Maureen O'Neill, Women's Swimming & Diving
In a week filled with stellar races across the board for Tufts, sophomore Maureen O'Neill distanced herself from the pack, totaling five first-place finishes across two meets. The sophomore swimmer led the Jumbos to second place in the seven-team MIT Invitational in Cambridge this weekend, winning the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events in addition to anchoring the first-place 200-yard freestyle relay team.
In the opening event of the meet, O'Neill swam a 24.44 split in her leg of the 200-yard freestyle relay, barely out-touching Wheaton's Dania Piscetta in the waning seconds, to give the Jumbos a first-place finish by 0.07 seconds. O'Neill followed up her performance with a victory in the 50-yard freestyle, the same event in which she holds Tufts all-time record. She rounded out her three-victory day by winning the 100-yard freestyle, edging out Piscetta by 0.11 seconds at the wall.
In the second and final home meet of the season on Wednesday against Wellesley, O'Neill once again anchored a winning 200-yard freestyle relay team as well as the dominant 200-yard medley relay, which emerged victorious by nearly five seconds. She narrowly missed out by 0.15 seconds on a third first-place finish, taking second in the 50-yard backstroke behind senior teammate Michelle Caswell.
With winter recess and exams looming, O'Neill and the Jumbos (4-0) take a break from the competitive waters, focusing on a training trip to Puerto Rico beginning on New Year's Day. Tufts returns to action Jan. 17, taking on host Williams and Wesleyan in a tri-meet.
Scott Barchard, Ice Hockey
Freshman goalie Scott Barchard was the anchor of the best defensive effort thus far for the hockey team, leading the Jumbos to back-to-back home victories over St. Anselm and New England College for their first weekend sweep in league play since 2006.
Coming into the matchups with the Hawks and the Pilgrims, Barchard had allowed 12 goals in four games but found his comfort zone in the net, ceding a combined three goals in the wins over the weekend. Saturday saw Barchard rack up 37 saves as the Jumbos knocked off New England College, 3-2 at Valley Forum II. The freshman withstood a barrage of shots from the Pilgrims, as the two goals came in a span of two minutes in the first period.
Barchard's weekend began with a 22-save effort in a 4-1 victory over visiting St. Anselm, dealing the Hawks their first loss of the season. The first-year's stellar play in the net allowed Tufts to secure its first win against St. Anselm since 2001.
Through six games in his rookie campaign, Barchard has posted a .909 save percentage, good enough for eighth in the conference, as well as a 3.01 goals-against average. The Jumbos look to continue their two-game winning streak tomorrow with a home contest against Framingham State before hanging up their pads for a month-long respite during winter break. Tufts will hit the ice in 2009 for three games before the beginning of the spring semester on the Hill.
