Sports

Columns

Sports and Society: Somebody find me a quarterback

By Oliver Fox | October 19

I simply do not believe NFL quarterbacking is this hard.Using my highly-sophisticated data collection system known as recency bias, Week 6 of the 2023 NFL season was the worst single week of quarterback play ever. I have never seen more game-killing interceptions, more ill-advised throws and more boneheaded decisions than I did this past week, and I’m staging an intervention.

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Football

Offense marches football to a big win over the Wesleyan Cardinals

By Nick Dohr | October 19

Parents weekend and the Play for Pink dayhad the Tufts football team fired up, and right out of the gate, the squad was dominant. Under the lights and in front of a big crowd, junior running back Chartellis Reece started off the game for Tufts with an eight-yard carry. Junior quarterback Michael Berluti ran the ball later in the drive, gaining 24 yards and the third first down of the possession. Berluti put a 17-yard pass into the hands of junior wide receiver Cade Moore to send the Jumbos up 7–0. Sophomore kicker Vaughn Seelicke made the extra point. He went seven for seven in PATs on Saturday. 

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Sports

Women’s volleyball beats Williams and Amherst for a successful weekend at home

By Tara Wirtschoreck | October 17

It was an incredibly successful weekend in the Cousens Gymnasium for the Tufts women’s volleyball team. Tufts won two games over the weekend, against Williams on Friday night and Amherst on Saturday afternoon. This pair of NESCAC wins has brought the Jumbos up to a three game winning streak.

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Columns

Moments ‘til Madness: The battle of conferences

By Owen Short | October 13

With the season just weeks away, I created my rankings of the Power-6 conferences for the 2023-24 college basketball season. 6. Pac-12As most would expect, the Pac-12 found itself at the bottom of my rankings. Although none of the conference realignments will affect this season, the conference was already struggling mightily, finishing with just two teams in the top 40 of the 2023 KenPom rankings.

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Sports

Tufts cross country finds success at both DIII Pre-Nationals, NEICAAA Champs

By Madeline Mueller | October 13

In a busy weekend for the Tufts cross country program, the mens’ and womens’ teams competed at two different meets on Oct. 7, sending team members to the NCAA DIII Pre-Nationals Invitational in Pennsylvania and the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association Championship in Boston. In a field of nearly 40 teams at Pre-Nationals, the women’s team achieved 13th place and the men came in tenth overall. Back in Boston, the women’s team was 11th at the NEICAAA championship while the men’s team placed fifth.

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Columns

The Hard Count: Brock Purdy and the 49ers distinguish themselves from the top of NFC

By Reece Christian | October 13

In October 2022, the San Francisco 49ers traded four mid-round draft picks for dual-threat running back Christian McCaffrey. A year later, and that trade seems like more and more of a bargain. The Niners destroyed NFC rivals, the Dallas Cowboys, 42–10 on Sunday Night Football, as McCaffrey notched his 14th straight game with at least one touchdown (including four in one game a week ago).

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Columns

In the Crease: NHL standings predictions

By Zachary Gerson | October 13

The Boston Bruins are in a vastly different position to start off this season than they were last. The retirement of legendary centers Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci leaves Boston with a gaping hole at the center position, where they clearly lack NHL-caliber center depth. Pavel Zacha, the team’s new first-line center, is a solid player, but not an adequate replacement.

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Sports

Men’s soccer defeats Emerson in dramatic fashion on Senior Day

By Max Druckman | October 12

Although it may be cliché, it is often said that those with experience gain the virtues of wisdom, patience and perspective. All of these traits were on display on Saturday as the Tufts men’s soccer team honored its seniors. For 88 of the match’s 90 minutes, the Tufts Jumbos were in a 0–0 deadlock with the Emerson Lions. But thanks to a last-gasp penalty kick from sophomore midfielder Daniel Yanez, the Jumbos were able to celebrate Senior Day with a victory.

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Columns

Extra Innings: Baseball isn’t fair

By Henry Blickenstaff | October 12

The Miami Marlins made the playoffs this year. The San Diego Padres did not. The story could end there, and you’d probably walk away thinking the Marlins were a better team than the Padres. But you’d be mistaken.

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Sports

Women’s volleyball wins decisive 3-set victory against Bates

By Tara Wirtschoreck | October 12

On Saturday, the Tufts’ women’s volleyball team traveled to Lewiston, Maine where they executed a conclusive, three-set victory against Bates. The Jumbos had an incredibly strong showing both offensively and defensively, with 47 total points to the Bobcats’ 17. Tufts also had 34 kills as opposed to Bates’ 14.

