Harvard Varsity Club NEWS & VIEWS of Harvard Sports Volume 48 Issue No. 8 www.varsityclub.harvard.edu March 29, 2006 Men’s Hockey Team Earns ECACHL Championship Donato’s squad beats Cornell to claim its third ECACHL title in five years by Casey Hart Assistant Director of Athletic Communications Down 2-1 entering the third period, things were looking bleak for the Harvard men’s hockey team. The Crimson entered the March 11 game already trailing 1-0 in its best-of-three ECAC Hockey League quarterfinal series against St. Lawrence. Now it was 20 minutes away from being eliminated from the league playoffs and possibly losing a shot at the NCAA tourna- ment. Two goals can change a lot. Junior Ryan Maki Photo courtesy of dspics.com (Shelby Twp., MI) and sophomore Dave Wa�ers (Eden Prairie, MN) each found the net in the third period to rally Harvard to a 3-2 win that started the Crimson on a roll all the way to its eighth ECACHL tournament cham- pionship. A�er surviving the close call, the Crimson turned up the offense, pouring in 24 goals in a three-game span. Harvard defeated St. Lawrence, 8-4, in the deciding quarterfinal game, then cruised past Dartmouth,10-1, and Cornell, 6-2, on the league’s championship weekend in Albany March 17-18. Men’s hockey celebrating its eighth ECACHL title and third in five years. The Wa�ers scored just 25 seconds into the third game title solidified Harvard’s fi�h straight NCAA tournament berth. The Crimson against the Saints, and the scoring machine was off and also won its 21st Ivy League title and first since 2000. running. Senior Dan Murphy (North Andover, MA) add- ed a hat trick. A�er weathering an early storm against up 4-2 in the final minute of the second period — and assisted Dartmouth, Harvard hit double figures for the first time since Murphy on two others, in the championship win. Harvard won 1992, led by two goals and two assists from junior Steve Mandes the league title for the third time in five years and wrapped up its (Doylestown, PA). fi�h straight NCAA berth. Freshman Jimmy Fraser (Port Huron, MI) scored twice — he The dominating championship performance li�ed Harvard had the game’s first goal and a backbreaking tally to put Harvard Continued on page 3 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!! Harvard Fencing Earns First-Ever NCAA Title by Chuck Sullivan Between them, the Crimson captured the men’s and women’s Ivy Director of Athletic Communications League titles, won all three major team awards at the annual IFA Championships (men’s three-weapon, women’s three-weapon, Perhaps the first indication that this year just might be a spe- combined six-weapon) and capped the run with an amazing cial one for Harvard’s men’s and performance at the 2006 women’s fencing teams came in NCAA Championships early December in State College, as Harvard won the team PA. title for the first time in It was the Crimson’s first real school history. test in the dual meet season as Head Coach Peter the men and women faced New Brand’s fencing team York University, Rutgers, North now takes its place Carolina, and Penn State in the Photo courtesy of the ECAC alongside Harvard’s 1989 course of a weekend. Based on men’s ice hockey team, last year’s finish at the NCAA the 1990 women’s la- championships, Harvard would crosse team and the 2003 be favored against the first three, women’s crew as NCAA but the Ni�any Lions — winners champions. It’s the fourth of nine of the first 16 national NCAA championship in team championships — posed a school history and the significant challenge. 138th national title in Both the men and women Harvard’s athletics his- won, as expected, against the tory since 1880. other three opponents. And Penn The men’s and women’s fencing teams celebrating their IFA The fencing title State’s women managed to take Championship, one of many impressive titles won this season. might well have been the a slight 15-12 victory against the most unexpected of the Crimson. But Harvard’s men sent notice that the Crimson would lot, however. Just four years earlier, Harvard’s women managed be heard from in 2005-06 with a thrilling 14-13 decision against just one Ivy League victory while the men were mired in a streak the Ni�any Lions. of 12 straight last-place finishes in the league. That all changed As it turned out, the dual loss to Penn State was the only with the arrival of Brand as head coach. blemish on the Crimson women’s ledger, while the Harvard As the 2005-06 season progressed, Harvard appeared to have men completed a season that