Sports

It’s not so bad

Trojans, Gators, Buckeyes, and Bulldogs, fear not: Although your teams have already marred their records with the dreaded “one loss” that has plagued national championship hopefuls in recent years, your title hopes are still alive and kicking. Gone are the days when undefeated teams could be left out of the BCS title game, as was the case with Auburn in 2004. Not long ago, BCS detractors pointed out that the greatest flaw in the now ten-year-old system was its inability to accommodate more than two unbeaten teams. But after 11-2 LSU took home the trophy last year, more complicated problems have surfaced: what does the committee do when three teams, even four, are tied atop the rankings with one or two losses?

By Walker Loetscher October 9, 2008

Sports

Men’s soccer can’t find winner against Seton Hall

With eleven teams within two games of first place, the Big East is as muddled a field as it has been in recent memory. True to form, 120 minutes couldn’t decide a winner between Georgetown (7-2-2, 2-2-2 BE) and Seton Hall (6-5-1, 2-3-1 BE). The two teams settled for a 1-1 tie yesterday evening on North Kehoe Field.

By Anthony Francavilla October 9, 2008

Sports

Hoyas fresh for Penn

The Georgetown Plague made its way onto the gridiron last week, forcing the Hoyas (1-4) to cancel their scheduled game against Colgate, a match-up which will not be made up this season. While no one likes to miss a game, head coach Kevin Kelly’s players made good use of the break.

By Tom Bosco October 9, 2008

Sports

Fast Break: Women’s soccer takes on top-ranked Notre Dame

After an unexpected weekend off due to the norovirus outbreak on campus, the Georgetown women’s soccer team (8-0-2) spent the week regrouping in preparation for their biggest challenge of the season: the top-ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.

By Liz Kuebler October 9, 2008

Sports

The Sports Sermon: Washington International Horse Show

The first words of the equestrian feature on the opposite page are easily the first I’d ever written about horse shows. But now that I’m in the equine spirit, I may as well take it a little further—that’s what happens when someone who has never been within 20 feet of a horse finds himself surrounded by dozens on a Sunday afternoon. Besides, Greg Monroe won’t take his first official shot for over a month, but in just a few weeks the Verizon Center will play host to the 50th Annual Washington International Horse Show.

By Anthony Francavilla October 9, 2008

Sports

Hot in the saddle: Georgetown’s newest club sport

If there’s an epicenter of equine activity in the United States, it’s probably not far from here.

“Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania—these are historically the hotspots in the United States,” trainer Jeff Becker said. “It’s probably the largest concentration of horses in the country, literally thousands of stables and every week new ones open.”

Becker runs one such stable, Lakeside, which he calls “the best office in the world.” This “office,” located on 200 acres at the base of Sugarloaf Mountain in Clarksburg, Maryland, is home to some 50 horses, a donkey named Jacob, and one of Georgetown’s newest club sports: the GU Equestrian Team.

By Anthony Francavilla October 9, 2008

Sports

Sports Sermon: Taking back the Redskins

I broke up with the Redskins years ago. Where the team once held a stranglehold on professional football in my lexicon of favorite franchises, there is nothing but an empty void, creating in me the rare American sports fan that is indifferent towards the country’s most popular league. But now, I want them back. For fear of sounding like a fickle fan or worse, a bandwagon jumper, I feel like I should explain myself.

By Anthony Francavilla October 2, 2008

Sports

Double duty for Etukeren, Georgetown defense

Some of the great defenses in football history—the New York Sack Exchange, the Steel Curtain—have one thing in common with the Georgetown Hoyas: a strong defensive line. A stagnant offense and porous secondary have negated the line’s effectiveness, but the unit remains the team’s strongest and the key to bouncing back against Colgate.

By Tom Bosco October 2, 2008

Sports

No. 25 Hoyas face toughest challenge of the year

Last year, the Georgetown men’s soccer team was 2-7-0 heading into October. This season the Hoyas are entering their second full month of play with a record of 7-2-1. What’s different?

