Elizabeth Muirhead ’20 | Assistant Sports Editor
As the air turns colder and starts to bite, we look towards the end of the fall sports season. How did our teams perform this fall?
For starters, the Smith field hockey team — one of our most impressive teams — defeated MIT on Saturday in an exciting 2-1 overtime win to claim the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) championship, and they will continue their season. Maddy Hubbard covers the game and upcoming events in more detail in her article, “Smith College Field Hockey makes NEWMAC Championships and History.”
Crew wrapped up for the season with the Seven Sisters Championship regatta Oct. 28. They placed second of five teams, behind Wellesley and ahead of Mount Holyoke, Simmons and Bryn Mawr. Smith’s Varsity 8+ boat finished first in their race with a time of 13:56.9. Second Varsity 8+ finished second in their race with a time of 14:46.5, and our novice 8+ boat finished fourth in their race with a time of 16:26.5. Crew will resume in the spring, with their next race scheduled for Mar. 23, 2019.
Cross country has one more event on the schedule this fall; they will compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) regional championships Sat., Nov. 10. At the NEWMAC championship — their most recent meet — on Oct. 27, the team placed fifth out of 11 teams. The top Smith runner, Frances Duncan ’20, placed 18th with a time of 20:10.
The soccer team finished out their season with an overall record 8-10-0, which tops their 2017 record of 6-10-1. Of the team of 24, five of the players are seniors, which means that roughly a fifth of the players will graduate. Hopefully the open positions can be filled by emerging talent and the team can continue to improve upon their record going into next year.
Volleyball finished their season with an overall record of 3-22, which was worse than their record last season of 11-16. This year’s team is made up entirely of sophomores and juniors, which means that the team will have time to continue growing and practicing together in the off season. Hopefully, they’ll be ready to start the 2019 season strong with several seniors.
While most of our fall teams have concluded their seasons, we can still look forward to watching cross country and field hockey wrap up. And the change of season means that fans get to shift their focus to a new set of sports. Basketball, for example, has been one of Smith’s best teams in recent history. Last season, they scored 20-6 and made it to the NEWMAC semifinals before being knocked out by MIT. This season’s team of 13 players has seven seniors, which means that the team should have a lot of experience and strong leadership.
Additionally, the swim and dive teams are at the start of their winter season, having already participated in four meets. Unfortunately, they lost to Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Simmons and Brandeis, but they were able to defeat Babson in their last meet. Hopefully that momentum will carry them into their next meets, and hopefully, our varsity teams and club teams alike are gearing up for powerful, competitive seasons.
