Harvard Varsity teams continue play over break and into spring.
By TUSHAR DWIVEDI
While many of us visited family and home, traveled, worked, or learned, it is easy to forget the number of students who represented Harvard in winter athletics over break. These athletes, such as Holworthy resident Zeth Dean, stayed in what effectively became oversized singles, while continuing practice and competition for their respective sports. For Zeth, that meant wrestling. According to Zeth, “One thing I realized was that staying over break really helped me focus all of my time on wrestling and allowed me to improve. I also grew a lot closer to my team.” Zeth’s experience is one that is shared across campus. In this article, we quickly overview some of the major results that came from this past break, and some of the upcoming matches and events to look forward to as Harvard students begin the second semester.
The Men’s Varsity Basketball team, which is currently 11-6, is ranked second in the Ivy League. Although they have the highest winning percentage in the conference, at .647, their conference record of 3-1 puts them just behind Princeton, with its undefeated conference record. The team played a full slate of games over this past winter break with incredible success. Excluding a loss to Vermont, the team won all 7 of their other winter break games, highlighted by an exciting 57-56 finish over Houston and a 70-45 blowout of McGill. While they lost a tight game against Columbia this past weekend, they look to rebound against Penn this upcoming Friday.
The Women’s Varsity Basketball team currently holds a perfect conference record of 4-0 while boasting a 16-1 record overall for a wining percentage of .941. Since losing their first game to Minnesota, the team has proceeded to win all 16 of their games since. Major highlights include holding NJIT to 38 points and close victory over La Salle. While they finished out a perfect set of winter break games, their opening week has been just as strong, resulting in wins in back to back days over Cornell and Columbia. The team looks to continue their win streak and extend it to 18 with games against Penn and Princeton this weekend.
The success of the Women’s and Men’s Varsity Swimming and Diving teams from the entirety of first semester have continued into the new year. When looking at overall team results, both teams rest at undefeated records, with the women’s team taking victories over Penn and Brown in the January 13th slate of events over this past break. This upcoming weekend gives the team the opportunity to continue their perfect record, with competitions against Princeton and Yale. Meanwhile, the men’s team has had a similar track record of success, with an exceptional 226-74 blowout over Brown over break on January 13th. This upcoming Saturday is a match against Yale, and a chance to preserve their undefeated overall team record. Beat Yale!
Recently, one of the most interesting and exciting teams at Harvard has been the Men’s Varsity Squash team. The team is currently undefeated at 7-0 and rests at the top of the Ivy conference. Although a majority (5/7) of their games have been away, they have still managed to remain victorious outside of Harvard. Their victories have all been over ranked teams, including, most impressively, a solid 6-3 victory over No. 1 ranked Rochester. They followed that with a victory over No. 7 ranked St. Lawrence the very next day. When asked about his team, freshman Saadeldin Aish (No. 1) said that he thought, “last weekend was definitely the toughest [matches against Rochester and St. Lawrence]. We showed great resilience to come out on top on both occasions. Although we have had good results recently, we will need to continue this good form in the upcoming weeks because the season is still far from over.” He and his team look to continue their performance with upcoming matches this weekend against Columbia and Cornell.
The women’s and men’s Ice Hockey, Track and Field, and Wrestling all also continued their season through winter break and will have matches upcoming this weekend. Although we are still early in the Spring semester, it is exciting to see Harvard athletics start of their semester successfully and students look forward to the next set of games this weekend. In the current surge of community spirit on campus, students look also to supporting friends in all their athletic adventures!
Tushar Dwivedi (tushar_dwivedi@college.harvard.edu) will brave the snow and wind to cross the river and cheer on his peers!