The legacy of the class of 2011 encompasses overarching success across all sports and has helped usher Tufts into the upper echelon of Div. III athletic institutions. Whether the "Best Ever" label can be slapped onto the latest crop of graduating Jumbos is a matter of opinion, but one can certainly make a strong case given the evidence presented.
From the moment the baseball team began conditioning in the fall through its practices during the winter and the 2011 regular season, Tufts' goal was to repeat as NESCAC champions. The Jumbos returned from Amherst, Mass., on Sunday afternoon with that mission resoundingly accomplished.
Though the softball team earned the right to host the NESCAC Tournament on Spicer Field as the NESCAC East top seed, it fell short of its goal of advancing to the NCAA Tournament after losing 7-4 to Middlebury in last Sunday's conference final. After defeating Trinity in a thrilling elimination game early Sunday afternoon, Tufts was unable to best NESCAC West top seed Middlebury and subsequently did not receive an at-large berth to the national tournament.
Over the NESCAC Championship weekend, the skies were threatening and so were Bowdoin and Middlebury. But with the fate of the men's lacrosse season on the line, lightning struck Bello Field — twice.
At the outset of the 2011 season, the sailing team's ultimate goal was a repeat of last season's success, which saw three Tufts teams — the coed team, the women's team and the team racing squad — qualify for season-ending national tournaments. But after a long, grinding season, only the No. 12 coed team will continue to compete at the coed Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA)/Gill National Championship in late May in Cascade Rocks, Ore.; the No. 14 women's team and team racing squad failed to qualify.
Greetings Tufts University class of 2011, and welcome to the real world, the ultra-depressing, decidedly non-MTV reality check that, when you cross that stage and accept your hard-earned diploma, will surely smack you right across that East Coast-educated face until you cry the sorrowful tears of unemployment and sob your way right back into your parents' basement, finally free to waste away on pizza bagels and Funyuns without academic consequences looming over your head.
The women's lacrosse team lost four conference games during the regular season, each decided by a single goal. But in yesterday's NESCAC Quarterfinal against Middlebury, in a nail-biter with the season on the line, Tufts came out on top.
The baseball team's weekend series against Bowdoin presented a unique scenario in which both squads controlled their own destiny. Whichever team won two games out of the three-game set would earn the NESCAC East Division's No. 1 seed in the upcoming conference tournament.
The softball team found itself at a crossroads heading into the final weekend of the regular season, with a series win against Trinity and a strong showing versus Colby yielding the No. 1 seed in the NESCAC tournament but a loss potentially ceding the two East division playoff spots to Trinity and Bowdoin.
Sophomore Mike Blair returned from the 2011 men's track and field NESCAC Championships on Saturday with his second career title in the high jump, though the team as a whole slipped to fourth in the final standings.
The Jumbos were able to win five individual titles and place third overall as a team at the NESCAC Championships, hosted by Wesleyan on Saturday.
The men's lacrosse team bounced back from a staggering six-point loss to Bowdoin on Friday by thrashing Conn. College 12-6 in the opening round of the NESCAC Tournament yesterday afternoon. The Jumbos scored six goals late in the third quarter to defeat the Camels and advance to next Saturday's semifinals.
On Tuesday, the men's tennis team cruised against non-conference No. 22 Brandeis 6-3, marking its 11th win of the season — the most in the program since 1996. The win against the Judges was also the Jumbos' first outdoors win against a ranked opponent this year, just in time for tonight's season finale against No. 24 Bates.
While friends and classmates will be partying at Spring Fling Saturday on the President's Lawn, the baseball team will be keenly focused on working toward its second consecutive NESCAC East division title at Huskins Field.
The weekend we've been waiting for all season is finally here.
The rock star's ramen is getting cold. Too busy reflecting on her career, Julia Browne hasn't touched her meal for over an hour now, let alone noticed that the evaporating broth is rapidly drying out the frizzy noodles.
One measure of a baseball team's strength is its ability to bounce back from adversity. Tufts (20-5-1 overall, 9-0 NESCAC East) was stunned by Brandeis in an 11-3 loss back on April 20, snapping a 14-game winning streak. But the Jumbos have now rebounded with three wins in a row.
With the debate in Washington raging over the country's rising debt and the effects of the Great Recession still being felt across the world, it's not very surprising that some soccer clubs are getting into serious financial trouble. However, while governments of the world talk of bailouts and austerity plans, no such measures are coming to the soccer world, where debt has ballooned so large that it threatens to radically change the sport as we know it.
