Tuesday, April 12th, 2016 | TechNeWS sports@technewsiit.com 7 Sports Spotlight: Lukas Stanczyk Anoopa Sundararaj an EDITOR-IN-CHIEF When Lukas Stanczyk started working for Illinois Tech Athletics in the summer of 2015, he had found a perfect fit as the new Sports Information Director He has always had a great passion for sports but was not able to become an athlete so he sought other avenues to be involved in sports and found that he had “a gift and knack for writing," leading him into sports media, The part of his job here at IIT that is most time consuming involves updating the athletics website with information and official statistics from all games played by our sports teams, He also manages all of the social media outlets for the athletics department, handles the game schedules and other publication programs, Stanczyk says that his interactions with the student athletes and employees are easily the highlight of his job on a daily basis, Only a recent graduate from college himself, he finds it easy to relate to the students he works with and is able to establish a connection with them, even giving them advice about school sometimes, Asked about the favorite part of his job, Stanczyk struggles to single out just one aspect but settles on writing, He started out his college career wanting to be a journalist and his combined passion for writing and sports led him to sports media, so naturally it is of great significance to him, Asked for his opinion on how Liverpool Mete Morris TECHNEWS WRITER After firing previous manager Brendan Rodgers in late 2015, the Merseyside fans have been ecstatic about exeDortmund manager Iurgen Klopp’s arrival, Although German Manager still conquers the fans’ heart with his charisma and witty comments at the press conferences, he has been performing poorly on the pitch, The inconsistency has not improved from the Rodgers era but there has been an occasional great display of the beautiful game, which keeps fans hopeful for next season, That was certainly the case in the game against Stoke City on April 10, Liverpool started out with Daniel Sturridge as a lone striker with Firmino playing as the playmaker Liverpool youngsters Ojo and Stewart were given a chance to perform in right wing and central midfield respectively ExeManchester City midfielder James Milner and Welsh Joe Allen took the remaining two Liverpool Player Ratings: XI: Mignolet: Could do nothing to stop the goal, solid display otherwise, 7 Clyne: Average as usual, 6 Moreno: Did a great attacking job, didn’t have to defend a lot, 8 athletics is perceived at Illinois Tech, Stanczyk says that we are a “high academic institution" who put academics first and that’s the way it should be, adding that he IIIIIlICSCOI loves the prioritization Our transition from an NAIA school to NCAA D3 has provided more structure, Having been involved in D3 athletics for a few years now, Stanczyk says that ‘S INSTITUTE OF TECHNO Photo courtesy of Lukas Stanczyk we are pretty similar in most respects to other D3 schools, Recently, Vignesh Rajagopal, a junior studying electrical engineering was named Student Athlete of the Year by the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA), When Stanczyk was asked for his reaction on hearing the news, he said, “I wasn’t surprised," adding, “all the credit in the world goes to [Vignesh]? Speaking about Rajagopal’s dedication to his sport and his academics, as well as contributions to other aspects of the community, Stanczyk says, “that’s the type of kid that goes to Illinois Tech, you don’t see that type of thing anywhere else," He added that he is proud of all the athletes’ dedication and work ethic, balancing their demanding course loads with practice and games, Lastly, asked about how students at Illinois Tech can be informed about athletics, Stanczyk says that they can follow the social media pages and download the Front Row app to receive updates on all games and scores and even virtually experience the games, Asked for his opinion on campus involvement in supporting our athletes’ games, he says that the IIT crowd “really gets into it" when they do attend and even a halfefilled gym results in a lot of loud cheering and a fun time, He added that bringing a friend when students do attend can be a good way to start increasing campus involvement in supporting our athletics, defeats Stoke in Goals Galore spots in the four men midfield, Liverpool’s defense was fairly standard, with Clyne and Moreno as the fullbacks and Skrtel and Ivory National Toure as the center back The Belgian, Simon Mignolet, was handed the gloves, Stoke started with a strong attacking team with Crouch, Affelay, Bojan and Shaqiri, The game started fast with Alberto Moreno scoring right after a free kick, Although it was abeautiful strike right outside the box, the Stoke goalkeeper Haugaard did a poor job predicting the projection of the shot (Liverpool 1 r 0 Stoke, 8’ Moreno), Three minutes later, Alberto Moreno outran Shaqiri and was left one on one with Haugaard but failed to hit the back of the net, Ten minutes later exeBarcelona striker Bojan headed in a wellepracticed free kick (Liverpool 1 r 1 Stoke, 22’ Bojan), At the twenty sixth minute the 6’ 8” British striker Peter Crouch scored a beautiful header but it was ruled offside, One minute later, Sturridge’s powerful shot from the corner of the box went 2” wide from Skrtel: Had a hard time controlling Crouch during set pieces but was good otherwise, 6 Toure: Average, 6 Stewart: Great display from youngster, seems like a great prospect, 7 Allen: Dominated the midfield, 7 Milner: Had two brilliant assists, average otherwise, 7 Wednesday, April 13 Women's Lacrosse @ Augsburg 7 pm. Friday, April 15 Track and Field @ Illinois Tech 10 a.m. Sunday, April 16 Track and Field @ Illinois Tech 10 a.m. the far post, After a brilliant nutmeg and a beautiful cross from youngster Ojo, Sturridge headed it in from the crowd in the penalty box (Liverpool 2 r 1 Stoke, 32’ Sturridge), The British striker has been in great form since his return from injury in late February Stoke had a couple of chances from free kicks before but none of them resulted in a goal, The first half wrapped up with Liverpool leading with a single goal, Belgian striker Divorick Origi was subbed in for Ojo during halftime and he had a great start to his game by scoring five minutes later, heading in James Milner’s cross after a smart corner play (Liverpool 3, 1 Stoke, 50’ Origi), Simon Mignolet saved a brilliant effort from Shawcross three minutes later Although Stoke invested heavily in attackers with the likes of Shaqiri, Affelay and Krikic, they are still being most effective through free kicks and using their tall players, After this attack, Liverpool began capitalizing on the encouragement from the home Ojo: Great display in his debut with a brilliant assist, 8 Firmino: Seemed a little bit out ofposition in the first halfbut did a decent job second half, 6 Sturridge: Linked great with Ojo and Origi, getting better and better everyday, 8 Monday, April 18 Track and Field v.s. Dubuque 6 pm. Friday, April 22 Women's Lacrosse v.s. Concordia Chicago 7 pm. Saturday, April 23 Track and Field @ Illinois Tech 10:30 a.m. fans, the Merseyside club started piling up pressure on Stoke, specially using the brilliant combinations from Sturridge, Firmino and Origi At the sixty fifth minute Origi scored another goal, beating Stoke goalkeeper with a very hard cross, which ended up in the back of the net (Liverpool 4, 1 Stoke, 65’ Origi), Except for a couple of back and forth attacks from both sides, nothing significant happened until the final blow and the game finished 471, Overall, it was a very good display after Liverpool’s Euro Cup draw against Dortmund during the week, It was a fantastic game for Origi and Sturridge and horrendous one for Haugaard and Shaqiri, Kloop was very courageous with starting e and Stewart and it was the move that worked for the best, The fans were fantastic as usual and the fans are now looking forward the game against Dortmund on April 14, Subs: Origi: Scored two brilliant Goal, linked extremely well with all the team, earned himself a start in the Dortmund game, 10 Lallana: Linked well, gave the tired team some much needed energy, 7 Leiva: 6 Wednesday, April 27 Women's Lacrosse @ Benedictine 6 pm. Thursday, April 28 Track and Field @ Illinois Tech 2:30 pm. Friday, April 29 Track and Field @ Illinois Tech 9 a.m.