Harvard Varsity Club NEWS & VIEWS of Harvard Sports Volume 48 Issue No. 10 www.varsityclub.harvard.edu May 24, 2006 Strong Men’s Lacrosse Season Ends With First Trip to NCAA Tournament Since 1996 by Chuck Sullivan Director of Athletic Communications When the selection was made on live television, it raised more than a few eyebrows across the college lacrosse fanbase, includ- ing those of ESPN’s own analyst, Quint Kessenich, who openly questioned Harvard’s selection as one of the 16 teams that would compete in the 2006 NCAA tournament. Never mind the empirical evidence that suggested that Harvard did, in fact, belong in the field. The detractors claimed that were the Crimson to face any of the other teams under consideration — Loyola and Towson both came up in the discussion — then it would be clear that either of those schools deserved a bid more than Harvard. The numbers, however, showed otherwise. Harvard went 6-6 in the regular season against a schedule that was ranked around the top five or six in college lacrosse, depending on the day, and the Crimson had two wins against schools that reached the tournament (Penn and Denver). Loyola, which was 6-6, and Towson, which was 8-6, had defeated one tournament team each. When Harvard’s regular season came to an abrupt end with a 14-13 triple-overtime loss to Dartmouth, 19th-year head coach Sco� Anderson nonetheless maintained that his team would be in decent Senior Tom Mikula was named First Team All-Ivy and becomes the first shape come selection Sunday. Harvard defenseman since Jeff Psaki ‘00 in 2000 to be named to the first team Photo by dspics.com Anderson wouldn’t dispute that it would have been nice to have had some insurance. The Crimson, which had played its best game But a funny thing happened on the way to the tournament. Of of the year in a 12-4 win against Yale April 22, had excellent chances the seven-or-so schools that were considered bubble teams for the to strengthen its case with a road game against No. 2-ranked Hofstra NCAA bracket, all but one lost in the final week of the season. Only and the home finale against Dartmouth. But the Pride defended its Notre Dame, which defeated Quinnipiac the day before the selec- home turf in front of more than 4,000 spectators, and the Big Green tions were announced, helped its cause. stole the overtime win the following week, despite Harvard’s sta- Continued on page 6 tistical domination. Sailors Look for Another Strong Showing at Nationals Spring Teams Wrap Up Seasons by Casey Hart six championship events. In addition to the women’s title, Har- Assistant Director of Athletic Communications vard placed fourth in team racing and seventh in dinghies at last year’s spring championships. COED AND WOMEN’S SAILING Schlitz was the co-winner of the Babineau Trophy, given to It took a late comeback, but the Crimson made it 3-for-3 in the top crew in New England and was one of six Harvard sailors qualifying for the spring North American Championships at Col- named to the All-NEISA coed team. She was joined on the team lege of Charleston. Harvard passed four teams in the standings to by fellow crews Christina Dahlman (Chevy Chase, MD) and sneak into fourth place in a tight 18-team field on the second and Elyse Dolbec (Quincy, MA). Johnson, Porter and sophomore Kyle final day of the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association Kovacs (Pennington, NJ) were named All-NEISA skippers. Dinghy Championship May 7 at Brown. Seniors Vincent Porter (Winnetka, IL) and Ruth Schlitz BASEBALL (Woods Hole, MA) placed second (21-20-1, 14-6 Ivy League) in the B division to lead Harvard When it came down to two back from eighth place, passing innings to decide the Red Rolfe Boston University, MIT and Tu�s Division champion in Harvard’s and finishing two points ahead regular-season finale against of Yale with 137 points. Dartmouth April 30, the Crimson A week earlier, the Crim- had all the bats it needed—and son, now ranked fi�h nationally, then some. Harvard won the first posted a 5-0 record Saturday and of four weekend games between a 5-2 mark Sunday at the NEISA the teams, but the Big Green Team Race Championship to took Saturday’s nightcap and finish third and join the defend- Sunday’s opener then scored four ing national champion Harvard runs in the bo�om of the seventh women’s team as national quali- to tie the winner-take-all final fiers. Harvard has a tough act to game at 9-9. The Harvard offense follow at nationals, having won took it from there, pu�ing