Men’s Soccer
The Brewers’ postseason run came to an end last Saturday as the team fell to Elizabethtown College 1-0 in overtime at Rutgers-Newark in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It was the Brewers’ first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2012.
Despite a few good looks on offense from VC throughout regulation, particularly from sophomore defender Tyler Gilmore in minute 27 and senior defender Matt Fields in the 49th minute, Elizabethtown was able to keep the Brewers out of their net.
Vassar defense and junior goalkeeper Matt Marcelino were able to hold things down against a less potent Elizabethtown offense for 90 minutes as well. With a score of 0-0, the teams entered overtime.
Five minutes into the overtime period, Elizabethtown managed to get off a shot and find home from an improbable angle to book their spot in the NCAA Tournament’s second round.
With 14 wins this season, the Brewers matched a program-best season from 1994. Seniors Noah Bloch, Matt Fields, Stephen Jennings, John Lopes and Adam Warner will graduate with 41 wins to their names.
Women’s Rugby
In the first round of the American Collegiate Rugby Association (ACRA) championships, Vassar women’s rugby handily defeated SUNY-Geneseo with a score of 72-12. With the Brewers running in 12 tries, they clenched their spot in the round of 16 at fall nationals.
Vassar went into halftime leading 27 to 12, and that was all the scoring Geneseo would manage as the Brewers piled it on in the second half.
Sophomore Rachel Elson was a standout performer and scorer, accounting for four tries on the day. Seniors Nathalie Freeman and Laila Blumenthal-Rothchild both had braces against the visiting Geneseo women, while juniors Abigail Alexander, Michelle Urrutia and Amanda Saich each scored once as well.
Meanwhile, senior flyhalf Mary-Margaret McElduff established a new record for most points in a career at Vassar as she scored a try and slotted six conversion attempts, racking up 17 points in total. She now has 511 points from 17 tries and 213 conversions.
With this win under their belt, the women will next compete in the USA Rugby National Fall Championship Sweet 16 next Saturday.
Men’s Cross Country
The Brewers finished 10th out of 44 teams at the NCAA Atlantic Regional at Rowan University as seven runners recorded new personal bests.
Junior Michael Scarlett finished at the front of VC’s contingent with a 25:30.9 in 44th place overall. This was the 15th straight time Scarlett has led the Brewers. Freshman Adin Becker was the top freshman runner on Saturday, placing 49th with a time of 25:38.2. Junior Philip Brown was next registering a 25:56.3, and fellow junior Jesse Schatz came across the line next in 71st with a time of 26:01.7. Senior Gabe Fishman closed out his cross country career, clocking a 26:05.6 and finishing 78th.
The team’s strong showing at the NCAA Regionals will cap Vassar’s fall 2016 season.
Women’s Cross Country
At the NCAA Atlantic Regionals hosted by Rowan University, the women also had strong performances to take home 13th place.
Running her last race for VC cross country, Senior Lucy Balcezak registered a career-best time of 22:23.9. In all of her races this season, Balcezak led the Brewers across the finish line.
Senior Laura MacDonald also closed out her cross country career, finishing in 68th with a time of 22:39.3. Sophomore Christiana Prater-Lee finished just behind her with a 22:39.8, coming in 69th place. Sophomore Cameron Daddis and freshman Megan Cook took 76th and 77th places respectively, both setting new personal best times.
Similar to the men, the women wrapped up their season at Rowan University on Saturday.
Men’s Fencing
The Vassar men’s fencing team opened dual meet action on Sunday, going eight for eight at the Vassar Invitational in Walker Field House.
Vassar had a long day, knocking off Yeshiva University 20-7, Hunter College 21-6, Stevens 17-10, Haverford College 16-11, Lafayette College 20-7, Army-West Point 25-2, University of Incarnate Word 19-8 and Drew University 21-6.
Eight fencers had 10 or more wins for Vassar, led by freshman Graeme Mills, who posted a 17-3 record in sabre and junior Tom Racek who went 17-2 in foil. Other strong performances came from freshman Jack Holmes, who was 16-1 in foil, and junior Eli Polston, who nabbed a record 15-5 on Sunday. Additionally, junior Jonathan Alperstein finished 16-4 in epee and freshman Noe Berger went 13-4. Overall, Vassar finished 54-18 in sabre, 59-13 in foil and 46-26 in epee.
