Athletics Update: 10/25

The Wellesley News Staff | October 30, 2016

Photo courtesy of Julia Manaco

Tennis

The Blue Tennis team advanced to the NEWMAC finals this past weekend after beating Babson in the semi-finals. The two-seeded Wellesley tennis team held a 2-1 lead on the first-seeded MIT following doubles play. MIT would come back to win 5-3, in the championship match to take the 2016 NEWMAC Championship and guarantee an automatic bid to the 2017 NCAA Division III Tennis Championship in the spring.

Wellesley opened up strong with two double victories in the No.1 and No. 2 matches. Wellesley senior Carina Chen (Hong Kong) and sophomore Justine Huang (Coto de Caza, CA) won the No. 1 match 8-2 defeating MIT’s Kelly Zhu and Lara Rakocevic. While senior

Andjela Stojkovic (Victoria, British Columbia) and first year Sarah Yan (Holmdel, NJ) defeated their MIT competition 8-5, to finish the NEWMAC season undefeated. The singles portion of the competition favored MIT with 5 of the 6 matches ending in an Engineer’s victory, leading to a final overall score of 5-3 and making MIT the NEWMAC Champions.

The Blue put up notable effort resulting in seven players receiving NEWMAC all-conference honors and first year Yan receiving the Rookie of the Year award. The team ended their impressive fall campaign 10-2 and will return to the court’s next semester for their spring season.

Crew

The 2016 National Champion Blue crew team was back in action this past weekend at the Head of Charles Regatta. The Blue opened up their fall season on Saturday, Oct. 8 at the Head of Housatonic Regatta in Shelton, CT placing 14th out of 34. This past weekend the Blue competed at the historic

Head of the Charles on Sunday, Oct. 23 placing sixth and 18th overall. This was the seventh-consecutive year that the Blue Crew placed top-ten. The Blue sent two Varsity 8 boats to compete. Varsity 8 recorded a time of 18.51.212 to earn the sixth place, while Second Varsity 8 recorded a time of 19:49.924 to take 18th place. The Crew team will close out their fall season Sunday, Oct. 30, when they compete for the 2016 Seven Sisters Championship. This year Smith College will host the race on the Connecticut River in Northampton, MA.

Field Hockey

On Saturday, Oct. 22, the field hockey team won in another close conference game against Clark University. Once again, first year Hannah Maisano (Gambrills, MD) found that back of the net 3:31 into the first overtime period. With the victory, the Blue improved to 9-7 on the season and 5-3 in the NEWMAC conference. Despite impressive offensive efforts from the offense in the first half, with two goals, one from sophomore Arielle Mitropoulos (Cambridge, MA) and one from sophomore Rachel Hwang (Campbell, CA) assisted by sophomore Haley Chrobock (Branchville, NJ), the Blue found themselves tied 2-2 for the last 20 minutes of the game. Maisano, scored her third overtime goal of the season, to end the game. The Blue will finish regular season with a home game Thursday Sept. 27 when they host UMASS Dartmouth at 4:00 p.m.

Soccer

Wellesley Soccer has had a big week against NEWMAC rivals Clark and Smith. On Tuesday October 18, Soccer broke a three game losing streak with a 1-0 win against Clark University after a goal from first year Julia Jung (Oakland, CA) in the second half. The Blue defense defended Clark’s last chance corner kick to preserve the win, and first year goaltender Olivia Reckley (Grosse Ile, MI) earned her second shutout of the year with six saves. Next, soccer travelled to Seven Sister rival, Smith College, on Saturday. The Blue led 1-0 at the end of the first half after senior Kyla Petrie’s (Denton, TX) goal, but Smith tied the score midway through the second half. Blue senior Maddie Carlborg (Burbank, CA) scored two minutes later, and Smith answered in the 81st minute to tie the score at 2-2. The teams battled in double overtime periods, but neither team could score again and the match ended in a tie. This Saturday, Oct. 29, Wellesley will face another NEWMAC rival Springfield College at 12 p.m. for their senior day. Before the game, the team will celebrate their three senior players, Petrie, Carlborg, and Gabby Hartman (San Diego, CA) before the game.