While this week’s Athlete of the Week honors went to members of the Ivy League Championship winning women’s squash team, four other student-athletes had especially impressive performances this week, earning them Athlete of the Week runners-up honors.
Hunter Ladnier, Jeffrey Ott, Josef Johnson, Wrestling
This weekend, Harvard Wrestling traveled to Lewisburg, Penn. to compete in the 113th EIWA Championships. Though the Crimson earned 10th place as a team, the highlights of the weekend were three bids to the NCAA Tournament in St. Louis earned by senior Jeffrey Ott, junior Josef Johnson, and freshman Hunter Ladnier. Seventh-seeded Ott finished earned spot with a win in the semi-finals over Drexel’s third-seeded Kevin Devoy, who turned his knee mid-match and was forced to default. Earlier this year Ott himself suffered from a knee injury and was unsure whether he’d be able to return to the mat this season, let alone finish second place at the EIWA Championships and earn a coveted bid to the NCAA Championships. Tri-captain Johnson, on the other hand, has performed consistently this season, and added an exclamation point to his wrestling this weekend with his sixth-place finish and NCAA bid. This will be the the New Jersey native’s second trip to the NCAA Championships, as he also qualified as a sophomore. Ott and Johnson will be joined in St. Louis by freshman Ladnier, who performed a rare feat this weekend by becoming the first Harvard rookie to advance to the EIWA finals since 2007. Following two Friday victories, Ladnier split his matches on Saturday. He upset Lehigh’s top ranked senior Laike Gardiner 11-7 in the semi-finals, but fell 8-5 to Princeton senior Jordan Laster in the finals. Still, his performance was enough to book him a ticket to St. Louis for the weekend of March 16-18, where he, Ott, and Johnson will look to prove themselves amongst the best collegiate wrestlers in the country.
Morgan Cheek, Men’s Lacrosse
This Saturday, the men’s lacrosse team (4-0) captured a 13-10 win over Vermont (3-3), largely because of a stand-out performance by junior attackman Morgan Cheek. The Massachusetts native notched a season-high five goals in Saturday’s game, the first coming less than a minute into play. His outstanding play doesn’t come as a surprise, as he’s scored a hat-trick in every game this season. Cheek also had one assist, bringing him to a total of 16 goals and 11 assists in just four games this season. In addition to leading the Crimson in both these categories, he is the second-leading point scorer per game in the nation. Behind Cheek’s strong play, the Crimson has jumped to a 4-0 start this season, and will look to continue their unbeaten streak Saturday against Penn State.
Published by
Kim Arango on March 02, 2017 at 5:55PM
Forward Seth Towns skies for a dunk against Yale. The 6'7" freshman averaged 17 points and eight rebounds over two games last weekend.
KAYLEY LEONARD, WOMEN’S SQUASH
Sunday afternoon in the championship game for the Howe Cup, the Harvard women’s squash team (15-0, 7-0 Ivy) defeated No. 2 University of Pennsylvania (13-2, 6-1 Ivy) to win the Crimson’s third-straight national championship with an important early win from No. 3 sophomore Kayley Leonard. The championship win also secured the Crimson’s second straight perfect season, and 38th consecutive win since losing to Penn in 2015. Following two strong opening wins by seniors Dileas MacGowan (No. 9) and Katie Tutrone (No. 6), Leonard came back from a 6-10 deficit in the fifth set, winning six consecutive points for an emphatic 12-10 win in the deciding match for Harvard to gain a three match advantage. Leonard’s five set win maintained the Crimson’s momentum into the second set of matches with Harvard securing a 7-2 win and another national championship.
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Published by
Sam Danello on February 21, 2017 at 8:35PM
The HPR team—"a bunch of blue-collar guys," according to freshman Chad Borgman—poses after Sunday's competition.
EDITORS' NOTE: Due to errors during the editing and publication process, this internal satirical article was posted to the Back Page blog. In the interests of transparency and due to The Crimson's longstanding policy against removing content from our website, this article will remain viewable to readers.
The crowd of two spectators hushed when Chad Borgman released the most important shot of his career.
All afternoon, the freshman power forward had tormented his Crimson Sports Board opponents. Borgman—listed at 6’8” and 277 pounds—had combined with third-year senior Mark Bode—listed at 6’7” and 235 pounds—to outrebound the Sports Board.
“If I can try to experience the life of a lobster, I’d say ‘Why not?’” Borgman said. “I’m all about exploring my options.”
Together the teammates had led the Harvard Political Review to a win in the first act of the best-of-three series. Together they had faced a 13-0 deficit in the second game only to rip off 14 straight points. Together they had battled to a 19-all deadlock.
Now, for the last time that afternoon, the players stood on the same hardwood floor, watching Borgman’s shot. The ball rose, spun, and sailed through the afternoon sunlight. Then it dropped—into the net and the nightmares of Sports writers.
Final score: HPR 21, Sports Board 19.
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The status of junior goaltender Merrick Madsen, shown between the pipes against Union at Messa Rink last month, is very much in question for tonight's rematch with the ECAC frontrunners.
The No. 4/5 Harvard men’s hockey team currently ranks third in the ECAC with only five conference games remaining on its schedule. Luckily for the Crimson, both frontrunners have to pay a visit to Cambridge by month’s end.
Of the league’s two top dogs, No. 6 Union (19-7-2, 12-3-1 ECAC) will be the first to drop by the Bright-Landry Hockey Center. Tonight, just three days ahead of the highly anticipated Beanpot championship game, the Crimson (16-5-2, 11-4-2) will play host to the Dutchmen with the top spot in the conference up for grabs.
“They’re having a heck of a season,” senior Luke Esposito said. “That’s a good test for us.”
THE STAKES
Ranked sixth in the polls and seventh in the PairWise (two spots behind Harvard), Union enters Friday tied for first in the ECAC with No. 18 St. Lawrence and a point ahead of the Crimson—with a game in hand over both sides. Therefore, a win for the Dutchmen could all but eliminate Harvard from the race for the Cleary Cup, given to the team that finishes the regular season in first place within the ECAC.
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Co-captain Alexander Kerfoot, shown in action last season against RPI, will lead the Crimson onto the ice against the Engineers tonight at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center.
After a four-week recess, college hockey’s winter intermission is finally over. Tonight, the second half of the season gets underway as the Harvard men’s hockey team takes on Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center (7 p.m.).
LOOKING BACK AT THE FIRST HALF
Already having exceeded some early expectations, the Crimson (8-2-1, 4-1-1 ECAC) currently ranks fourth in both the PairWise rankings and the national polls. Harvard’s offense has been a powerful force, averaging one goal more than it did a year ago when Hobey Baker winner Jimmy Vesey was leading the charge. Generating 4.45 goals per game, the Crimson is third in the country in scoring and second in goal differential per game.
Meanwhile, six different Harvard skaters head into the second half averaging at least a point a game. Only Ohio State, who ranks second in the country in scoring, has more. Co-captain Alexander Kerfoot, freshman defenseman Adam Fox, and senior forward Tyler Moy in particular all rank among the top 15 in the nation in points per game.
All three also feature heavily on the Crimson power play unit, which has converted at a nation-best rate of 30.6 percent. Since a disappointing 2-for-17 showing on the man advantage over its first four league games, Harvard remarkably has netted at least two power play goals in four of its last five contests.
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