SPORTS MONDAY THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · APRIL 24, 2006 · PAGE 12
M. tennis one win from Ivy title M. crew torpedoes Dartmouth after downing Harvard, Big Green Bears win each race by more than 20 seconds BY CHRIS HATFIELD SPORTS EDITOR
BY ERIN FRAUENHOFER SPORTS STAFF WRITER
Luke Tedaldi ’06 celebrated his 22nd birthday in style on Sunday afternoon. He clinched the winning point in the men’s tennis team’s 4-3 victory over Harvard and was rewarded with an on-court rendition of “Happy Birthday” for his efforts. The victory, coming after a 6-1 dismantling of Dartmouth on Friday, moved No. 65 Brown one step closer to claiming a share of the Ivy League title. Brown is now 5-1 in the Ivy League, a half game behind the University of Pennsylvania (6-1), whose season is complete. “This is the best tennis we’ve played all year from start to finish,” said Head Coach Jay Harris. “Luke, on his birthday, becomes the hero. There’s no better story than that.” The Bears may have one more fairytale story for print as they close in on another Ivy crown. Bruno narrowly lost the doubles point against the Crimson to start Sunday’s showdown. After the second doubles duo of Dan Hanegby ’07 and Saurabh Kohli ’08 lost a close 8-6 match to Scott Denenbery and Gideon Valkin, the third doubles match
Technically, the men’s crew had a race against Dartmouth Saturday on the Seekonk River. But the three Brown boats, including the No. 4 varsity eight, dismantled the struggling Dartmouth crew, making what should have been a day of races look more like a glorified practice.
All three of Head Coach Paul Cooke ’89’s boats won by at least 23 seconds. The varsity eight finished in a time of 5:30.11, well ahead of the Big Green’s 5:53.89. The junior varsity won by 23 seconds, 5:47.52 to 6:11.00. The freshman boat had the largest margin of victory at 24 seconds, 5:56.94 to 6:21.08. Despite entering the match-up see M. CREW, page 8
Ashley Hess / Herald
Luke Tedaldi ’06 defeated Harvard’s Brian Wan 6-2, 6-2 on Sunday to seal Brown’s 4-3 victory over the Crimson. was driven to a tiebreaker. Eric Thomas ’07 and Sam Garland ’09 lost to Brandon Chiu and Nick Savage for a final score of 9-8 (5) to put Brown in an early hole. At first doubles, Phil Charm ’06 and Chris Lee ’09 faced a tiebreaker of their own. see M. TENNIS, page 8
courtesy of Susan Keogh
The men’s crew dispatched Dartmouth in three races to remain undefeated heading into its showdown with No. 1 Princeton next weekend.
No. 8 w. crew rules river, wins five vs. N.Y. schools BY MADELEINE MARECKI SPORTS STAFF WRITER
The word “loss” does not seem to be in the vocabulary of the women’s crew team lately. The Bears swept all five of their races for the third consecutive week en route to winning the Dunn Bowl, which took place at the Cayuga Inlet in Ithaca, N.Y. Bruno defeated Ivy League rivals Columbia and host Cornell at the meet. The varsity eight, ranked ninth in the nation, improved to 72, while the second varsity eight remained undefeated (9-0). The novice eight bettered its record to 8-1. Despite entering as the favorite, the varsity eight faced several challenges, in-
cluding a strong tail wind and a fast current, not to mention an aggressive Columbia boat. The race opened inauspiciously, with the Lions getting off the line quickly and taking the early lead. By starting out too conservatively, the Bears found themselves behind the Lions in the first 600 meters of the race. Led by stroke Deborah Dryer ’06, Brown worked its boat back into contention and overtook Columbia. Bruno finished in 6:24.9, more than four seconds ahead of the Lions. Cornell, meanwhile, was not in contention at any point in the race, finishing last in 6:39.3. Mira Mehta ’06, captain and coxswain of the varsity, credited Dryer’s performance as a major factor in the
Big Green blows past m. lax 14-6 BY CHRIS MAHR SPORTS STAFF WRITER
During its rough 2006 Ivy League campaign, the men’s lacrosse team has struggled with two possession statistics: faceoffs and ground balls. However, at a Saturday home game against Dartmouth, Brown held its own in both departments, winning 13 of 23 faceoffs and picking up 29 ground balls. Unfortunately, it was not enough, as the visiting Big Green jumped out to a 7-1 lead after one half on its way to a 14-6 victo-
Aaron Eisman / Herald
Kyle Hollingsworth ’09 registered a goal and an assist against Dartmouth in Brown’s 14-6 loss Saturday.
