Daily Herald Sports Tuesday the Brown
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Crew
W. Lacrosse
Crew gets ‘wake-up call’ in first two races
Bruno trumps Stanford, falls to Dartmouth
By Sam Rubinroit Assistant Sports Editor
The men’s and women’s crew teams hit the water over break for the first time this spring, earning mixed results despite high expectations. The women’s team entered the season with a target on its back after earning the NCAA Championship in 2011 and a No. 4 national ranking. Nonetheless, Liz Hutsell ’12 said the team felt no added pressure as the defending champions. “It’s no different this year, because Brown had a good history even before the current members of the team came to the school,” she said. “I think there is always pressure to live up to that, whether we won the last season or not.” After a long winter of training, the Bears were eager to get back on the water as they travelled to Princeton March 24 to face the No. 3 Tigers and No. 9 University of Michigan. “You train indoors for the whole winter, so that first race is always exciting to see where you stack up … rather than just doing it in isolation,” Hutsell said. With a time of 6 minutes, 43.1 seconds, Michigan won the varsity eight 5 seconds ahead of Princeton and 11 seconds ahead of Brown (6:45.5). Michigan (6:43.9) also took first in the second varsity, followed by Princeton (6:46.4) and Brown (6:51.0). In the varsity four, Princeton (7:35.0) beat out both Brown (7:46.6) and Michigan (7:51.0). The Tigers also clinched the third varsity eight in 7:08.1, eight seconds ahead of the second-place Bears. “It was a really tough race,” Hutsell said. “Those teams are so good, and they both did a great job.” The Bears then hosted their first home race March 31 on the Seekonk River, squaring off against Radcliffe, Harvard’s varsity squad. “Home court advantage may be mostly psychological, and I don’t know if there are any tangible benefits, but it’s always nice to be on your home course,” Hutsell said. The Bears’ varsity eight posted the fastest time of the day at 6:16.0 to outgun Radcliffe. But the foes from Cambridge bounced back to clinch victories in the second varsity eight, third varsity eight and varsity four. Having slipped three places to No. 7 in the national rankings, the Bears will return to the water Saturday as they travel to in-state rival University of Rhode Island. The men’s squad also entered
its spring season with high hopes. The Bears varsity eight posted an impressive showing in the fall at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Cambridge, Mass., finishing third among college teams in a competitive field. The Bears opened their spring schedule on the road against Yale March 24, battling unfavorable weather conditions and a breakage in one of their boats. Alex Fleming ’12 called the race “a bit of the mess” but said the setbacks were not solely responsible for the team’s performance. Yale came out on top in the freshmen eight, finishing in 6:21.6, three seconds ahead of the Bears. The Bulldogs held on to win the second varsity eight in 6:26.7, only 1.2 seconds ahead of Brown’s time. The weather deteriorated as the day drew on, resulting in the slowest times in the varsity eight race. Yale was again able to outpace the Bears, finishing in 6:43.7, a mere two seconds ahead of Bruno. Fleming said the combination of losing and the horrid weather helped to motivate the Bears moving forward. “It wasn’t really the start to the season we were hoping for, and we were all left hungry to get a race in cleaner water to see how fast we were.” The Bears had their chance with a rare opportunity to travel to the West Coast, where they took on the defending champion University of Washington March 31. The Huskies won by a sixsecond margin in the varsity eight, and clinched victories in the freshman eight, second varsity eight, third varsity eight and combo eight races. After its impressive showing in the fall, the team had higher expectations for the start of the season, Fleming said. “We had a lot of positive results in the fall, which is why guys are a little bit disappointed with our first two race results,” he said. “It’s definitely a good wake-up call.” Nonetheless, Fleming said traveling cross country to face one of the nation’s top programs is an invaluable experience. “We were happy that we got to see how fast we were and what the West Coast speed is like,” he said. “They performed better than us on the day, but that’s good motivation for us in training. We still have a few months before the Ivy League championship and the national championship.” The Bears host their first home race of the season Saturday as Ivy League rival Harvard comes to town.