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Sports

Stellar defense leads Tufts football to a win in a rainy game against Bowdoin

By Nick Dohr | October 11

The Tufts football team was met with some unwelcome rain during their Saturday game against Bowdoin. Sophomore kicker Vaughn Seelicke described the atmosphere.

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Columns

The Step Back: The perfect NBA award predictions

By Sam Dieringer | October 10

We’ve made it y’all. The leaves are turning, Halloween is in the air and NBA basketball is almost back. As we approach tip off on Oct. 24, here are my official awards picks, dark horses and NBA Finals picks. Let’s see how wrong I am in six months.

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Soccer

Men’s soccer outlasts Colby, maintains strong conference positioning

By Spencer Rosenbaum | October 6

A squad as talented as the Tufts men’s soccer team naturally sets out to win its conference at the beginning of the season, and in the NESCAC, the best way to do that is to earn a high seed heading into the postseason. By doing this, a team optimizes its hopes of reaping a home field advantage during the playoffs since quarterfinals matches are hosted by the higher seed in each game and the semifinals and finals are hosted by the highest seed remaining in the tournament. 

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Sports

Football keeps the momentum going with a big win over Williams

By Nick Dohr | October 5

Walking into the Saturday game, both the Tufts Jumbos and the Williams Ephs held 1–1 records, looking to take a win home to move their win-loss record over .500. In the last two years, this has been a close matchup: Tufts walked away with a 35–28 win last year and fell in a 32–29 loss the year before.

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Sports

Xabi Alonso and the rise of Bayer Leverkusen

By Bharat Singh | October 5

The Bundesliga usually follows a set script. After a few matchdays, Bayern Munich leads the pack with its star-studded squad as Dortmund and Leipzig trail them. The league is wrapped up by the winter in contrast to other European leagues that go down to the wire. This summer, the Bavarian giants reinforced their frontline with Harry Kane, captain of England’s national team. The former Tottenham star, who was on track to break the Premier League’s all-time scoring record, has eight goals in the league and has combined well with Bayern’s attacking frontline. Despite aiming to win their 12th consecutive championship title and boasting a dazzling squad, Bayern’s invincibility is being tested by a new challenger this season.

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Columns

Extra Innings: 2023 postseason power rankings

By Henry Blickenstaff | October 5

The 2023 playoffs are here, and it’s time to rank all 12 teams that qualified, from the bluebloods to the pretenders. 12. Miami Marlins (84–77) The Marlins set a record this year — by having the worst run differential of any playoff team in MLB history at -56. Let’s face it, this team got stupidly lucky this year, and anything other than a first round exit would be a huge surprise.

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Sports

Field hockey’s cohesive forward line flattens Colby

By Keriann Slayton | October 4

Following their first loss of the season to the No. 2 ranked, Babson, Tufts field hockey rebounded with a 2–0 victory over Colby on Saturday, completing a quest for revenge sparked in the fall of 2022. In last October’s matchup against the Colby Mules, the Jumbos lost 2–1 on home turf at Ounjian Field, so they entered this past weekend’s contest hoping to set the record straight and remain undefeated in NESCAC play.

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Sports

Women’s volleyball loses to Hamilton in tight fifth set

By Tara Wirtschoreck | October 4

The Tufts’ women’s volleyball team lost to Hamilton 2–3 on Saturday, despite bringing strong energy to the court. Tufts’ second away game of the weekend began less than 24 hours after their loss against Middlebury on Friday night. Though they lost, the Jumbos still had a strong game, scoring 81 total points to the Continentals’ 73. Tufts also had a strong offensive showing, with 62 kills.

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Columns

Sports and Society: You can't trade your best player

By Oliver Fox | October 3

I don’t think it should be allowed for a team to trade their best player unless it is approved by a popular vote of all fans. I’m not kidding around.This idea came to me when the entire baseball world was discussing if the Los Angeles Angels should or shouldn’t trade Shohei Ohtani, potentially the greatest player of the generation and one of the most multi talented athletes in the history of humanity.

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Sports

Tufts men’s football bounces back and storms to a win over Bates

By Nick Dohr | September 29

Going into what would be a rainy homecoming game, the focus for the Tufts football squad was to bounce back from the 44–19 Trinity loss with a win over Bates. As the game began, it became evidently clear that they were playing well, with a combination of a jumping catch by senior receiver Jaden Richardson and then a 61-yard touchdown run by junior quarterback Michael Berluti putting the Jumbos up 7–0 after their first possession. The Jumbo herd was there to show their support. “All the alumni back, the parents, the students. It’s really cool. That was really fun. We had the Jumbo out. That was awesome,” Berluti said. Junior running back Chartellis Reece also noticed. “I loved the night game. It was definitely something different and I really liked it. It was way more energy than I’ve seen in the long time that I’ve been here,” Reece said.

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