Men's Basketball Is Dancing Again!
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Harvard Varsity Club NEWS & VIEWS of Harvard Sports Volume 55 Issue No. 5 www.harvardvarsityclub.org March 14, 2013 Men’s Basketball is Dancing Again! Hoops Wins Third Straight Ivy Championship Harvard entered the weekend in second place, a game behind by Amy Barry Princeton, after a pair of losses a week ago at Princeton and Penn. Athletics Communications Help came as Yale defeated Princeton, 71-66, Friday and Brown When the final buzzer sounded at Lavietes Pavilion on Satur- prevailed over the Tigers, 80-67, the following day. day afternoon, the Harvard men’s basketball team defeated Cor- The Crimson faced a must-win final weekend in order to se- nell, 65-56, to clinch a share of its third straight Ivy League title. cure another Ivy title. On Friday night, Harvard trailed Columbia The celebration was held off as there were still eight minutes for the majority of the contest and faced a four-point deficit (49- remaining in the Princeton- 45) with 90 seconds left, but the Brown game, which would Crimson fought back for a 56-51, determine if the Crimson was victory over the Lions. headed back to the Big Dance Steve Moundou-Missi ’15 or a playoff game against the cut Columbia’s lead in half by Tigers at the Palestra in Phila- sinking a pair of free throws with delphia, Penn. 1:22 left. Next the sophomore Either way Harvard would forward pulled down the big- be playing at least one more gest rebound of the game on the game this season. Lions’ next possession which was Members of the sold out, pivotal, because Columbia had 14 2,195 crowd departed, but many offensive rebounds in the game. lingered, waiting for updates Moundou-Missi passed to from the game in Providence, Siyani Chambers ’16, who raced R.I. A student-reporter found upcourt, drove to the basket, the games television broad- drew contact and a foul from cast online, which created a Grant Mullins. The freshman gathering,that included Harvard Photo courtesy Gil Talbot guard converted the and-1 by players, around a laptop com- sinking the lay-up and free throw puter. About 45 minutes after to put the Crimson up, 50-49. the buzzer rang in Cambridge, Brown finished off the victory and Moundou-Missi’s effort continued out of a Columbia the celebration of cheers ensued. Harvard earned a return trip to timeout. He intercepted the Lions’ inbounds pass near midcourt the NCAA Tournament. and went in for a dunk that gave Harvard a 52-49 lead with 32 The Crimson will make its second straight, third in program seconds left. A block by Kenyatta Smith ’15 (8 points, 8 rebounds, history, Big Dance appearance after last season when Harvard 6 blocks) and four free throws in the final 25 seconds sealed Har- returned to the tournament after a 65 season hiatus. vard’s win. Continued on Page 6 Women’s Squash National Champs; Sobhy Earns Second Straight Individual National Title handled Penn, 6-3, to begin the weekend; however, it suffered its by Dan Scotchmer only setback of the year the following day against the Tigers in a Athletic Communications Intern controversial, 5-4, loss in New Jersey. Prior to the start of the season, Mike Way, the Gregory Lee It proved to be a minor bump in the road, as the Crimson ’87 and Russell Ball ’88 Endowed Coach for Squash at Harvard rebounded by winning its next four matches, 9-0, to head into University, rhetorically asked, “What do you do after last sea- the stretch. Harvard toppled Trinity, 7-2, in its penultimate road son?” following 2011-12’s run to an undefeated season, which contest before taking out archrival Yale by an identical score on included an Ivy League title, a team national championship, and senior day. an individual national title. In the College Squash Association Team Championships, Harvard made quick work of Stanford, 9-0, and bested Penn, 6-3, again to set up a finals showdown with Trinity. The Bantams made it a much closer contest the second time, but it was not enough as Sobhy earned the clinching win at No. 1 to lift Har- vard to its second straight Howe Cup and 14th overall, 5-4. Two weeks later, it was Sobhy’s turn to defend her indi- vidual crown. The sophomore cruised into the finals, sweeping all four matches, 3-0, and allowing no more than five points in any one game. Her opponent in the final was Trinity freshman Kanzy El Defrawy, the only person to win a game against her