From the Eagle Sports Desk
03/29/2004Three sports briefs from campus: women's tennis, golf, and mens track
Three sports briefs from campus: women's tennis, golf, and mens track
The AU Men's Tennis team seemed to be losing its grasp on Patriot League superiority against Army on early Sunday afternoo'
If the outcome of Saturday's Patriot League lacrosse match against Lafayette was ever in doubt, it couldn't have been for more than 22 seconds. After AU senior Tara Michael scored from the left side at 29:38 and then from the right side three minutes later, it didn't take long to figure out where this game was heading.
Sports columnist Ryan Sherwin: FREDDYYYY... ADUUUUU... When the 14-year-old soccer phenomenon's name gets called for the first time this Saturday at 4 p.m., the soccer nation will hold its collective breath, and rightfully so. The 5-foot-8, 140-lb. Ghana native has already played for every level of the national team except the senior one.
Now that everyone's bracket has been busted and the state of Alabama, not Kentucky, has two teams in the Sweet 16, the question becomes who will emerge from each bracket and earn a trip to San Antonio for the Final Four. In order to answer this question, each of the eight games from the four regions must be broken down and analyzed with precision.
AU Lacrosse lost to No. 12 Johns Hopkins Wednesday in a non-conference match that showcased two players who were honored for their performances last week. AU sophomore Moriah Linnell was named honorable-mention Player of the Week by Inside Lacrosse, while Blue Jay Heidi Pearce was named Player of the Week.
Sports columnist Ian Quillen discusses the prospect of using the arsenic field to play baseball.
The AU sports desk would like to give kudos to the AU Gentlemen's Club for bringing a baseball presence to this campus. For too long, we've been shortchanged when it comes to a variety of intramural and team sports. With any luck, that will change this spring. As a service to AU, here are the Top Ten sporting events that we feel should happen sometime in the next six weeks.
Sports briefs from The Eagle Sports Desk, including AU Golf's trip to Hawaii and victories for Women's Tennis
After beating AU to become the Patriot League champion the Lehigh Mountain Hawks lost to Florida A&M, 72-57, in the NCAA tournament opening round Tuesday. The Rattlers, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champions, were led by guard Terence Woods, the nation's best three-point shooter, who overcame a deep thigh bruise to score a game-high 21 points on 7-of-16 shooting from the floor.
Sports columnist Jesse Epstein writes: This was my year. My annual NCAA tournament pool has become more an annual dive for me the past few times out. My Homer-like instincts constantly find Duke and Kentucky losing and Arizona in the Final Four. And, every year, Duke and Kentucky dominate and I cry over spilled milk, or more like a wasted 20 bucks.
The hospital room became a very familiar place for junior Jonathan Craig last spring. He was sent there after playing the sport he loved gave him a fractured hip and jammed a safety pin into his arm. Craig isn't a football player or a varsity athlete. He's a member of AU's Cycling team.
Whenever Lehigh had the ball in the first half of Saturday's Women's Lacrosse game, it was nearly unstoppable. So in the second half, AU just didn't give Lehigh the ball. Instead, the Eagles controlled possessions and dominated the latter portion of their home Patriot League opener, storming from a 9-4 halftime deficit to a 15-10 win.
The AU Women's Basketball team came tantalizingly close to its first NCAA tournament appearance, but lost 71-60 to Colgate last Wednesday, ending their season in the Patriot League Championship game. "There wasn't a time when I didn't think the outcome would be different tonight," said Eagles head coach Shann Hart.
The Eagle Sports Desk counts down the top ten predicted athletic upsets in this year's first round.
The AU Men's Basketball team's third-straight trip to the Patriot League final proved even less charmed than it's first two. While the Eagles' PL championship losses to Holy Cross in 2002 and 2003 were disheartening, neither equaled the cruelty of Sunday's 59-57 loss at Lehigh, which again cost the Eagles the league championship and their first ever trip to the Div.
From the Eagle Sports Desk: The AU Men's Tennis team won its first home match of the season, with a 7-0 victory over Howard on Monday afternoon on Reeves courts. Senior Jonah Fliegelman continued his stellar season with his seventh consecutive victory as he beat Jibade Thomas, 6-4, 7-5.
Walking out of Stabler Arena after AU's crushing 59-57 loss at Lehigh in Sunday's Patriot League Men's Basketball championship, I knew the drive back to AU would be long, lonely and depressing. I'm a writer - not a player, a coach, a manager or a member of the athletics department. But having covered the team for the last two years, I couldn't help but hurt for them.
After a successful fall season highlighted by a win at the AU Classic, the AU Men's Golf team looks forward to a trip to Hawaii and a promising spring season. The Eagles, coming off a fall season where they placed in the top five spots in three out of four events, have a spring schedule to look forward to that incorporates seven tournaments, including a trip to Hawaii and the fabled Princeville Resort for the Kauai Collegiate Cup.
In Women's Basketball head coach Shann Hart's four years at AU, this weekend will be the biggest yet. This Friday, the Eagles enter the Patriot League tournament as the second seed in their attempt to win the league and earn an NCAA tournament bid. "We're a little disappointed with the season we had, as I thought we'd win the league, but second seed is great," Hart said. "We've definitely got something to prove."