Harvard Varsity Club NEWS & VIEWS of Harvard Sports
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Harvard Varsity Club NEWS & VIEWS of Harvard Sports Volume 50, Issue No. 5 www.varsityclub.harvard.edu December 20, 2007 Women’s Hockey Finishes First Half Nearly Unblemished by Tim Williamson winningest women’s hockey coach with 279 victories. Assistant Director of Athletic Communications “We know it will only get tougher and tougher down the stretch. The break comes at a good time The Crimson began the season for us to recharge the battery. The play- without missing a beat, as the team ers have worked very hard up to this skated hard out of the gate with an 11- point, and now it’s time to refocus our game winning streak, the longest in the energy and attack the second half of the nation, en route to its first No. 1 ranking season.” since Feb. 24, 2004. Harvard has earned Off the ice, the team has been in- three victories over top-10 opponents in volved in the local community as the the first half of the 2007-08 campaign, Crimson City Hockey Clinic has con- and has shown how dominating the tinued to provide free ice time and inex- team can play. pensive equipment to Boston youth. Harvard tied a school record set by The clinic is run completely by Harvard the 2003-04 team by winning the first 11 hockey players, who serve as positive games of the new season, and is 11-1-0. role models to the children attending. Katey Stone’s team is a perfect 9-0-0 The Crimson have also hosted Kids in ECAC Hockey play, and has opened Press Conferences on several occasions, up a four-point lead in the conference allowing children to ask the players standings. The Crimson will now enjoy questions in a fun and informative post- a few weeks off before resuming ac- game setting. Harvard will host these tion against Cornell on Jan. 4 at Bright sessions three more times on Jan. 5, Feb. Hockey Center, where Harvard is 5-0-0 2 and Feb. 9 on the concourse at Bright this year. Hockey Center. “We are very pleased with our Harvard has been clicking on nearly start in the first half of the season,” all cylinders in the first two months, as said Stone, who is in her 14th year at the team is at or near the top of the na- Junior Sarah Vallaincourt is the Crimson’s leading Harvard and is the school’s all-time continued on page 6 scorer this season. dspics.com Winter Sports Updates Men’s Basketball (4-8, 0-1 Ivy) Men’s Fencing (4-2, 1-0 Ivy) & • The Crimson is 3-1 at home, having closed November and opened December with a pair of wins at Lavietes Pavilion. Women’s Fencing (7-0, 1-0 Ivy) Harvard got clutch play from juniors Evan Harris and Drew Housman Nov. 28, as the Crimson gutted out a 72-67 victory • After finishing second at the inaugural Beanpot Tournament, over New Hampshire. Harris notched 18 points and five steals the men’s squad rattled off four wins in six attempts, including in the win, while Housman had 13 points, all in the second half, a 16-11 win at Princeton and a 21-6 win over Sacred Heart in the and four steals. Crimson’s first home dual. • Three days later, Harvard knocked off traditional Big Ten • Sophomore Billy Stallings and senior Edward Sherrill won all power Michigan, head coach Tommy Amaker’s former team, their matches in a weekend where Harvard squared off against 62-51, in front of a sold-out Lavietes. Andrew Pusar netted a six different teams. Sophomore Karl Harmenberg led the epee team-best 12 points and was one of five starters to record at least squad in the sextet of matches. six boards and eight points. The game was tied, 51-51, before • The Crimson women took home the title in the Beanpot sophomore Pat Magnarelli made a layup and blocked a UM Tournament and ran the table against their opening slate of op- shot to ignite an 11-0 Crimson run to end the game. ponents. Junior Maria Larsson and junior Lisa Vastola headed • Harvard suffered road losses to Boston University, 79-72, Le- the epee squad during the successful weekend, which included a high, 70-61, and Long Island, 88-77, following the Michigan win 14-13 victory over defending national champion Penn State. and fell at home to Vermont, 73-68, Dec. 16. • The Crimson women finished off the 2007 calendar year with • Housman leads the team with 13.8 points per game and 45 a 21-6 win over Tufts. Sophomores Arielle Pensler, Artemisha assists. Sophomore Jeremy Lin averages 12.5 points, while Mag- Goldfeder and Anna Podolsky were each 3-0 