By Tim Shine October 2, 2008

Sports

Fast Break: Women’s Soccer

After two shutout victories on the road this past weekend, the Georgetown women’s soccer team (8-0-2, 3-0-0 BE) returns home to host Syracuse on Friday and St. John’s on Sunday.

By Liz Kuebler October 2, 2008

Sports

Fast Break: Women’s volleyball

After last Sunday’s loss against Notre Dame—which snapped a five game home win streak—head coach Arlisa Williams’ squad is looking for redemption on Friday evening against West Virginia.

By Nicole Bush October 2, 2008

Sports

Hitting the lanes

My older brother Eric graduated from Bowdoin College, which you’re probably not very familiar with because it’s in Maine. The people who go there have little interest in Model UN or many of the other endeavors that titillate more than a few Georgetown students. With what sort of intellectual extra-currics do they pad their resumes, you may ask? Bowling.

By Jeff Bakkensen October 2, 2008

Sports

Football’s home debut

“Dear old Holy Cross,” as Georgetown’s antiquated fight song refers to it, was anything but dear to Georgetown’s football team last season. The Crusaders sent the Hoyas home with an embarrassing 55-0 shutout loss. Memories of the beating must be lingering in head coach Kevin Kelly’s mind with just days left before Georgetown’s home opener against the Crusaders, especially after a similarly lopsided loss last weekend to Yale.

By Tom Bosco September 25, 2008

Sports

Former Hoyas shine under Friday Night Lights

Teen pregnancy, tragic paraplegics, “spirited” cheerleaders ,and football—who doesn’t yearn for the halcyon years of high school? Springsteen may have written many a nostalgic song about those glory days of skinny-dipping down by the river after school, but unlike Georgetown grads Matt Bassuener (SFS ’08) and Brent Craft (MSB ’08), he never got to return to the place where the magic all began. As two of the newest additions to the cast of NBC’s award-winning television series, Friday Night Lights, the former Hoya football players are reliving the dream of secondary school, except this time around, there’s no homework, they get paid for showing up, and the school’s head cheerleader is dating Derek Jeter.

By admin September 25, 2008

Sports

The NFC: No Fluke Conference

J.V. B-side. Rec league. Semi-pro. The No Fun Conference. These are just a few of the names that football pundits have called the NFC in recent years, and, until now, they’ve had good reason.

By Walker Loetscher September 25, 2008

Sports

Georgetown women’s soccer finds its go-to girl

Ranked first in the Big East for goals (8) and points (19), eleventh in the nation for points per game (2.38), ninth in goals per game (1.0)—the list goes on. It’s not terribly surprising for a member of a top 25 caliber women’s soccer team like Georgetown to enjoy that much success, but for junior forward Toni Marie Hudson, it’s a start unlike anything she could have imagined.

By Liz Kuebler September 25, 2008

Sports

Sports Sermon: The death of the ticket stub

Resting on the corner of my father’s dresser in our old house was a tall glass pitcher full of ticket stubs. Having long ago lost its identity as a generic container, the pitcher transformed with each new addition into something more. By the time I was old enough to care, it was overflowing and looked more like a Cézanne still life than a simple glass. That’s just how I treated it—as a masterpiece. One of my favorite things to do was to empty it and rifle through the stubs, exploring every event my dad had been to, from Rush concerts to Penguins games. Every single ticket in that pitcher was the ultimate souvenir—a paper rectangle that made the same simple but important statement: he’d been there.

By Anthony Francavilla September 25, 2008

Sports

Fast Break: Men’s Soccer

For the second weekend in a row, the 24th-ranked Georgetown men’s soccer team will have to face two conference foes in three days. This time, the Hoyas (6-2-0, 1-2 BE) have the added challenge of doing it on the road, as they travel north to take on Rutgers (3-2-2, 0-1-1 BE) and Villanova (4-2-1, 1-0-1 BE).

By Tim Shine September 25, 2008

Sports

Sports Sermon: D.C. running culture

What’s the difference between a 60-year-old man and a 20-year-old college student? Answer: He’s faster than I am. This might have surprised me anywhere else in the country, but it’s just about what I expected from my first foray into the District’s running culture: an army of Type-A road warriors.

By Anthony Francavilla September 18, 2008