With just four days remaining until the softball team opens its season in Clermont, Fla. against Plymouth State, the lineup is still not set in stone. The Jumbos continue to search for the right plug to fill the gaping hole left by the graduation of shortstop Casey Sullivan (LA '10) at the end of last season.
Last year, the men's tennis team endured a difficult finish, barely missing the NESCAC Championships when it finished in seventh place with a 7−8 record (3−5 NESCAC). This year, the Jumbos are determined to get over the hump and make it to the postseason with the help of some young talent and a spring break training trip.
The No. 10 Jumbos head into the spring season with 13 players on their roster, including five freshmen, the biggest team in recent years.
After missing the NCAA Tournament last year, the softball team is eager to earn an invitation to the Big Dance this time around. The Jumbos hope to start strong when they travel down to Clermont, Fla. for the annual NTC Spring Games during spring break.
The sports world is in turmoil; that much is certain. Cappie Pondexter is busy being an insensitive idiot on Twitter, the NFL is officially locked out and I'm now unable to embark on a light jog in the nude.
Here at Rules of the Game, we aren't limited to simply analyzing rules. We can also create some of our own. So for the first time in Rules of the Game history, I am adding a rule to sports fandom:
In their first appearance on the national stage, junior Connor Rose and sophomore Jeff Marvel both had their eyes set on All−American honors in the 800−meter run this weekend at the Div. III NCAA Track and Field Championships. But despite strong performances from both, the pair came up short.
When you spend the vast majority of your four years of college eating, sleeping, training, traveling, playing and winning NESCAC and national championships with a team, you tend to grow fond of it.
The women's lacrosse team on Saturday made it clear that it has turned the page on the 2010 season, defeating Amherst 14−13 at Gooding Field, where just 10 months earlier they lost in the NESCAC quarterfinals.
For any freshman, it's a difficult task to join a team with a lot of upperclassmen starters and immediately break into the lineup. With older, more experienced players ahead in the rotation, many freshmen end up waiting a season or two on the sideline until they have the skills and the awareness necessary to compete at the required level.
Sophomore Jeff Marvel and junior Connor Rose will compete today and tomorrow at the Div. III NCAA Championships hosted by Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, hoping to return to Tufts will their first All-American honors.
The use of technology in sports is nothing new, and neither is the controversy surrounding it. Instant replay in baseball, for instance, has been as hotly debated as anything else in sports of late. The inadequacy of referees in the 2010 FIFA World Cup sparked more than a few calls for the use of technological assistance, at least for goal-scoring decisions. In cycling, the great technology debate is about the use of race radios.
With the NBA regular season winding down, it is time to check out the playoff races with long-overdue Power Rankings. Here, the Daily breaks down the contenders and pretenders of each conference, along with two sleeper teams that could make serious noise during the upcoming playoffs.
Unlike in the last few years, a legitimate title race has begun to shape up in the English Premier League, with Manchester United looking to hang onto the top spot and ride the challenges of Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea.
There are 82 games in the NHL regular season, a grueling process filled with its own unique ups and downs. Injuries and illnesses, winning and losing streaks, long road trips — it is quite an accomplishment just to make it to the end of a season.
As the season has progressed, the title of tournament favorite has been passed around in seemingly endless fashion. Duke started out as the chosen team, but it lost its best player, Kyrie Irving, and looked far from elite while getting pounded by St. Johns. The University of Kansas tried on the mantle, but then lost by 16 at rival Kansas State. Even mid-majors Brigham Young University (BYU) and San Diego State made their way into the argument, but the Cougars shot themselves in the foot by dismissing Brandon Davies, while the Aztecs no longer had any right to talk after losing to BYU twice.
After an 11-4 season that ended with a NESCAC quarterfinal loss to Amherst, the women's lacrosse team hopes for continued regular season success in its 2011 campaign, as well as a drive further into the conference tournament.
Over the past four seasons, one squad has dominated the NESCAC women's lacrosse scene: the Colby Mules, who have reached the conference championship game in each of the last four years, winning the title in 2008 and 2009. However, in last year's tournament, the Mules were upset by the Williams Ephs in the final — Williams' first ever NESCAC title.
In the past four NESCAC men's lacrosse championships, four different teams have emerged victorious. And in each of those four championships, the No. 1 seed in the tournament has been knocked out before even reaching the title game.
