the Pride. Most importantly, he is Springfield men’s basketball’s all-time leading scorer, with 2,634 career points to his name. No one is within 500 points of Ross. Post was the premier big man for a large part of his collegiate career, and did his share of scoring, rebounding and blocking shots. He averaged 13.5 points per game, 9.0 rebounds per game, and 1.5 blocks per game. In his senior year on Alden Street, he averaged a double-double with 17.0 PPG and 10.8 RPG. As these two players played out their four years of eligibility, the Pride are set to undergo a new identity. A mix of familiar faces and new faces will be on the James Naismith Court in the 2021-22 men’s basketball season. In their first game of the season against Western New England at the Alumni Healthful Living Center on Nov. 5, the Pride’s starting lineup featured three seniors and two sophomores. The starting sophomores, guard Zeke Blauner and forward Cameron Garber, were able to make an immediate impact in their first career collegiate games, as they were tied with each other for the most points scored by Springfield players with 12 each. Senior guards Daryl Costa and Collin Lindsay come into the 202122 season with the largest Springfield resumés on the roster. They each scored over six points per game in their previous seasons on the courts, were featured in the starting lineup on Friday, and were also the top two rebounders from that game. One player to look for off the bench may be junior guard Panayiotis Kapanides. All four shots he took on Friday were successful, with three of them being behind the three-point line. This gave him 11 points off the bench. In the end, Western New England ended up on top by the score of 80-68 in each team’s first game of the season. After the Pride went 23-5 in the 2019-20 season with an 11-1 conference record to lead the New England Women’s & Men’s Athletic Conference, Springfield men’s basketball is expected to have a different outlook for the 2021-22 season. The NEWMAC preseason coaches’ poll has the Pride fifth out of eight. The first 10 games on Springfield’s schedule are non-conference, and three will be at Blake Arena. Their next game is this upcoming Friday at Roger Williams, and their first home game in two years will be on Nov. 17 against Eastern Connecticut State University.