Sports

Coverage of Hoya sports.



Sports

The Sports Sermon

Last Saturday kicked off a season filled with traditions, as the 25-day countdown to Christmas began. Red and green are once again fashionable, and it’s now socially acceptable to listen to Christmas carols twenty-four-seven.

Many sports fans expected to enjoy another December tradition as they sat down to watch Saturday’s college football games. They presumed they would see top teams perform at the level of their rankings, but this expectation was turned completely upside down as the teams did just the opposite.

Sports

Hoyas look to go 5 in a row

After dropping its season opener, the Georgetown women’s basketball team has reeled off four straight wins, the last a 67-57 come-from-behind victory over Towson. The start is the program’s best start in four years, but the Hoyas know too well that early season success does not necessarily translate into conference wins; last year, Georgetown won 10 of its first 14 games only to finish the season 13-15 overall and 3-13 against Big East opponents. This year’s team, which starts four upperclassmen, is looking to learn from the experience and carry its non-conference success into a Big East ledger that boasts five nationally ranked squads, including No. 2 Connecticut and No. 3 Rutgers.

Sports

What Rocks

Jaleesa Butler, the 6’0” sophomore forward out of St. Louis, Missouri, decidedly increased in her productivity this year and earned her first double-double at Georgetown in a hard fought 67-57 win last Thursday over Towson. Butler’s 10 point, 12 rebound stat-sheet-filling performance came not long after a win over Gardner-Webb in which Butler notched 10 points and 9 rebounds, making each of her first five shots in the game’s opening nine minutes.

Sports

Hoyas roll over Crimson Tide

The Georgetown Men’s Basketball Team (6-0) put the cupcakes aside on Wednesday night, traveling to Birmingham to take on the Crimson Tide of Alabama (4-3) in the Pizza Hut Big East/SEC Invitational. The Hoyas were uncomfortable at times against an equally athletic opponent, but by the time the final buzzer sounded, the Tide had gone the way of Georgetown’s lesser early-season opponents to the tune of a 70-60 Hoya victory.

Sports

FAST BREAK

Closing the gap from last year’s 100-point loss, the Georgetown men’s swim team fell to Villanova by a score of 140-100 last Saturday. Although the men won only four of the 13 events, several individual performances caught Head Coach Steven Cartwright’s eye. Despite their winless record, Cartwright is convinced that the team is not in a slump.

Sports

Rookie Watch

With the NBA season in full swing, it’s not too early to judge how well last year’s college stars are doing in the big league. This discussion would probably begin with Ohio State’s Greg Oden, the number one draft pick, if he were healthy. However, the Portland Trail Blazers’ new big man found out shortly before the season started that he needed micro-fracture surgery on his knee, and he won’t be ready until next year.

Sports

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Hoyas light up Dolphins, 87-55

The last time Georgetown (7-0) faced the Dolphins of Jacksonville University (3-6) on the hardwood, an on-court punch provoked a gym-wide fight, forcing both teams into the locker rooms for safety. Georgetown would not return, forfeiting the game. This time, Jacksonville threw very few “punches” and the Hoyas pulled none en route to an 87-55 victory.

Sports

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Hoyas win dirty in Jersey

The seventh-ranked Georgetown basketball machine opened up Big East Conference play the same way it has dealt with the rest of its early season opponents: a sloppy first half offensively, a close halftime score, and a grinding, smothering defense that wears down the opponent. The victim on Saturday afternoon was Rutgers (8-6, 0-2 BE), and although the Scarlet Knights remained competitive for most of the game, the double-digit, 58-46 victory seemed inevitable throughout.

Sports

Fair weather ahead: Georgetown vs. Fairfield

Fairfield University does not appear to be the team that will blemish the undefeated Georgetown basketball team’s early record when the two teams square off in D.C. Saturday in a rematch of last year’s 73-60 Hoyas victory in Bridgeport.

Sports

The Sports Sermon

This Sunday, on my nine-hour sojourn back to school, Booker Prize-winning author Ian McEwan helped prove what I had long suspected: there is no such thing as a “friendly game.”

Sports

No luck for volleyball

The Georgetown women’s volleyball team lost the final match of a disappointing season to Virginia Commonwealth University in the VCU Thanksgiving Classic Saturday.

Sports

Switch Hitting: a weekly take on sports

There’s something wrong with Boston sports. In fact, there is so much wrong with Boston sports, I’m writing this column from the roof of Healy Tower. And I’m not here to steal the clock hands.

Sports

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Stag party no fun for Georgetown

Empty seats were not hard to come by Saturday afternoon at the Verizon Center for what looked on paper to be an easy blowout victory for Georgetown against the Stags of Fairfield.

Sports

Preview: GU vs. UM

Last week’s opener against William & Mary wasn’t exactly an instant classic. It was a predictable first game for a highly-touted team looking to find its form. While the game tape—which shows a Georgetown team at times careless of the ball and unable to penetrate the zone—won’t be shown at Leo’s next year to pump students up, it may give hope to the upset-minded Michigan Wolverines and their new coach, John Beilein.

Sports

The Sports Sermon

The Detroit Lions’ PR department would like you to think that their organization survived a brutal northeastern winter, crippling disease and crop failure with the help of a kind Indian named Squanto, and then celebrated their salvation with feasting and merriment and maybe some football. After sixty-seven years of Thanksgiving Day football, the Lions are integral to our modern tradition entwining the pigskin and the Pilgrims.

Sports

GU volleyball falls to UConn

Georgetown’s volleyball team lost its final conference match 3-0 last Saturday to the UConn Huskies. Despite strong defensive blocking by sophomore Kiersten McKoy and junior Caitlin Boyd, the Lady Hoyas were unable to overcome offensive errors to defeat the Huskies.

Sports

What Rocks: Jessie Sapp

Tucked away in a corner of Harlem on the edge of the East River, in the middle of the Woodrow Wilson projects, Jesse Sapp learned to play basketball. Hard-nosed. No referees. No specialization. There are no defensive replacements or three-point line lingerers. It’s a game as raw and unforgiving as the concrete it’s played on. The kids just play.

Sports

FAST BREAK

The Georgetown University women’s basketball team tipped off the season on the road this past week, dropping their opener at Hampton College last Friday but bouncing back to win over Gardner-Webb on Tuesday evening.

Sports

Switch Hitting

Mid-November, the time for post-season play for fall sports has lost some of its magic on the Georgetown campus. With the men’s soccer season at an end and no play-off appearance from football, spectators and fans might be temped to move onto winter sports. There is, however, still something to celebrate this fall.

Sports

Men’s soccer season ends on low note

After an exciting run that clinched a Big East Tournament berth for the Georgetown men’s soccer team, the Hoyas fell short on Wednesday night to the South Florida Bulls in first round action in Tampa. On Saturday, the Hoyas ended their regular season against the No. 9 Fighting Irish of Notre Dame in a thrilling match that was the last at home for seniors Mike Glaccum, Joe Devine and Richard Diaz. It also pitted Head Coach Brian Wiese against his former team.