against their narelli grabs a team-high 6.8 rebounds per contest. counterparts against the Jumbos. Sophomore Jeremy Lin Gil Talbot Photo Sophomore Arielle Pensler dspics.com Men’s Swimming (3-0, 3-0 EISL) Men’s Hockey (6-4-2, 5-3-1 ECAC, 2-0-1 Ivy) • The Crimson has three convincing conference wins and a • The Crimson has six wins to its credit and has been ranked as fourth-place finish at the Georgia Invite to its credit in 2007. high as No. 12 in the nation. Harvard has already knocked off • After helping his team to three straight victories, senior Geoff two ranked teams this season. Rathgeber earned ECAC Swimmer of the Week honors for the • Brothers Michael and Alex Biega lead the Crimson in scoring. first week of December. The senior notched NCAA “B” standard Freshman Michael leads the team with six goals and nine points. qualifying times in winning the 200-yard individual medley and He is tied for the league lead among rookies with seven points the 400 individual medley (3:52.87) at the Georgia Invite. He also (4-3-7) in ECAC Hockey games. Sophomore Alex leads Harvard won the 100 breaststroke, and his time of 55.40 seconds was just with seven assists and has eight total points on the year, good 0.2 seconds shy of earning another “B” cut. for fourth among league defensemen. • Senior Sam Wollner and junior Bill Jones also had NCAA pro- • Sophomore goalie Kyle Richter earned an honorable mention visional qualifying times at Georgia. Wollner placed fourth in the for National Player of the Month for November. Richter led the 500 freestyle in 4:24.49, and Jones placed fifth in the 100 butterfly nation with a 1.23 goals-against average and .960 save percent- in 48.49. age in November. He started December in similar fashion, mak- • Senior Lucas Sanders placed fifth in both dives in the Big Al ing 27 saves in a 1-0 win against Dartmouth, his third shutout of Invitational at Princeton. the season, Dec. 1. • Senior Mike Taylor had the lone goal, a highlight-reel, shorthanded tally in the third period, in the win against the Big Green. Harvard has since tied Vermont, 2-2, and lost to nation- ally ranked teams Rensselaer, 4-2, and Boston College, 7-2. Women’s Swimming (3-0, 3-0 Ivy) • Harvard swept its early-season Ivy League opponents and is ranked No. 1 in the CollegeSwimming.com rankings. • Sophomore Alexandra Clarke was named ECAC Swimmer of the Week thanks to her school-record time of 16:18.60 in the 1,650-yard freestyle at the Georgia Invitational. The time also met NCAA “A” qualifying standard. Clarke also hit an NCAA “B” cut with her seventh-place time of 4:51.52 in the 500 free. • Freshmen Kate Mills and Katherine Pickard swam provi- sional qualifying times in the 200 butterfly. Mills placed sixth in Senior Geoff Rathgeber 2:01.38, and Pickard took 10th in 2:02.35. dspics.com • While the swimmers were competing at Georgia, the divers were in action at Princeton’s Big Al Invitational. Senior Saman- Women’s Basketball (6-5, 0-0 Ivy) tha Papadakis won the three-meter and finished second in the one-meter. • Harvard is 3-2 in December, having opened the month with a 69-66 win against Jackson State in the consolation game of the Fifth Third Classic at Marshall. Junior Emily Tay led the Crimson with 16 points and six assists, while fellow junior Niki Finelli scored 12 points and pulled down eight rebounds. • The Crimson bounced back from a 78-64 loss to Providence with a 59-53 win at New Hampshire Dec. 8. Harvard made it two wins in a row with a hard-fought 72-62 win against Boston University Dec. 11. Junior Lindsay Hallion notched a game-high Freshman Katherine Pickard 19 points, 14 in the second half, and tied a career-high with eight dspics.com rebounds. She collected three steals and hit all nine free throws. • Hallion ranks fifth in the Ivy League with 12.6 points per game Men’s Squash (4-0, 3-0 Ivy) & to lead a trio of three Crimson players in the top 10. Finelli is second on the team with a 10.5 points-per-game average and Tay Women’s Squash (5-0, 3-0 Ivy) is averaging 10.2 points per game. Hallion leads Harvard with 2.09 steals per game while Tay ranks second with 4.36 assists per • The Harvard men and women have both taken care of game. business in their respective 2007 schedules, winning every dual • Senior Adrian Budischak has come off the bench to be a match thus far including a handful against Ivy League rebound machine, leading the team with 4.8 per game and grab- opponents.