Wrestling team wins Division II tournament
This past March the MIT Men’s Wrestling team finished off a historic season by winning the NCWA Division II Tournament. The title was the second in the history of the program after the team’s title in 2010.
EVANGELOS L. EFSTATHIOU ‘00: Assistant fencing coach heads to World Cup
Meet Evangelos L. Efstathiou ’00. When Evan isn’t traveling the world as a maritime software sales director, assistant coaching for the MIT Varsity Women’s and Men’s Fencing teams, or teaching his 5-year old daughter Katherine how to fence with foam swords, he is competing in the U.S. and International fencing circuits.
A look back at a year of MIT sports
Whenever I go back home over a break and I mention that I write for the sports section of The Tech, people always ask me questions like, “Does MIT have any good athletes?” and “Do the teams ever win games?”
Football dominates Salve Regina MIT overtakes No. 1 team with 29 seconds remaining
Two weeks ago, the MIT football team pulled off possibly the biggest upset in school history, beating previously undefeated (and nationally ranked No. 24 in Division III) Salve Regina University, 20-19. The Engineers, down 14-6 with 9:55 left to play in the fourth quarter, staged an unbelievable comeback, scoring two touchdowns in two possessions. The game winning drive started with just 1:08 to play. It was the last home game of the season, also known as Senior Day, making the victory that much more memorable for the Engineers.
NFL referee madness
Picture this: it’s your third day working at a local coffee shop, and a customer comes in and orders a latte macchiato. Being an inexperienced barista, you accidentally hand them a caffé macchiato, and they go off on a 10-minute rant about how you’ve ruined their entire calendar year, how people like you are what is wrong with America, and how only provincial, inbred, degenerates don’t know the difference between a latte macchiato and a caffé macchiato.
ROBIN S. SHIN ’12: Shin named NE Conference Fencer of the Year
Meet Robin S. Shin ’12. When she isn’t busy tooling away in her architecture studio, she fences for the MIT Women’s varsity team. She was recently named the Northeast Conference Fencer of the Year, and placed 20th at the NCAA competition, where she was the only representative from Division III.
Where has Jeremy Lin been hiding?
For the past few weeks, “Linsanity” has been sweeping the nation. For those unfamiliar with this phenomenon, it is the buzz centered around 23-year-old Harvard graduate and New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Shu-How Lin. Since earning a starting position on the team in early February, Lin has averaged 24.6 points, 9.2 assists, and 2.4 steals per game, scoring more total points in his first five starts than any player since the merger of the ABA and the NBA in 1977. However, Jeremy Lin’s story is not one of “how did he get so good so quickly?” but rather “how did he go unnoticed for so long?”
Women’s teams win NEWMACs
The MIT Field Hockey and Women’s Soccer teams won their NEWMAC championships this past Sunday — both in dramatic fashion, and both for the second time in the past three years.
MOLLY E. MCSHANE ’13 McShane is ‘a little ’stitious’
Meet Molly E. McShane ’13. Molly started playing field hockey nine years ago as preparation for her high school’s highly competitive team. Having played many different sports growing up, field hockey must have come naturally to her because now, nine years later, she is the captain of the MIT Women’s Field Hockey team — currently tied for first in the NEWMAC conference and 13-3 overall this season.
SCOTT T. LANDERS ’13 Duathlons, dynamics, and development
Meet Scott T. Landers ’13. When Scott isn’t busy tooling away at psets like the rest of us, he trains for — and competes in — duathlons and triathlons. In fact, Scott will be competing in both the Short Course and Long Course World Duathlon Championships this fall. But first, a short background.
Women’s hoops is boring?
For some people, watching women’s basketball is about as exciting as watching stalactites grow and as unpredictable as Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation. For the past few years, it has been easy to see why. After all, Stanford and Connecticut have made it to the Final Four for each of the past four seasons, and Connecticut has won six titles since 2000. This year, nobody expected anything but a matchup of those teams — both number one seeds — in what would have been a rematch of last year’s title game. However, Notre Dame’s upset of Connecticut and Texas A&M’s upset of Stanford in the national semifinals set up a final with no number one seeds for just the second time in women’s tournament history, and resulted in Texas A&M’s first NCAA championship — for either the men or the women — in the school’s history.
Cinderella makes it to the ball, but then trips...
This year’s Division I NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship game featured the third-seeded University of Connecticut Huskies against the eighth-seeded Butler Bulldogs. Despite possessing the lead after a brutal, defense-dominated first half, the Butler team completely fell apart in the second half, losing their second NCAA Championship game in a row in what will no doubt be considered one of the least memorable finals in the history of the tournament.
Squash ends strong season
The MIT Squash team recently closed out their season, competing in both the team and individual College Squash Association (CSA) Championships the past two weekends. The team took second place in their bracket, placing 34th overall.
Track & Field tussle at ECAC
The MIT Men’s and Women’s Track and Field teams competed this weekend in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) and IC4A indoor track championships. For those who are unfamiliar with the sport, in track events, individuals race around an oval track, sometimes in individually painted lanes. For field events, athletes perform a variety of feats of strength like pole vaulting (running with a long, flexible pole, planting it in the ground, and launching over a bar as high as possible), the long jump and triple jump (both involving sprinting at full speed and jumping as far as possible into a pit of sand), and throwing events such as discus, hammer throw, javelin, and shot put (throwing objects of various shapes and sizes).
Fencing teams kick off season with home wins Levine and Kozminsky stood out at MIT tourney where women won 5-1, men 3-2
On November 20, the men’s and women’s fencing teams hosted their first tournament of the season. They faced off against the University of New Hampshire, Brandeis, Boston University, Wellesley, UMass, and Sacred Heart. The men finished the day 3-2, defeating UNH, BU, and UMass, while the women finished 5-1, defeating every opponent but Wellesley.
Men’s rugby faces first loss vs. Saratoga
The MIT Men’s Rugby Club took on Saratoga RFC this past Saturday. For those who have never played Rugby, the rules are similar to, dare I say, Association football (soccer), and American football. The MIT team plays according to Rugby Union rules, in which the main objective is to score “tries,” where an offensive player grounds the ball in the in-goal area, located behind the crossbars. After a successful try, which is worth five points, the team can kick the ball between the uprights for an additional two points. Furthermore, a team can dropkick the ball between the uprights during regular play for three points.
Community comes out to see Beaver Madness
Hundreds of students packed the bleachers of Rockwell Cage Friday night for Beaver Madness, a pep rally for the men’s and women’s varsity basketball teams, whose seasons kick off this November. The event featured performances from Logarhythms and Ridonkulous, short scrimmages, as well as various skits and performances in between.
Field hockey in high spirits after win over Smith
This past Saturday, the MIT field hockey team routed Smith College 6-1, earning its tenth win of the season and securing its third win in a row in conference play. The team, now 10-1, has just five games left in the regular season, including three at home.
MIT splits match vs. Wentworth
The MIT rifle team had its first match of the season this past weekend, taking on friendly area rival Wentworth Institute of Technology.