ALCS | Sox, Rays to renew rivalry at Tropicana Field Friday night
October 6Welcome to what is quickly becoming one of the best rivalries in sports.
Welcome to what is quickly becoming one of the best rivalries in sports.
In another step toward achieving a season-long goal of improving its doubles play, the women's tennis team traveled to Middlebury over the weekend for its first-ever visit to the annual Gail Smith doubles tournament.
The water polo team may be experiencing a bit of deja vu, but no one is complaining.
The past two years have seen the football team start off the season 3-0 after winning its annual contest against Bowdoin by a combined score of 37-19. This year, Tufts was again looking to improve to 3-0 against a weak Polar Bears squad.
The last time the field hockey team played Amherst, it fell to the Lord Jeffs 2-1 in a disappointing game early in the 2007 season. This time around, the nationally-ranked No. 10 Tufts team showcased its unstoppable offense, earning its fourth shutout of the year and improving to a perfect 5-0 in conference and 8-0 overall.
After five games' worth of perfect, shutout defense to open up the 2008 campaign, the women's soccer team suffered its first loss of the season Saturday in a 3-1 road loss at the hands of the Amherst Lord Jeffs.
During Saturday's football game against Bowdoin, two senior Jumbos delivered career performances despite the 28-26 loss. Running back Will Forde ran for 175 yards while wide receiver Dave Halas caught three touchdown passes. Forde broke a career high mark and has now rushed for over 100 yards in three consecutive games; Halas tied the Tufts record for most receiving touchdowns in a game and in the process set the Tufts' record for most receiving touchdowns in a career.
As the weather has chilled this fall, so have the men's soccer team's fortunes.
After a weekend of play against keen competition, the volleyball team emerged from its home tournament with its first loss of the season, dropping its third match of the Tufts Invitational to Union College on its way to a 3-1 third-place tournament finish and a 16-1 overall record.
Off to its fourth consecutive 2-0 start, the football team takes the gridiron this weekend for its first away contest of the season.
This summer saw an exciting and somewhat nerve-racking development in the world of international hockey. The NHL has been the world's premier league for decades, attracting top-tier talent from across the globe. Other leagues, including the Swedish Elite League and the Russia Super League (RSL), could not compete with the NHL's prestige and high salaries.
The women's tennis team captured the first of its two dual matches of the fall season, trouncing previously-unbeaten MIT 7-2 yesterday evening at Vouté Courts. The marquee matchup was at No. 1 singles, where Jumbo sophomore Julia Browne and Engineer junior Leslie Hansen met in a rematch of Sunday's ITA Regional championship. Like their first meeting, Browne sailed past Hansen, the eighth-ranked singles player in the nation, this time by a 6-1, 6-3 score. Tufts went on to win five of the six singles matches. Freshmen Jen Lavet, Jen LaCara and Nathalie Schiles carried the bottom half of the lineup, each taking straight set victories over their respective MIT opponents. The trio, playing collegiate singles for the first time, combined to lose only 15 games. The most exciting match of the evening was a two-and-a-half-hour marathon at third singles between sophomore Edwina Stewart of Tufts and sophomore Melissa Diskin of MIT. After splitting the first two sets, Stewart and Diskin played deep into a back-and-forth third-set tiebreak. Stewart, who never played higher than fifth singles last season, eventually took the tiebreak, 19-17. Both of Tufts' two setbacks came courtesy of Engineers freshman Anastasia Vishnevetsky. At first doubles, the first-year combined with Hansen to defeat the Jumbos' tandem of Browne and Stewart — who were a perfect 10-0 in doubles play last season — 9-7. Vishnevetsky went on to score the biggest upset of the day, topping junior captain Meghan McCooey 6-3, 6-0 at second singles. See TuftsDaily.com for further coverage.
Having participated in two invitationals already this season at Brandeis and MIT, the undefeated volleyball team will host its own, the fifth annual Tufts Invitational in Cousens Gym this weekend.
Baseball is not a movie script. The team that should win sometimes doesn't. The team that more people are rooting for often comes up short. The good guys can lose, and the bad guys can have the last laugh. It sucks, but it's baseball. It's a game of effort, skill and a ton of luck. But every so often a team comes along and changes this equation. It defies the laws of the "game of inches" and somehow wills itself to victory. When this sort of team appears, you can throw the numbers out the window. You can forget about matchups and coaching. You can ignore all other teams entirely. None of it matters. What matters is that the childlike belief in destiny somehow manifests itself among men — grown men with egos and salaries. You can feel this force in the players and the fans. There's nothing more powerful in sports. It has won improbable championship after improbable championship. It has fueled every great run in the history of competition. I saw it early with the Rays. I was watching a game in August that they were dominating. It was one of those games where they were firing on all cylinders to the point where players were giddy with excitement. The camera flashed to the dugout and panned across the confident grins of Joe Maddon, Evan Longoria, James Shields, Scott Kazmir and the rest, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I turned to my mom and said, "Is there any doubt this team is going to win it all?" My mom, who is a sharp baseball lady, told me I was crazy (she likes the Cubs over the Red Sox in six). But no prediction I have ever made had ever seemed so obvious. They have the "it" — the special, indefinable something that turns a good team into a champion. When you look back on the season, what's the first thing you remember? The Rays. This season and our memories of it belong to them and their magical run. The Rays are a force that has been gaining steam for six months and are now on the verge of climaxing. There is no stopping this team. I know I'm picking against every expert, everywhere. The three favorites to win the series are the Cubs, Angels and Red Sox. ESPN likes the Cubbies. It likes their pitching, the weak National League and old Lou at the helm. But the worldwide leader in sports is wrong. I've never liked Soriano, Dempster or Wood in the playoffs. Zambrano and Harden have to be completely healthy for them to pull this off. Plus, it's just not their year. The Angels are the most complete team in baseball. They have the deepest rotation in the game as well as a solid bullpen. They can put runs up in a hurry, and Mike Scioscia is the best manager in the game. But they are like the valedictorian of your high school, almost too perfect. Their incredible rotation will falter against the big bats of the AL East and also, it's not their year. The Red Sox' postseason fate rests on one man's shoulders every October. It's not about Papi, Pedroia or Papelbon. It's all about Josh Beckett. His health questions are my biggest knock on their chances to repeat. Also, I don't care about Jason Bay; they are significantly weaker without Manny. It's not their year either. It's the Rays' year. It belongs to them and I can feel it. That team that couldn't get any fans to show up to its joke-of-a-dome is about to make history. The Rays are going to go from laughing stock to World Champions in a single season, and it's going to be a marvel to watch. Start writing the books, start crafting the rings and start printing the hats. This story is about to get even better.
With heavy rain earlier in the day, the men's tennis team was able to take advantage of its familiarity with the faster indoor courts at the Gantcher Center to sweep away non-conference foe Babson 9-0 yesterday, advancing its record to 2-0 for the fall.
The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate is closing in on a deal with administrators and members of the Athletics Department to create a club sports advisory board to oversee the recognition and funding of club sports on campus. The groups plan to sit down next week to hammer out the details.
With a midweek victory over a visiting Babson Beaver squad Tuesday on Kraft Field, the women's soccer team kept its perfect record intact, moving to 5-0.
So this is why Brett Favre came back.