If you're like me and you can't live without your daily dose of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, feel free to skip the first two paragraphs here. It's mostly review.
Daily photographer Andrew Morgenthaler was on hand to capture the field hockey team's crucial come-from-behind 2-1 win over The College of New Jersey Sunday on Bello Field. By taking the lead with under two minutes remaining in the NCAA quarterfinals, Tufts propelled itself to a Saturday matchup with national No. 1 Messiah at Ursinus in Collegeville, Penn. This will be the Jumbos' first-ever Final Four appearance.
The 2008 campaign was a historic one by any standard for the volleyball team.
The volleyball team came within four points of a trip to the NCAA Regional finals, but it couldn't muster enough offense to put a win in the books and, instead, watched its record-breaking season come to an end Friday night. Wellesley came from behind to defeat Tufts 3-2 in a five-set duel that saw the host Jumbos exit Cousens Gym for the final time in the 2008 season.
The men's cross country team's season came to an end Saturday with an 11th-place performance at the NCAA New England Championship in Williamstown, Mass. The finish disqualified the Jumbos from consideration for an at-large bid to the NCAA National Championship race this weekend.
Rarely in sports does a fifth-place finish hold as much significance as it does at the NCAA Women's Cross Country New England Championship.
Sophomore defender Amanda Roberts couldn't have picked a better time to score her first collegiate goal.
Following one of the most prolific offensive years in league history this season, already established passers and receivers reinforced their status among the league's elite. A transformation in the NFL has been created in the 2008-09 campaign, as budding young defensive stars are beginning to change the focus of teams and game plans.
It may be 16-1, but the field hockey team knows that the lone blemish on an otherwise perfect season came after its most recent contest, a 1-0 loss in the conference title game Sunday. And with an at-large bid and new life in the NCAA Championship this weekend, the Jumbos are primed to put that loss behind them with a win over the Springfield Pride tomorrow on Bello Field.
In New England women's cross country, with the top five teams at Regionals likely earning the available bids to Nationals, it's all a game of numbers.
I've always felt you learn more about your baseball franchise in the winter months than you do during the season. You learn about the character of the organization and the direction in which it is going. You get a peek into the minds of GMs when they show you just how they value players around the game. You get a feel for the coming year. Here are a few November observations that tell you a lot about the teams involved.
With a season's worth of tune-up races behind them, the men's cross country team enters tomorrow's NCAA New England Championship with one mission: qualify for Nationals.
Junior Fanna Gamal and sophomore Sarah Nolet earned positions on the NESCAC All-Conference First Team for their efforts this season on the women's soccer team, while men's soccer senior tri-captain Peter DeGregorio was named to the NESCAC All-Conference Second Team.
While any supposed "home field" advantage offered by Cousens during last weekend's NESCAC Tournament failed to materialize, the Jumbos will have a shot to capitalize once again as the best in New England descend on the Hill this weekend.
As important as it is for championship-caliber teams to have a superstar, surrounding him with the right parts is just as crucial for teams hoping to win it all. Bird, for instance, had McHale and Parish; Jordan had Pippen; Kobe had Shaq; Duncan had Robinson and then Parker and Ginobili. Picking out this season's contenders for the Larry O'Brien trophy involves identifying which teams have that right blend of a superstar talent and a strong supporting cast.
If the Middlebury women's cross country team looks dangerous now, just wait a few years. Currently ranked No. 4 in the nation, the Panthers are fresh off a NESCAC Championship victory that they split with No. 2 Williams by placing each of their top seven runners -- five of them freshmen -- within the top 30. Joining senior tri-captain Alexandra Krieg, who trailed only Amherst senior quad-captain Elise Tropiano and Tufts sophomore Stephanie McNamara in the race, and sophomore Hannah Meier, who finished fourth for Middlebury, were first-years Elise Moody-Roberts in ninth, Claire McIlvennie in 10th, Cate Brown in 12th, Margo Cramer in 21st and Georgia Wright-Simmons in 28th.
It was a rollercoaster ride of a season for the football team this year, as the Jumbos endured a season of up-and-down play en route to a 4-4 record and a tie for fifth place in the NESCAC. The Jumbos' 2008 campaign concluded on Saturday when they fell to Middlebury on the road, 38-24.