up 14 the Leonard M. Fowle Trophy unanswered runs over the final each of the last five years as the two frames for a 23-9 win and a top-performing team at the Inter- second straight division crown. Vincent Porter and Christina Dahlman at the 2005 National Collegiate Sailing Association’s Championships in Austin, TX. Photo by GTSphotos Continued on page 2 All Sports, continued from Page 1 SOFTBALL (20-24, 6-8 Ivy League) Sophomore Amanda Watkins (Placentia, CA) struck out nine The Crimson was unable to defend its Ivy League title, falling to Holy Cross ba�ers on the way to her sixth victory to complete an Princeton in two games, 9-3 and 8-2, May 6. April 27 sweep of the Crusaders, 5-1 and 6-1, for the Crimson’s At season’s end, sophomore Shawn Haviland (Farmington, final two wins of the season. The season finished with two losses CT) was named the league’s Pitcher of the Year and Adam Cole to Dartmouth April 29—the second a heartbreaking 3-2 decision (Sudbury, MA) shared the Rookie of the Year award. Haviland, in a 10-inning marathon—and a loss to Boston College. Watkins, a who posted a 3-2 record with a 0.73 earned-run average in Ivy psychology concentrator, was selected to the ESPN The Magazine games, was one of five Harvard selections to the All-Ivy League Academic All-District second team. She was named to the All-Ivy first team. Sophomore Steffan Wilson (State College, PA) was a League second team, while seniors Erin Halpenny (Fort Worth, unanimous pick to the first team at third base, while senior first TX) and Rachel Murray (Westlake Village, CA) were honorable baseman Josh Klimkiewicz (Lexington, MA), senior shortstop mention All-Ivy picks at catcher and third base, respectively. Morgan Brown (Alstead, NH) and sophomore outfielder Ma� Vance (Solana Beach, CA) were also selected. Senior outfielder MEN’S TENNIS (8-12, 4-3 Ivy League) Lance Salsgiver (Davison, MI) made the second team. Brown, Sophomore Ashwin Kumar (Round Rock, TX) was named a defensive standout and anthropology concentrator, was also to the All-Ivy League first team, both at singles—as a unanimous named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District first pick—and at doubles with freshman partner Sasha Ermakov team. (Dallas, TX), leading five Harvard All-Ivy selections. The pair competes in the NCAA Doubles Championship May 25-29 at MEN’S HEAVYWEIGHT CREW (4-2, 1-2 Ivy League) Stanford. Freshman Chris Clayton (Fort Lauderdale, FL) rep- The Harvard varsity avenged one of its two losses this season resented Harvard at singles on the All-Ivy second team, where at the Eastern Sprints, topping Brown in the grand final May 21 he was joined by the doubles squad of juniors Sco� Denenberg in Worcester, Mass., but will have to wait a few more weeks to get (Trumble, CT) and Gideon Valkin (Johannesburg, South Africa). back at Princeton. The Tigers took gold in a time of 5:41.59, ahead The Crimson completed the regular season with a dominant 6-1 of the second-place Crimson in 5:44.02. Harvard took the Rowe win April 25 against Dartmouth. Cup with the top overall performance, qualifying for the grand final in all five races and winning the second varsity eight race. WOMEN’S TENNIS (18-7, 7-0 Ivy League) The Crimson also placed second at third varsity and third in both The Crimson’s outstanding team season came to an end freshman contests. Harvard gets a rematch with Princeton and May 12, when Harvard dropped a close 4-2 decision to Purdue takes on the other top teams in collegiate rowing at the Intercol- in the NCAA tournament first round at Northwestern. There is legiate Rowing Association Championships June 1-3 in Camden, still more tennis to play for first team All-Ivy selections Melissa N.J. The annual Harvard-Yale Rega�a follows June 10. The Crim- Anderson (Sydney, Australia) and Elsa O’Riain (Cork, Ireland), son won its most recent head-to-head rega�a by nearly 15 seconds who will compete at the NCAA Championshps May 23-29 at against Northeastern April 29. Stanford. The Crimson swept the Ivy League year-end awards with senior Eva Wang (Haverford, PA) garnering Player of the WOMEN’S HEAVYWEIGHT CREW (6-4, 2-3 Ivy League) Year honors and Laura Peterzan (London, England) being named Radcliffe wrapped up its season by becoming one of just two Rookie of the Year. Both were named to the All-Ivy first team, and schools to place all six of its boats in the grand finals at the Eastern Wang will seek an individual NCAA title. Wang and sophomore Sprints May 14 in Camden, N.J.