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Bwog’s Friday Sports Roundup is back!
Football: After so many close defeats to start the season, the Columbia Lions won their first Ivy league game in two years last Saturday, 21-13 against Dartmouth. In the wind and rain, quarterbacks Shane Kelly and Millicent Olawale powered an offense that put up almost 400 all-purpose yards, while the defense stepped up to hold Dartmouth’s passing game to only 79 yards (partly thanks to Andy Shalbrack and Adam Mehrer’s interceptions). Olawale (7-7 for 111 yards) was named Ivy League offensive player of the week for his efforts. This weekend, the Lions take on Yale in New Haven. The game will be televised on the YES network – Bwog finds it ironic that the one game available on Columbia’s cable system is during the weekend many Columbia students are not on campus.
Cross Country: The men’s and women’s cross country teams finished second earlier today in the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships in Van Cortlandt Park. The women finished second to heavily-favored Princeton, who set a new championship record with only 17 points. But Columbia’s women outpaced the rest of the pack, with special congrats going to senior Megan Lessard, who finished 8th. The men’s team came even closer, losing out to Princeton by only 3 points. 7 Columbia runners finished in between 10th and 20th. On November 15th, the Lions will compete in the NCAA Northeast Regionals, also held in Van Cortlandt Park.
Women’s Soccer: The women’s soccer team kept its title hopes alive last Friday, with a 3-1 win over Dartmouth in their final home game of the year. Star Sophie Reiser was simply brilliant, scoring all three goals. She now has 12 goals and 9 assists on the year, leading the team in both categories. Not surprisingly, she won her second Ivy League Player of the Week award. Also, Reiser, goalkeeper Rebecca Taylor, and defenders Alana Presslaff and Lauren Cooke were all named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District 1 first team. As for the rest of Ivy League play, the Lions sit tied for second in the conference at 3-1-1, two points behind leaders Harvard. The team plays Yale (2-2-1) this weekend, before going to Cambridge in two weeks for what could be the title decider.
Men’s Soccer: The men’s soccer team dropped its fourth game in a row, 3-1 to Dartmouth on Saturday afternoon. Felipe Castrillon’s goal was not enough to help the Lions, who are now 1-3-0 in the conference and 3-10-1 overall. The team plays Yale tomorrow afternoon in New Haven.
Field Hockey: The field hockey team suffered another tough conference loss, 3-2 in overtime to Dartmouth. While the Lions have been a perfect 9-0 outside of the conference, they sit at only 1-4 in the league (having lost the 4 games by a combined 5 goals). The Lions play back-to-back this weekend: Yale tomorrow in New Haven, and Rutgers at home Sunday afternoon.
Volleyball: The Lions were unable to use a victory over NJIT as a springboard, as they lost to Brown and Yale at home last weekend. The team has only won 4 games in all of conference play. This weekend, they’re playing away to Princeton and Penn.
Tennis: Congratulations to senior Bogdan Borta, who qualified for the men’s ITA National Indoor Championships despite falling in the regional final. The championships take place next weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia. This weekend, the team plays in the Florida State invitational in Tallahassee, their last team event in the fall.
– JCD
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@Tell us about fencing! Aren’t we good at that?
@correction I stand corrected. Women’s soccer is in the hunt. Even if it ain’t pretty.
Go LADY LIONS!
@guest It’s been a rough fall season.
The football team has been hard to watch.
Men’s soccer has underwhelmed after starting off the season with an upset of a major national program.
Women’s soccer hasn’t gone anywhere.
After finishing 2d last year, Women’s Field Hockey has regressed in the standings.
And despite a solid non-conference showing, the Women’s Volleyball team is still an embarassment.
I say all that as an objective consumer of sports. As a subjective Columbia student, let me say that despite my cynicism, I’m proud of Columbia students who make the effort balance mind and body, and pursue athletic passions without being lured by scholarship money. Being an athlete at Columbia is not easy. Persevering in the face of distant, cramped, or inferior facilities (especially in comparison to peer schools), lack of student support (or awareness), and largely negative coverage in the press (Bill Simmons is still making fun of the football team. WTF?). I, a non-athlete, salute you.