For winter athletes, today is more than just a chance to flip the page on the calendar to November - it is the culmination of weeks of offseason training, an end to pickup games and captains' practices, and one of the most highly anticipated days of the year.
Coaches will now resume the leadership roles that fell on their captains during the last eight or so months, and players must kick workout regimens into high gear. The winter sports season is officially here.
Last winter on the Hill was filled with both historic success and frustrating failure. With clean slates, Tufts teams will be hoping to either maintain the level of excellence achieved last year or improve upon sub-par play. Here's a glance at what's at stake for this year's winter season.
Men's Basketball: The team has a daunting task ahead of it if it wants to outdo last year's team which set a school record for wins with a 23-7 record and made an historic postseason run to the Sweet 16 of the Div. III NCAA tournament. Losing just big man and tri-captain Dan Martin from last year's squad, and returning six players that averaged over 20 minutes per game last season, the Jumbos shouldn't need much time to adjust to each other on the floor.
With over two months to gear up for NESCAC competition, the team should be hitting its stride just in time for its showdown with Amherst on Jan. 12. A seasoned squad will undoubtedly have some revenge on its mind, as the Lord Jeffs' overtime wins in the NESCAC championship game and in the Sweet Sixteen cut Tufts' run short last season.
Women's Basketball: Coach Carla Berube's team will look to rebound from last year's disappointing 10-13 season - the first sub-.500 year during her four seasons at the helm of the squad. With the loss of last year's senior tri-captain Jess Powers, the team will look to seniors Valerie Krah at guard and Laura Jasinski at forward to help the Jumbos produce a consistent offense unlike the one that mired them last season.
Like the men's team, the women's squad does not begin NESCAC play until mid-January. Until then, though, it will need to string together consistent play and to gain momentum if it hopes to topple powerhouses Bowdoin and Bates, which have played in each of the six conference championships since 2000.
Ice Hockey: Finishing the season just short of a NESCAC playoff birth last year, the ice hockey team certainly has something to prove this winter. Despite stringing together an impressive 7-1-1 streak from mid-December to mid-January, the Jumbos ultimately succumbed to injuries and finished the season 9-12-3, second to last in the conference.
Coach Brian Murphy's team has anything but an easy schedule to begin the season. It opens with back-to-back games against Middlebury and Williams - the teams that finished first and second, respectively, in the NESCAC last season.
Men's Swimming and Diving: After compiling the most successful seasons in 25 years, capped off with a No. 10 finish at Nationals, the men's swimming and diving team is ready to jump right back into the water. Losing three of the seven swimmers that went to NCAAs last year, including All-Americans Brett Baker and Jon Godsey, the Jumbos will rely heavily on a senior class led by All-Americans Greg Bettencourt and Justin Fanning, as well as Honorable Mention All-Americans Mike Kinsella and Jason Kapit.
Like the hockey team, the swimming squad will dive right into NESCAC competition on Nov. 18 when it squares off against Conn. College.
Women's Swimming and Diving: Led by senior tri-captain Chloe Young-Hyman, the swimming and diving team will hope to build on last year's fourth-place NESCAC finish and 6-3 record. The team returns a seasoned crew of sophomores and juniors who will have their eye on ousting powerhouse Williams, which secured its fourth-consecutive conference title last season.
Guided by coach Nancy Bigelow in her 25th season, the Jumbos will host Conn. College in their first meet on Nov. 18.
Men's Indoor Track and Field: The team will look to build on a season in which it sent five people to Nationals and nearly overtook Williams in Div. III New England's in February. With the loss of seniors Matt Fortin, Matt Lacey, and Pat Mahoney, junior Josh Kennedy will have to lead the pack in distance this winter. With senior captain Fred Jones in his usual spot atop the field events, and juniors Dan Marcy, Jeremy Arak, and Nate Scott, the team should not lose its stride.
Women's Indoor Track and Field: Taking second for the fourth year in a row behind Williams in Div. III New Englands, the Jumbos have something to strive for in 2006-2007.
Junior Catherine Beck will continue to lead her squad this season in the distance events, hoping to improve upon a year in which she won the NCAA New England Regional Athlete of the Year award for season-long dominance in the 5,000 meters. Along with classmate Katy O'Brien, who specialized in the 800 for the Jumbos last season, the pair won't get much of a break from cross country, in which they will likely head to Nationals in mid-November, before suiting up for indoor track.
Men's Squash: Last year's 11-12 record vaulted the team to No. 16 nationally, earning it a spot in the Hoehn Division at the College Squash Association team championships where it subsequently lost matches to Cornell, Bates and Navy.
The squad said goodbye to three seniors at the end of last season but will return a core of strong, young players, including junior No. 1 player Jake Gross, who concluded 2005-06 with a 15-8 record.
Women's Squash: Despite finishing the season at a respectable No. 21 in the national polls, the team dropped five spots in the polls from the previous year and lost in the first round of the NESCAC Invitational. This year, however, the team will return 13 of its 16 players from last season, and while last season's No. 1 player, junior Rebecca Rice, will be abroad in the spring, there are plenty of Jumbos waiting in the ranks. A more experienced group will undoubtedly look to build on last year's 10-12 clip.
Women's Fencing: Sophomore Christine Lee will try to help her team improve upon a successful 2005-2006 campaign in which the team finished third in a field of 17 at the NIFWA championships.
