Every four summers, soccer fandom in the United States reaches new heights. As the best players around the globe gather in search of the most coveted trophy in soccer, everyone seems to be in a better mood. The combination of competitive soccer, summer and patriotism leads to a special atmosphere around every World Cup.
Every basketball fan associates the calendar change from February to March with the word “Madness”. March Madness, the namesake of the NCAA Div. I Basketball Championship, is one of the greatest sporting events every year.
I won’t argue it’s more entertaining than the Super Bowl, the World Cup or the Olympics. However, I am not shy to praise Div. I College Basketball and March Madness over the NBA and its playoffs.
The unpredictability, volatility and larger skill gap between the players makes college basketball more exciting to watch than the NBA.
As usual, the Amherst women’s tennis team will open the season with lofty expectations. Over the last ten years, Coach Jackie Bagwell’s squad has captured eight NESCAC championships, as well as advancing to at least the NCAA semifinals eight times. Bagwell, who is entering her 23rd year at the helm, has compiled a dual meet record of 358-72, and also guided the team to an NCAA championship in 1999. Last year’s team put together an impressive 21-3 record, but fell just short of the NESCAC and NCAA titles, losing to Williams in the NESCAC championship and Emory in the NCAA semifinals.
With their 93-82 victory over Williams on Sunday, March 2 in the NESCAC Championship, the Jeffs triumphantly cut down the nets at LeFrak Gymnasium after earning their third straight NESCAC title and the seventh overall in program history. As a testament to Amherst’s outstanding performance in the NESCAC Tournament and strong overall body of work, the Jeffs were one of two teams, along with Emory University, awarded a first round bye in the NCAA Tournament (also for the third consecutive year), proving that the Jeffs are widely regarded as one of the nation’s top teams.
Thanks to senior Matt Melton’s third place finish in the 400-meters, the Amherst men’s track team took 27th in the field of 37 teams that competed in the NEICAAA Championships. The meet, also known as the All New Englands, included athletes from Div. I, II and III, but Melton’s time of 47.91 seconds was good enough to beat everyone but Rhode Island sophomore Kebba Nasso and Southern Connecticut State senior Logan Sharpe. The time was also the fastest in Div. III this year.
After a very successful regular season, the Amherst women’s hockey team lost their NESCAC quarterfinal match in a heartbreaker against Colby College this past Saturday. Despite outshooting the Mules, the Jeffs fell 3-2 after conceding a goal with 1:18 remaining in the final period. With Amherst seeded second in the NESCAC and Colby seeded seventh, the Jeffs’ loss was not the only upset in the quarterfinal matches this weekend, as top seed and fourth in the nation Middlebury fell to the eighth seed of the tournament, Conn. College.
Sophomore phenom Noah Browne represented Amherst men’s squash at the 2014 CSA Individual Championships held at Univ. of Penn. this past weekend.
Browne, ranked 33rd in the country, posted a 1-2 record for the tournament after facing a tough draw.
In the opening round of play, Browne suffered a 3-0 defeat to Ramit Tandon of Columbia, who is ranked third in the country, by a score of 11-2, 11-3 and 11-5. Tandon would go on to advance to the semifinals.