in college. Sobhy took the match, 11-4, 11-5, 12-10, to After five months of play, the answer to Way’s remark is a earn the 13th Ramsay Cup in second consecutive national championship and a 15-1 overall school history and her second record. Sophomore Amanda Sobhy also completed her second in as many opportunities. straight 15-0 season to win the Ramsay Cup in back-to-back years. Sobhy and five other Overall, it is the third team national championship for Harvard in members of the top nine the last four years, and the third individual national champion- return next season to give ship in the past four, as well. the Crimson the necessary The Crimson began its title defense in dominating fashion, pieces to make a run at a third sweeping its first four opponents prior to its most challenging straight national title. weekend of the year with a trip to Penn and Princeton. Harvard Photos courtesy Gil Talbot Winter Sports Recaps by: James Peters Women’s Basketball (20-8, 11-3 Ivy) Men’s Swimming & Diving (9-0, 7-0 Ivy) • Harvard women’s basketball clinched a WNIT bid on March • Harvard won 14 of 19 events at the HYP meet. Griffin Schum- 9 with a 66-56 win over Cornell. Christine Clark ’14 scored 20 acher ’15, Oliver Lee ’14, Will Brophy ’14, and Chris Satterth- points in the game and Temi Fagbenle ’15 notched her seventh waite ’14 combined for a time of 1:18.71 in the 200 free relay, double-double of the season. Miriam Rutzen ’13 recorded five setting a new school record and eclipsing the NCAA ‘B’ standard points and three blocks in the game adding to her now 99 blocks in the process. Chuck Katis ’15 owns NCAA ‘A’ qualifying times over her career, which ranks her fifth in Harvard history. in the 100 and 200 breaststroke. With the win, Harvard secured • Clark has earned four Ivy Player of the Week Awards and an outright claim to the Ivy League’s dual meet championship, Fagbenle has been named Ivy Player of the Week twice and Ivy the Crimson’s 10th straight dual meet championship. Harvard Rookie of the Week nine times. Their efforts along with two Ivy placed second at the Ivy League Men’s Player of the Week nods for Victoria Lippert ’13 have set a new Swimming and Diving Championships. Ivy League benchmark of 17 weekly awards, surpassing the • Sophomore Mike Mosca (pictured) previous single-season record of 15 set by Princeton in 2009-10. dominated the one and three meter diving • Tue. boards this year. He set a pool record on the three-meter diving board scoring a 399.45 at the HYP meet. Women’s Fencing (12-8) • Harvard captured two event titles at the ECAC Championships and finished fourth • The Crimson men’s and women’s fencing team finished the of 19 teams at Blodgett Pool.Robert Doles season ranked No. 7 in the NCAA as it sends 11 fencers to the ’16 took the individual title in the 400 IM NCAA Championships March 23-24 in San Antonio, TX. with a 3:57.14 and teammates Jack Pretto • Harvard took the Beanpot title this season sweeping Brandeis ’14, Owen Wurzbacher ’13, Ryan Cutter (19-8), MIT (19-8), and Boston College(25-2). Junior Alexandra ’13, and Brophy took the 200 medley relay Kiefer recorded a perfect 9-0 mark in the women’s foil. with a time of 1:30.20, besting Boston Uni- • The Crimson placed third at the Ivy Round-Robins with a 4-2 versity by three-tenths of a second. record recording wins against Yale (22-5), Cornell (16-11), Brown (17-10), and No. 8 Penn (16-11). Only No. 3 Princeton and No. 6 Men’s Hockey (8-8-11, 6-5-9 ECAC, 3-3-4 Ivy) Columbia bested the Crimson on the day. Emma Vaggo ’15 went 16-2 in the women’s epee earning first-team all-conference, while • Harvard men’s hockey knocked off No. 11/13 Boston Univer- Felicia Sun ’13 fenced to a 9-5 record, receiving an Ivy League sity, 7-4, in the consolation game of the Beanpot tournament on second-team nomination. Aliya Itzkowitz ’16 posted a 14-4 re- Feb. 11. Senior captain Danny Biega recorded a goal and an as- cord in the women’s sabre to garner All-Ivy second-team honors. sist in the game while Luke Greiner ‘13 scored his first career hat • Vaggo and Kiefer captured medals at the 2013 NCAA North- trick and Marshall Everson ‘13 scored twice. east Regional. Vaggo went 20-3 in the epee taking the silver • Harvard took down No. 1 Quinnipiac on March 1 in a 2-1 medal in the event and Keifer earned the bronze medal in foil overtime game. Kyle Criscuolo ’16 scored in the third period going 20-3 on the day.