The football team's backbone is an enigmatic specimen, quiet almost to the point of secrecy yet knowledgeable to the brink of brilliance. He is a team manager, a defensive assistant and a music coordinator. He is a coach, a teammate and a friend.
The softball team continued to rumble toward the postseason this weekend with a two-game sweep against non-division NESCAC opponent Wesleyan. The Jumbos pitching staff dominated all day, allowing just three runs on 10 hits as the team extended its winning streak to nine games.
The situation was all too familiar. Jets fans brimming with excitement, anxiously awaiting the announcement of the missing link, the player who would re-energize the franchise. This was the year. The year the New York Jets organization would atone for their abysmal track record at the NFL Draft and select a player who would make them a true contender. The year Rex Ryan and company would shake up the NFL, vindicating his big-bellied bravado by bringing a big-name player to the Big Apple.
For the No. 5 men's lacrosse team, the scoreboard at the end of Saturday's NESCAC quarterfinal game against unranked Amherst didn't tell half the story.
The women's track and field team entered the NESCAC Championships this Saturday at Bates College ready to clean house. They did just that, delivering a total of six wins and five additional top-three finishes in the 21-event, 10-team meet en route to a second-place finish.
Having already clinched the number one seed in the NESCAC East, the No. 8 Jumbos can now rest up, reflect on an outstanding regular season and make sure it heads into the upcoming NESCAC playoffs as fresh and healthy as can be. At least, that's what one might expect.
Heading into Wednesday night's regular season finale against No. 13 Bowdoin, the No. 5 men's lacrosse team was determined to avoid a repeat of 2011. Like this year, the Jumbos had just locked up the No. 1 spot in the NESCAC last April when they traveled to Brunswick, Maine, and were upended 15-9 by the Polar Bears.
This weekend in Maine, the baseball team's destiny will be decided in a three-game series against Bowdoin. The Jumbos, winners of the past two NESCAC championships, must win two of three games against the Polar Bears to move into second place in the NESCAC East division and earn a berth into the conference tournament.
More than any other game this season, the No. 14 women's lacrosse team's regular season finale with No. 13 Bowdoin had all the makings of an extremely tight contest. Not only were the teams tied for fifth in the NESCAC and separated by one spot in the national rankings, but they also entered with very similar statistics.
When Steve Haladyna walked into Cousens Gym, he was immediately struck by the court's style. The double staircase ascending to the locker rooms, the balconies overlooking the hardwood, it all felt so old-fashioned.
This past weekend marked a crucial moment for Tufts' sailing teams, providing their last opportunity of the season to sail in regattas before the playoffs get underway.
Mired in a four?match losing streak and coming off a disheartening loss to Trinity, the men's tennis team knew it couldn't let another one slip through the cracks. The team entered its Monday afternoon matchup with Brandeis intent on ending that streak and rectifying the recent swoon.
On the night of Tuesday, April 10, the lights shone bright upon Bello Field. As the stars came out and the final seconds ticked off the clock in Tufts' 11?5 defeat of Endicott, the Jumbos rushed the field and collapsed into a dog pile in front of the cage. In the middle of the scrum was backup goalie Mike "Cheese" Maggiore, a sophomore who had just seen his first minutes of collegiate play.
Plain and simple, Los Angeles Lakers head coach Mike Brown needs to monitor what's in the water at the Staples Center. Granted, the Bynum?Barea encounter during last year's playoffs did not occur during his tenure, but it must say something about the Lakers - admittedly rather unjustly - that the two most heinous on?court incidents of the past two seasons have involved their players.
After wrapping up one of its better seasons in recent memory on Thursday with a loss against the University of New Hampshire (UNH), the club baseball team is now looking ahead to the fall with hopes of both improving and expanding.
After rising as high as first and falling as low as seventh in the NESCAC standings this season, the No. 14 women's lacrosse team finally seems to have found a happy medium.
