Category Archives: Squash

Linking Around the NESCAC | February 22

Another day, another batch of links. Let’s do it:

Women’s Soccer | Living the Dream (via Amherst Athletics)

I. THE AMHERST CONNECTION

Back in her hometown of Sudbury, Mass., Kate Sisk ’14 of the Amherst women’s soccer team was spending her Thanksgiving break studying for exams. “Our season had just ended,” recalls Sisk, who helped the Lord Jeffs set a program record with 20 wins en route to a NESCAC championship and national quarterfinal appearance. “I was feeling pretty empty.”

Sitting in a library on a rainy November day, Sisk’s phone began to ring. On the other end was Brandon Saldana ’13, the Amherst men’s reserve goalkeeper who had recently taken on a starring role on the Puerto Rican senior national team.

Stepping outside to take the call, Sisk paced under an overhang before walking in circles around the lobby. Saldana explained that the Puerto Rican women’s U20 team was looking for players as it prepared for the final stage of Caribbean qualifiers for the 2012 CONCACAF Championship in Cuba. Would Sisk be interested? Absolutely. Would it be alright if Saldana passed her information along to the coaches? Definitely.

Immediately after getting off the phone, Sisk excitedly called home. She soon got another call, this time from Rene Echevarria, a stateside recruiter for the men’s team. Before she knew it, Sisk had put her studying aside and began making plans for a week-long tryout in Puerto Rico. Continue reading

What Trinity’s squash loss means for the NESCAC

The Trinity men’s squash team lost yesterday. It’s been a long time since that last happened.

Thirteen years and 252 matches to be precise.

Before Yale took down the Bantams 5-4 in New Haven, Conn., Trinity hadn’t lost a national championship — or a match — since the Clinton presidency. No member of either current team had yet reached a double-digit age.  ”Armageddon” was the highest-grossing film.

The No. 2 Bulldogs beat top-ranked Trinity in a match that came down to the No. 4 spot, where senior John Roberts outlasted Johan Detter in five games.

The details of this match matter little in the grand scheme of things. No individual squash player will achieve international recognition, lest he grow to be comically tall and douse an opponent in spit and verbal abuse, so recognition must come on a macro level, deriving from team success. What’s more, there’s no individual brand-building in Div. III, unless you’re a 5-foot-11 dunker with a viral video.

The point is, national recognition rarely — if ever — knocks on the NESCAC’s doorstep, and rightfully so. Div. III conferences aren’t cash machines, produce few athletes with marketable talents and prefer academics to athletics. This is a fundamental non-issue that need not be addressed.

So back to Trinity’s deceased streak, and what it means for the future of the NESCAC. Continue reading

Linking Around the NESCAC | January 19

Welcome to the triumphant return of NESCAC Insider after a lengthy winter break away from school and news. We’re looking forward to getting back on the grind and delivering you the top news throughout the conference.

As always, this is Linking Around the NESCAC, your morning roundup.

Here we go:

Men’s Squash | Trinity loss ends 252-match winning streak (via ESPN.com)

Women’s Basketball | Defense key to Tufts’ 11-game winning streak (via Tufts Daily)

Tufts was led by the strong play of tournament MVP and junior co-captain forward Bre Dufault. In both games, the Jumbos also benefited from a stifling defense, which has become a trademark of coach Carla Berube’s squads. They forced a combined 50 turnovers in the two-game tournament, which led to 56 points on offense.

“Defense has been the key for us,” Dufault said. “We start with defense and we go from there. We try and focus on boxing out and getting all the fundamentals down.”

Women’s Hockey | Amherst heads West (via USCHO.com)

Amherst took a trip out west in 2008-09 as well and that didn’t turn out so well, with the Lord Jeffs losing 3-0 to Gustavus Adolphus and 2-1 to St. Thomas. However, things turned out alright in the end for Amherst, as the Lord Jeffs ended up winning their first national championship a few months later.

“We all met our here last time, rather than having a couple weeks of practices under our belts and into the daily routine coming off of the break,” Amherst coach Jim Plumer said. “We’re also trying to approach this more as a regular road trip with the kids staying in a hotel until the games are over.”

Women’s Basketball | Middlebury ends 42-day winless drought (via Middlebury campus)

Cross Country| Williams sophomore and XC national champ Chiara Del Piccolo featured in ‘Sports Illustrated’ (via Sports Illustrated)

Ice Hockey | Williams coach Bill Kangas wins 300th career game (via iBerkshires.com)

Tweet of the Day (NESCAC Squash Solidarity Edition):