ry. The Bears remain winless in the Ivy League (0-4, 2-9 overall), following their seventh-straight defeat. “If you look at the statistics, it was pretty even,” said Head Coach Scott Nelson. “The problem was that we shot one for 18 in the first half. We obviously had to shoot better than we did.” Of Dartmouth’s 14 goals, eight came from the duo of midfielder Brad Heritage — who scored all four of his goals in the first half — and attackman Nick Bonacci. Heritage and Bonacci used two different strategies to find the back of the net, demonstrating the diversity of a Big Green offense that was averaging 11 goals per contest heading into Saturday’s game. “Bonacci’s goals came off unsettled situations, and Heritage’s were one-onone, dodge situations where he made some nice moves,” Nelson said. “They have a very good attack and offense. We knew that, but we couldn’t keep up with them. After shutting out the Bears 2-0 in the first quarter, Dartmouth scored two more in the second before attackman Brady Williams ’09 put Bruno on the board with his second goal of the season. The Big Green, however, were unfazed, tallying three unanswered scores before halftime to make it 7-1. see M. LAX, page 9
team’s win. “Deb was great. She had a confident rhythm,” Mehta said. “That kept everyone focused, and no one panicked. Everyone stayed calm.” Captain Gillian Almy ’06, though pleased with the win, felt there was room for improvement. With No. 4 Yale looming on the schedule next week, Brown will need to get off to a better start in next week’s race. “The plan was to start out conservatively, but we were too lethargic,” Almy said. “Obviously, we would have liked to walk from the start, but we kept our cool and walked the boat back to Columbia. (The race) wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad either.” Brown posted convincing wins in its other four races. The second varsity eight defeated runner-up Columbia by over 13 seconds, while the novice eight defeated second-place Cornell by more than 14.5 seconds. The varsity four won its race, 6:31.2 to the Big Red’s 6:36.9, and the sec-
ond novice eight outdistanced the Lions by 16.9 seconds. Brown will host its final home competition next Saturday on the Seekonk River, when it will take on Yale University and Northeastern University. The Bulldogs are one of the top boats in the nation, but the Bears are up for the challenge, according to Katie Reynolds ’06. “We don’t get caught up in where we are ranked or where our competition is ranked,” she said. “We are just going out hungry for the win. A big part of every race is belief, and we believe we can win against Yale. We’re going to give (the race) our all.” Almy views the race as a crucial competition in the season, as it is the team’s last event before the national qualifying race. “We need to keep up the momentum and keep building our speed and strength,” she said. “I am confident (in our team), and excited and curious to see how we do. We’re definitely on the right track.”
No. 20 Penn blots out w. lax in 15-6 win BY TOM TRUDEAU SPORTS STAFF WRITER
The women’s lacrosse team suffered its third-straight defeat in a 15-6 road loss to the No. 20 University of Pennsylvania Saturday afternoon. Penn dominated on both ends, maintaining possession and capitalizing on its scoring opportunities while holding the Bears to just 13 shots. With the defeat, the Bears dropped to 1-4 Ivy League (4-9 overall). “We actually had the ball for five minutes the entire game,” said midfielder Jennifer Redd ‘07. “We were on defense for almost the entire game.”
Brown goaltender Melissa King ’08 returned to action for the first time since April 2 against Dartmouth. King, who was out due to an injury, was tested early and often, facing 22 shots in the first half and making seven saves. “She was less confident coming out of the crease (in her first game back),” said defenseman Meg Sullivan ’06. “She is a tough girl, so she’ll do whatever it takes for the team.” Despite the lopsided finish, Brown hung tough in the early going. After Penn reeled off three straight goals to open up see W. LAX, page 8
BROWN SPORTS SCOREBOARD FRIDAY, APRIL 21 No. 65 M. TENNIS: Brown 6, Dartmouth 1 W. TENNIS: Dartmouth 5, Brown 2 SATURDAY, APRIL 22 BASEBALL: Harvard 1, Brown 0; Harvard 8, Brown 4 No. 4 M. CREW: Brown V8 5:30.11, Dartmouth V8 5:53.89 No. 8 W. CREW: Brown V8 6:24.9, Columbia V8 6:29.1, Cornell V8 6:39.3 M. LACROSSE: Dartmouth 14, Brown 6 W. LACROSSE: No. 20 Penn 15, Brown 6 SOFTBALL: Cornell 5, Brown 3; Brown 3, Cornell 1 M. TRACK: 2nd of 5 ( UConn Select Invitational) W. TRACK: 2nd of 7 (UConn Select Invitational)
W. WATER POLO: Brown 15, Queens College 3; Brown 16, Connecticut College 0 (at Northern Championships) SUNDAY, APRIL 23 M. GOLF: 3rd of 8 (Ivy League Championships) W. GOLF: 6th of 7 (Ivy League Championships) No. 65 M. TENNIS: Brown 4, No. 69 Harvard 3 W. TENNIS: Harvard 7, Dartmouth 0 W. WATER POLO: Harvard 6, Brown 5 (Northern Championships semi-finals) MONDAY, APRIL 24 BASEBALL: at Harvard (DH) SOFTBALL: vs. Columbia, 1 p.m., Softball Field