"I just wanted to have fun," she said while the teams waited for the judges to tally up the final team score. The scene was Hutchinson Gymnasium on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia on Saturday Feb. 2. The Brown Bears from Brown University had just taken on the host Quakers in Ivy League Women's Gymnastics.

Melissa Forziat, a 2001 Garden City High School graduate, had just made her debut in the Brown lineup on floor exercise. She was the third out of six Brown gymnasts to compete on floor and the Quakers were to follow. Each team may enter six competitors per event. The top five scores are used for the team score, but it has become a common tendency among judges to hold back a bit on the scores of early competitors so that they might be able to more highly reward a later, possibly superior performance.

Using her own choreography and music that she had cut herself, Forziat scored a 9.70 good enough for first place in the event. "I was a little nervous about going third," she told us. Well, the final event of the day for Brown was the balance beam and Forziat found herself in the leadoff spot in the Brown Bear's rotation. Seemingly undaunted, she scored a 9.725 placing her second overall in the event. Apparently her performances on floor and beam, coming as they were, late in a closely contested meet, rattled the Quakers. According to Brown Assistant Coach Sara Carver, "They [Penn] got really nervous when Melissa's scores went up. It broke their concentration." The headline feature story on Brown's athletic website concurred. "Led by freshman Melissa Forziat's second place finish on the beam and first place finish on the floor, the Bears defeated host Penn, 185.80-183.75 for their first Ivy win of the season."

The acclaim did not stop there for Forziat who was named Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) "Rookie Gymnastic Athlete of the Week" for the week of Feb. 3. She is currently ranked sixth in the ECAC on floor. Suddenly making the regionals is not quite as far-fetched as it might have seemed for a freshman. "I had not thought about it [regionals]," she said. "But I'd like to get a 10, and I'd rather not wait until my senior year. I don't want to miss any chances."

On Feb. 11, the Brown Bears went to the University of Rhode Island (URI) Invitational where Brown finished third in a strong field behind North Carolina State and URI. Brown set a new school record scoring 190.450 points. Forziat matched her career high of 9.725 on beam and she set a new career high of 9.80 on floor.

Tryouts for the upcoming 2002-2003 season for Midgets girls age 19 and under will be held Wednesday, April 10 at 7 p.m. at the Freeport Recreation Center in Freeport and Sunday, April 14 at 7:15 p.m. at Cantiague Park in Hicksville.

Tryout fee is $50 plus USA hockey membership fee of $22. Hockey clinics open for girls ages 8 to 19 will be held on Tuesday nights from 7:15 to 8:45 p.m. at Newbridge Arena in Bellmore on April 9, 16, 23 and 30; May 7, 21 and 28; June 4, 18 and 25. Cost is $20 per individual clinic or $185 for all 10 clinics. Clinic is open to girls at every skill level, beginner through advanced. For directions to rinks call Judy Pernick at 679-8277. For all other info, visit www.islandwaveshockey.com.

Third year Adelphi women's basketball Head Coach Kim Barnes-Arico was named the Women's Division II Bulletin "Coach of the Month" for February 2002. The Panthers earned their first-ever NYCAC regular season conference title and moved up to number 15 in the WBCA Top 25 ranking. Picked to finish second in the conference pre-season poll, the Panthers have remained in first place throughout the season.

Since this award, Adelphi claimed their first NYCAC Tournament Championship and advanced to the NCAA Division II Northeast Regional Sweet 16. The Panthers finished their most successful season in Adelphi history with a 28-3 overall record and a number 13 national ranking.

Senior Eddie Williams led the team with 10 points and 10 rebounds as the Panthers' season ends in the first round of the Elite Eight as they lost to Kentucky Wesleyan 46-71. The Panthers finished their championship season with a 28-3 record.

The Adelphi University women's lacrosse team opened its 2002 season with a 9-8 non-conference win over Assumption College. Katherine Hock led the Panthers with three goals and two assists. Catherine Perez collected three goals and one assist as the Panthers move to 1-0 overall.

Perez scored the first goal 3:10 minutes into the contest on an assist from Hock. A little over a minute later, Perez assisted Leigh as the Panthers went up, 2-0. The Greyhounds would ink their first goal halfway through the first half, 2-1. Perez scored her second goal of the afternoon on a free position and Hock added back-to-back goals for the Panthers. Karen Sulinski scored the final goal of the half to take Adelphi to 6-1.

Freshman goalkeeper Josephine Coiro made a tremendous save, one of 28 in the game, with 26 seconds on the clock to secure the Panther victory.

Baseball

March 29 versus Queens, 12 p.m.

April 2 versus Montclair, 3 p.m.

Men's Lacrosse

March 30 versus Bentley, 1 p.m.

April 3 versus Dowling, 3 p.m.

Women's Lacrosse

March 29 versus University of California-Davis, 3 p.m.

March 30 versus University of New Haven, 11 p.m.

Softball

March 30 versus St. Thomas Aquinas, 12 p.m.

April 4 versus Southampton, 3 p.m.