By nathaniel huether Contributing Writer
Over spring break, the women’s lacrosse team split a two-game home stand, beating Stanford 14-9 March 25 before falling 14-8 to No. 11 Dartmouth March 31. Brown 14, Stanford 9
The Bears (5-4, 1-2 Ivy) started off strong, scoring three goals within the first five minutes. The game was a high-scoring affair — after only 10 minutes of play, the score was 4-3 in favor of Brown. The Cardinal (2-5) and the Bears traded goals throughout the rest of the first half, and Bruno grabbed a 9-7 advantage going into the pause. After the break, the Bears took control of the game. Less than five minutes into the second period, Danielle Mastro ’14 scored twice and Lindsay Minges ’13 once, giving the Bears an 12-7 lead. The Cardinal only managed two goals in the second half. “For our first game after spring break, and to play well and together as a team, it was a great win,” said Head Coach Keely McDonald ’00. Dartmouth 14, Brown 8
Bruno came into the match hoping to improve upon its 1-1 record in the Ivy League. But it did not take the Big Green (7-1, 3-0 Ivy) long to begin dashing those hopes. After just 10 minutes, Dartmouth had a commanding 4-0 lead. Though Tara Rooke ’13 put the Bears on the board with an unas-
Jesse Schwimmer / Herald
Kaela McGilloway ’12 had a goal and an assist in Brown’s loss to No. 11 Dartmouth 14-8.
sisted goal, Dartmouth answered with a score of its own. Back-andforth scoring continued for the rest of the half, and the Big Green held an 8-4 lead going into the break. The Big Green kicked off the scoring again in the second period. But the Bears began to mount a comeback — Grace Healy ’14, Alexandra Crerend ’15, and Bre Hudgins ’14 all scored, narrowing the Bears’ deficit to two.
In the end, their offensive efforts were not enough, and Dartmouth went on a four-goal run to seal the win. McDonald commended her team’s will to fight back against a very strong Dartmouth squad but said she felt her team could have done more during the match. The Bears will have a chance to even their conference record on the road against Harvard April 7.
Golf
Bears lose by the skin of their teeth By connor grealy Sports Staff Writer
In its first outing of the spring season, the men’s golf team narrowly missed edging out the University of Arizona. Fighting windy conditions and rustiness, the team fell two strokes short, dropping the contest, 313-311. Arizona “is a very tough school to play against. It has historically been a leader in the NCAA,” said Head Coach Michael Hughes. “There were very windy conditions, but they only nipped us by two shots.” The contest had a very different result from last year’s, in which the Wildcats outshot the Bears by 30 strokes. “It would have been nice to knock off Arizona since they gave us a pretty bad beating last year,” Hughes said. The Brown squad, though able to practice in the week leading up to the tournament, has yet to play as many tournaments in the spring as its warm-weather counterparts.
“To be honest, when we played U of A, they had already played six tournaments,” said captain J.D. Ardell ’13. “The expectations were really low. It was a great showing on our part.” Justin Miller ’15 continued his standout play for the team and finished with a 73, one-over par, for the tournament — the lowest score for the Brown squad. “Justin continues to lead our team. He’s been the lowest scorer in almost every match since he’s been here,” Hughes said. “We’re going to ride him right to the finish line.” Aside from the play from Miller, fellow first-year Jon Greb ’15 notched a 78, while Ardell and Peter Callas ’14 both carded 81 for the day. Kyohei Itamura ’14 shot an 84 to round out the scorecard for Brown. “I think you could really tell by the end of the trip, everyone was playing really well — back on form,” Ardell said. “I’m excited to see how the next few weeks transpire.”
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The team has also added to its deep rotation with the addition of transfer Nelson Hargrove ’13.5 from the University of North Carolina, whom Ardell said he believes will have an immediate impact on the team. “This is definitely the best team that I’ve been on,” Ardell said. “We’ve been towards the bottom of the Ivies for the past few years, so we have something to prove.” Bruno will have its first look at the Ivy League competition this upcoming weekend April 7 and 8 during the Yale Invitational. “It’s the opening of Ivy League play and will be a good barometer of how we’re going to match up,” Hughes said. Hughes said he expects the progress made during the fall and the growing cohesiveness of the team will bode well for the rest of the team’s spring campaign. “This is pretty much going to be the team for next year, too,” Hughes said. “If we can keep our heads about us, I think we can surprise some people.”