VC will honor its four seniors, Jackson Dammann, Ry Farley, Campbell Woods and Clayton Marr before hosting the Matthew Lampell Hudson River Invitational on Nov. 20.
Women’s Fencing
The Brewers started their dual meets for 2016-2017 by hosting the Vassar College Invitational at home in Walker Field House.
VC went 4-3 on the day, taking their matches against Haverford (15-12), Queens College (20-7), LIU Post (24-3) and Incarnate Word (17-10), before being bested by Cornell University (21-6), Fairleigh Dickinson University (14-13) and Northwestern University (24-3).
The Vassar foil went 38-25 overall, taking five of seven group decisions, while the epee team went 33-30 on the day. Seniors Elsa Stoff and Olivia Weiss were strong for the Brewers, going 16-5 and 12-4 respectively. Junior Arianna Hawk and sophomore Rose Hulsey-Vincent both added eight wins each for Vassar on Sunday.
The Brewers will honor Stroff and Weiss next Sunday at the Matthew Lampell Hudson River Invitational, hosted at Walker Field House.
Men’s Squash
Vassar moved to 4-0 after besting Lafayette University 7-2 and Swarthmore College 6-3 at Bard College on Saturday.
Junior Vincent Mencotti contributed to Vassar’s success as he went 1-1 on the day, picking up a simple straight-set win over Lafayette but falling to Swarthmore in one set. Freshman Viraj Nadkarni also won in straights over Lafayette.
The bottom of the lineup continued strong play, as senior Richard Bryenton, junior Alex Riccio and sophomore Caden Gruber picked up wins at five, six and seven. The squad picked up wins at fifth through ninth positions over Swarthmore. Nadkarni and Bryenton also picked up their second wins for the day.
Looking forward, men’s squash will host No. 29 Connecticut College and No. 30 Haverford College on Nov. 19 at home.
Women’s Squash
On Saturday, women’s squash lost 9-0 to William Smith College but rebounded to beat Colgate University 9-0 later in Hamilton, NY.
After a tough time against the Herons, VC came back to blank Colgate, as seniors Isabelle Betram and Carly Scher, juniors Hannah Nice, Cherylann Mucciolo and Kelly Rissman, as well as sophomore Jiamin Wu and freshman Sydney Nemphos all earned straight set wins. Freshman Alessandra Pilkington continued the success as she won in four against Colgate.
Next up, Vassar has a home doubleheader against Connecticut College and Haverford College on Saturday, Nov 19.
Men’s Swim and Dive
After much success, Vassar’s swimming and diving fell to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 105-188 in a home dual meet on Saturday.
Nevertheless, multiple Brewers had impressive showings. Junior Jonah Strand had a stellar day, easily taking both the 100 and 200 breaststroke with times of 59.49 and 2:12.53, respectively, while accounting for 29 points for the Brewers.
Fellow senior Anthony Walker was also a standout for VC, taking the 200 butterfly, the 100 fly and the 200 IM. In the 1-meter diving event, both freshman Michael Deiner and junior Connor Martin recorded personal bests, earning scores of 187.3, and 155.7 respectively.
The Brewers are back at the US Merchant Marine Academy Memorial Invitational next Saturday, in Kings Point, NY.
Women’s Swim and Dive
The Brewers were topped by the Engineers of RPI 105-183 in a dual meet at home on Saturday.
The women started off with a second-place finish in the 400 medley relay as sophomores Kael Ragnini, Sammy Stone and Meg Harrington teamed with senior Julia Cunningham for a time of 4:14.55. Stone took first in the 1000-meter free just two events later and won the 500 free as well. Cunningham was by far the best in the 200 butterfly, as her 2:06.07 was the third-fastest time in all of Division III so far this season. Cunningham also clenched victories in the 100 butterfly and the 200 IM.
The Brewers next compete at the US Merchant Marine Academy Memorial Invitational in Kings Point, NY on Nov. 19.