While the varsity squad of the men's cross country team rested for championship season, four Jumbos suited up to wrap up the regular season at the Mayor's Cup at Franklin Park on Sunday.
It was a new experience for the women's soccer team as the squad traveled to Clinton, N.Y., for its first−everNESCAC matchup with Hamilton College. The Jumbos played well, but could not find the back of the net, instead settling for a scoreless draw with the Continentals.
Jesus would have Tim Tebow on his fantasy football team. People refer to Tebow as the Denver Broncos' savior, which is really just another way of ascribing deity−like capabilities to a mortal. And if God ever manifested himself in a mid−level NFL quarterback with quick feet and an elongated release, it would probably be through Tebow, the gun−slinging embodiment of faith.
Last week, I lamented the Mets' mediocrity, and — while I still rue every single member of that organization — my life is made infinitely more miserable by Yankee fans. Even though the Yankees had an early exit from this year's playoffs at the hands of some guy named Fister, I still hear it from my Yankee−fan friends because the Mets are constantly cast in the shadow of the most successful sports franchise in history. Our cross−town rivals outclass us in every way: legacy and championships, not to mention those fancy pinstriped jerseys. After each Yankees victory, Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" (1977) can be heard booming from the PA system. It doesn't get classier than that. Do you know what they play after the Mets win? Me neither, 'cause I've never seen it actually happen, but I'm pretty sure it's in Spanish.
In September, Hamilton field hockey looked to be a real contender in the NESCAC after posting a 2−1 victory over No. 7 Amherst. But on Saturday, the No. 13 Jumbos proved too much for the new conference foe and posted a critical 2−0 victory on the road over the Continentals. The definitive win secured a quarterfinal game on Bello Field in the quickly−approachingNESCAC Tournament and helped energize the team for Wednesday's showdown against undefeated No. 2 Bowdoin.
It was a disappointing first trip to upstate New York for both the men's and women's soccer teams on Saturday. The women were held scoreless for their third straight match en route to a 0−0 draw with Hamilton, while the men lost in overtime for the first time this season, falling 2−1.
After a crushing defeat against Endicott mid−week, the volleyball team was looking for a strong response at the Hall of Fame Tournament at Mt. Holyoke and Smith. What Tufts got was exactly that: after a fairly easy victory on Friday against Westfield St., the Jumbos earned arguably their two most impressive victories of the season over regional powerhouse Springfield and conference foe Williams.
The Jumbos have little time to dwell on their recent 9−0 loss to Trinity, because the defending NESCAC champions, the Williams Ephs, will require all of their attention. Tufts will need to build on the sparse positives and work to correct the negatives from their game against Trinity to turn their season around and avoid the program's first winless campaign since 1886.
This weekend, more than 8,000 athletes from around the world will converge on Cambridge, Mass., for the 47th annual Head of the Charles Regatta, the largest two−day regatta in the world. Tufts' men's and women's crew teams will be among the hundreds of rowers racing as they compete in the collegiate Four and Eight categories, as well as the Lightweight Eights category.
In one of its most heartbreaking losses of the season, the volleyball team was just one point away from a four−set victory on two different occasions, but could not put Endicott away. Instead, the Gulls edged the Jumbos in five frames, leaving Tufts with a 17−4 record (8−1 in NESCAC play) this fall.
In the immortal words of hip-hop's Christopher "Ludacris" Bridges, Baby what's your fantasy fantasy? OK. That's not exactly what Luda said when he laid down the hottest of rhymes 11 years ago. But three hard-hitting Daily sports columnists have taken this question head-on — specifically, what would be our dream lineups of fictional baseball superstars?
Marty Finnegan does it all. He catches passes. He holds extra points. He punts.
Step inside the Halligan Hall office of Tufts men's soccer coach Josh Shapiro and you won't see much.
The Major League Baseball postseason has, for all intents and purposes, devolved. In the two pennant clinching games, the four starting pitchers combined to pitch a total of 11 innings. The Cardinals' Edwin Jackson, whose team eventually won the game and series, only played two innings. The League Division Series averaged fewer than nine runs per game, while the League Championship Series averaged more than 11.
Before we tell you why the St. Louis Cardinals will soon be World Series Champions, it is important to note that, not too long ago, they were considered a mediocre team. On Aug. 25, they were 67-63, sitting 10.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the Wild Card. Then, in an occurrence understandable only to the baseball gods, the St. Louis went 23-9 to finish the season, while Atlanta lost 20 of its last 30 games. Entering the final day of regular-season play, both teams had 89-72 records. You know how that ended.
For those that missed Alex Prewitt's column yesterday, we are in the middle of a Fantasy Fantasy Baseball Draft series, in which we draft teams of the greatest fictional players of all time. The three of us researched hard — OK, we opened some crappy BleacherReport.com articles and some Wikipedia pages.
Junior Kendall Lord was named NESCAC Volleyball Player of the Week, rewarding the conference's leading setter for her contributions to the Jumbos' victories over the weekend. Although Trinity setter Jennifer Low has a slight edge in assists per set, Lord has more total assists than anyone in the NESCAC, and ranks fourth in service aces per set, showing her versatility as a setter on a team filled with talented attackers.
In their second of two NESCAC doubleheader weekends this season, the women's soccer team, perhaps slightly fatigued, dropped a pair of tough 1−0 decisions to conference foes Williams and Bates, falling to 6−4−2 on the year. Both matches were vital to their place in the conference standings and the results were undoubtedly disappointing.
Following Tuesday's non−conference win over UMass Dartmouth in double overtime, the men's soccer team finally seemed to have found the offensive firepower that it was lacking for much of the season. Against the Corsairs, the Jumbos recorded season−high marks in shots, shots on goal and goals — registering 22, 11 and three, respectively.
Dorothea "Dorie" Ellis (J ‘31), referred to by the Tufts Athletics Department as "the matriarch of Tufts University Athletics," died on Friday at the age of 102.