could only be described as perfect. Continued on page 3 Season Ends for Winter Teams as Spring Heats Up by Kurt Svoboda Cusworth ‘06 (St. Louis, MO) earned Honorable Mention honors. Assistant Director of Athletic Communications Stehle was also named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District First Team for the second WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY consecutive season. He went on to be (18-13-4; 10-6-4 ECACHL) named to the publication’s Academic A magical late-season run came to All-America Second Team, becoming a halt in the NCAA Tournament first the highest-decorated Ivy League player round for Head Coach Katey Stone’s of the season. Crimson. The trip to the tournament’s Photo Freeman Tara regional marked the fourth straight WOMEN’S BASKETBALL season that Harvard has advanced to (12-15, 8-6 Ivy League) the big dance, but the season will likely Behind a strong contingent of rookies, be remembered for the team’s run up Harvard overcame a sluggish start to the to the tournament rather than how it season by posting an 8-5 mark down the finished at the hands of top-ranked stretch and finishing in fourth place in New Hampshire (3-1 loss). the league. Although the youth move- Needing a victory in the final The women’s hockey team celebrating its third straight ment came early, senior Laura Robinson regular season game of the season at ECACHL title following a 4-3 win over Brown. (Fremont, CA) highlighted the team’s Clarkson in late February to ensure home ice in the ECACHL quar- strong second half and was rewarded with a spot on the All-Ivy terfinals, Harvard answered the call in dramatic fashion to set up a League Second Team. Starting all 27 games, Robinson led the league string of heroic finishes during post-season play. in 3-point shooting at nearly 48 percent from long range. Trailing 2-0, Liza Solley ‘07 (Washington, CT) scored with 17 Named to the All-Rookie team were Emily Tay (Los Angeles, seconds le� in the second period to get the Crimson going. Jennifer CA) and Katie Rollins (Augusta, ME). Raimondi ‘06 (Langley, BC) stunned Clarkson twice in less than five minutes as she tallied the game-tying goal with 27 seconds le� in MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD regulation, then scored her second goal with just one second le� in Harvard finished seventh at the Ivy League Indoor Heptagonal the extra session to give Harvard the win. Championships hosted by Dartmouth College as senior All-America The victory set up a return series against Clarkson in a best of Samyr Laine (Newburgh, NY) led the Crimson with a second place three matchup at Bright Hockey Center with the winner advancing finish in the triple jump. Nearly a month later, Laine was named to the single elimination semifinal round. Fi�ingly, a pair of one- the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association goal wins by each team forced the decisive showdown on March 5. Northeast Region Field Athlete of the Year, as chosen by the region’s Jennifer Sifers ‘07 (Stratford, CT) would score two Harvard goals head coaches. including the game-winner in the second overtime. Laine, a four-time Ivy League Heptagonal champion, qualified In the semifinals, senior goalie Ali Boe (Edina, MN) made 40 for the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships at the University saves as the Crimson shocked top-seeded and No. 2 St. Lawrence of Arkansas, where he placed 12th nationally. by a 3-1 score to advance to the title game versus Brown. A�er playing to ties of 1-1 and 0-0 in two regular season meet- WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD ings versus Brown, the two teams locked up in a heated ECACHL The women finished fourth at the Ivy League Indoor Heptago- title game that saw all seven goals scored in the first period. Harvard nals as the Crimson were led by senior Mary Serdakowski’s (W. scored the last three goals as the Crimson held on 4-3 to claim its Kingston, RI) first place finish in the 60-meter hurdles. Serdakowski third straight title and ensure a trip to the NCAA Tournament. had also claimed the title during her freshman season, and just edged a pair of Cornell hurdlers with her winning time of 8.85. WOMEN’S SQUASH (9-2, 6-0 Ivy League) Sophomore Lindsey Scherf (Scarsdale, NY) placed 14th na- Harvard and Yale met on Feb. 22 to decide the 2005-06 Ivy tionally in the 5,000-meter run in the NCAA Indoor Track & Field League championship and, after a three-hour battle, Harvard Championships at the University of Arkansas.