Bwog once again presents the Friday Sports Roundup, now with national media attention!

Women’s Soccer: We are giving women’s soccer the top slot today, both because of their stellar record, and because of the national media attention they’ve drawn. Last weekend, the team won its fifth and sixth consecutive games. On Saturday night, reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Week Ashlin Yahr scored the winning goal in the 95th minute to defeat Brown. On Monday, Yahr added two more goals as the team throttled Long Island 4-0.

Yet Yahr has not been the biggest star this week. In fact, that goes to her partner in scoring, junior Sophie Reiser. In addition to scoring the first goal against Brown on Saturday, and providing three assists against LIU on Monday, Reiser was profiled by ESPN’s Graham Hays, who began by writing “At the risk of venturing into hyperbole on a Big Apple scale, I haven’t seen anyone this season who is a demonstrably better soccer player than Columbia’s Sophie Reiser.”

Finally, that was not the only mention of Columbia on the website of the “Worldwide Leader in Sports”: Hays wrote a heatwarming story about the team’s adoption of a six-year old with a rapidly growing brain tumor. The rest of sports after the jump.

Football: After a tough Homecoming loss to Princeton, which Bwog liveblogged, the football team looks to get its first win of the season at home against Lafayette. Junior quarterback Shane Kelly will hope to continue his stellar play after generating 275 yards (passing and running combined) last week against Princeton. Lafayette comes into the contest having lost to Harvard 27-13, but they defeated Penn 24-17 earlier in the season. A first win of the season would greatly boost the Lions’ confidence.

Men’s Soccer: The men’s soccer team lost its Ivy League opener to Brown, 2-1 in Providence on Saturday. After the Bears took the lead, first-year defender Ronnie Shaban found the net off a corner kick to tie the game 66th minute. Brown was able to show why the team is currently ranked 24th in the country, as they scored a late (also off a corner kick) to send the Lions home with a loss. This weekend, the Lions are away again, playing at Penn on Saturday night, before facing Adelphi at home on Tuesday.

Volleyball: After losing to LIU 3 games to 0 on Friday, the team opened Ivy League play with a tough 3-2 loss to Cornell. This weekend is crucial for the team, as they face Princeton and Penn at home tonight and tomorrow.

Cross-Country: Both the men’s and women’s teams came second at the George Mason Invitational last weekend. Sophomore Brendan Martin and senior Megan Lessard were Columbia’s highest finishers, coming in 4th and 3rd respectively. Today, the teams race in the Metropolitan Invitational in Van Cortlandt Park.

Golf: After both teams played in an alumni tournament, the men’s golf team plays at the ECAC Invitational, while the women’s team plays at the Spider Invitational in Richmond, Virginia.

Tennis: Those of you hoping to catch the men’s tennis team in action can do so this weekend, as they play in the Columbia Classic at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center Friday – Sunday. The women’s team resumes play at BJK National Tennis Center Invitational in Flushing Meadows, New York.