Jo Clair is on fire. After hitting her 10th home run on Tuesday against Wellesley, the freshman catcher was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference's (ECAC) Div. III New England Player of the Week. She also earned NESCAC Player of the Week honors.
The world's second-most popular sport sometimes seems to be nearly invisible at Tufts. Last Saturday morning, more than 2 billion people from 220 countries worldwide tuned in to watch the Cricket World Cup Final that pitted India against Sri Lanka, marking the first final between two Asian nations. Yet the sport's popularity has yet to firmly entrench itself in America's — and Tufts' — sports scene.
As the 2010-11 regular season heads into its final week, numerous debates rage across the league: Is Derrick Rose really the MVP over Dwight Howard or LeBron James? Tom Thibodeau, Gregg Popovich or George Karl for Coach of the Year? Does any part of Shaq's body remain healthy? But while these theoretical and statistical queries occupy our minds, there is still a week's worth of games to be played and there are also playoff implications aplenty.
When Ben Ferris arrives on campus next fall, he will be bringing lofty expectations — and some shiny hardware — along with him.
All 30 National Hockey League (NHL) teams began the season last October with visions of hoisting the Stanley Cup at its conclusion in June. With just a handful of games remaining in the regular season, only 19 can still lay claim to that dream for this year.
Last Saturday, an unexpected and disappointing event occurred. No, I'm not talking about the announcement of The Roots as the Spring Fling band (seriously, no Wiz Khalifa?), but instead about an event that last happened over nine years ago: Jose Mourinho lost a league match at home.
Just four years after the club tennis team was recognized by the Athletics Department, it has made its way to the sport's biggest stage.
The men's and women's crew teams began their respective spring seasons this past weekend with a regatta at home on the Malden River, competing in head-to-head races in varsity eights, varsity fours and novice eights.
So we recently had this little event in the sports world called Opening Weekend. I was treated to the sight of a Jon Garland (White Sox-style) jersey and Barry Zito (Giants) jersey for three days straight and couldn't have been happier. Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford were written on the same lineup card, and all was right in the world.
Neither stormy conditions nor a jam-packed schedule could stop the No. 12 coed sailing team from building upon its recent success: The Jumbos rolled to three top-five finishes this past weekend, including a first-place at the Mystic Lake Team Race Invitational.
The success of the Tufts University Rugby Football Club (TURFC) this fall did not go unnoticed. The season, highlighted by a trip to the semifinals of the New England Rugby Football Union (NERFU), earned the Jumbos a top-10 national ranking.
Eight Jumbos found the back of the net yesterday as the No. 12 women's lacrosse team trampled non-league opponent Babson, 15-4.
After disappointing third-place finishes at the first two shows of the spring season, the equestrian team's dream of winning Zone 1, Region 4 was in doubt. Lackluster performances at the March 5 show in Medway, Mass., hosted by Wellesley College, and the March 13 event in Pembroke, Mass., hosted by Mount Ida College, meant that the 24-rider coed club squad's lead in the region standings had dissolved, and perennial power Stonehill College, a varsity team, had wrested back the top spot.
The men's lacrosse team shined in its first night game at Bello Field this season, holding off a second-half surge from Bates to beat the Bobcats 18-9. Junior attackman Sean Kirwan and senior quad-captain attackman Ryan Molloy led the Jumbos with four goals apiece, and freshman Patton Watkins had 16 saves in his second collegiate start.
During an on−court interview after the final buzzer sounded in his team's dramatic Game 6 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2008 NBA Finals, Boston Celtics power forward Kevin Garnett screamed to the world that "Anything is possible!"
A dominant weekend at the plate earned freshman catcher Jo Clair NESCAC Player of the Week honors for the first time in her young career. Clair, who entered the team's three−game set against Bates this weekend with six home runs, showed no signs of slowing down, going 7−for−8 with three home runs and eight RBIs. Her slugging percentage for the weekend was a gargantuan 2.125 as she helped her team to a three−game sweep of the Bobcats.
With its pitching staff running thin after 16 innings of work, the winning run at second base, and the score tied at 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth, the baseball team could not have been happier to see senior outfielder Chase Rose step to the plate with a chance to put the finishing touch on a sweep of the Bates Bobcats.
I'm not quite sure there is any possible method of counteracting this statement, but Brad Stevens is the best working coach in college basketball today. That much became certain even far before the Bulldogs once again came up short of making history. Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams and John Calipari need to move over, because the 34−year−old Golden Coach with the boyish looks and the trendy glasses has proven himself over the past two seasons to be better than the rest.
In a season defined by up−and−down play, the softball team has been in search of a spark. Coming off a gut−wrenching loss to Springfield College in their home opener on Wednesday, followed by a narrow victory over Williams on Thursday, the team knew it had a lot to prove heading into this past weekend's three−game series against Bates College, one of the perennially weaker sides in the NESCAC East.
Coming off of a successful spring break trip to Florida that included an impressive win over No. 3 University of Chicago, the No. 5 Jumbos added three more strong victories this weekend. Tufts beat Colby on Saturday and No. 18 The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) and No. 30 Brandeis on Sunday.
