Sports

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  Game. Set. Match. : Mason athlete excels in many facets of college life

  Sports October 4, 2010 at 3:54 pm Comments are Disabled

  NCAA athlete, ROTC cadet, junior psychology major—usually such a list would be in reference to three different college students. Brooke Blackwell, though, wears all three titles. What is more surprising is that it has not slowed her down one bit. An ambitious tennis player, Blackwell is currently in the midst of a 23-game winning streak. She has won every regular season match she’s played since the season-opener of the 2009 season. Her success may seem astounding to students who barely manage to find time to balance classes without participating in other activities. But Blackwell does not make light of the challenge she has taken upon herself. “It’s really tough,” she said. “I have ROTC for two hours every morning, then classes, then tennis practice and sometimes even night classes after that.” Regular ROTC was not even enough for her—she’s participating in the ROTC Ranger Challenge, a competition between several schools in certain ROTC skill sets. Although she usually keeps tight control on her schedule, her activities do occasionally collide. She showed up on the second day of the George Mason University Invitational tennis tournament with a neck brace. She had been rappelling down the side of Fenwick Library when she […]

   
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  Wizards kick off season at Mason: NBA team did week-long preseason training at Patriot Center

  Sports October 4, 2010 at 2:43 pm Comments are Disabled

  Promptly at 11 p.m. on the night of Sept. 27, the doors to the Patriot Center flew open and the rush began. Students pressed their way to the front of the line, hoping to claim a seat in the first row of the arena. They had been waiting all day in anticipation to see an NBA team up close, waiting to catch a glimpse of their favorite player.

   
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  Road trip ends without a win: Patriots held scoreless in loss, tie

  Sports September 27, 2010 at 3:35 pm Comments are Disabled

  Coming off a 2-0 loss at the University of Maryland, George Mason University’s men’s soccer team opened their conference schedule with a scoreless tie at Old Dominion University. The No. 5 Terrapins came into the game with a 3-1-1 record to Mason’s 3-2. Though in record they appeared competitive, the Terps, only two years removed from their national championship season, looked as if they were returning to form Tuesday night. In the second year of a home-and-home series, one in which Mason won the game in Fairfax 2-0, the Patriots could not get their offense going. Sophomore midfielder Derek Markheim had the only shot on goal of the entire night, one of his two shots in the 77 minutes he played. Redshirt senior forward Ernesto Marquez had the only other shot. The game was scoreless in the first half, but early in the second, Terp junior midfielder Matt Kassel took a free kick that was put in off the back of Terp sophomore defender/midfielder London Woodberry. Nine minutes later, Kassel took another free kick that went in off a Mason defender. Those watching the CBSSports.com GameTracker online may have been elated for a moment as the site read “own goal” […]

   

• Patriots down Dukes in three-game sweep

  Sports September 27, 2010 at 3:31 pm Comments are Disabled

  George Mason University’s women’s volleyball team returned home from a long three week road trip to a large home crowd of 484 people as they defeated their rival the James Madison Dukes. The Patriots did not disappoint the home crowd as they swept the Dukes 3 sets to 0. The Patriots improved their margin of victory in each of the three sets. The Patriots trailed the Dukes for much of the first set but eventually edged the Dukes 27-25. Junior outside hitter Noelle Fanella said that first set was crucial to the win and it gave the Patriots crucial momentum going into the second set, which she said the team dominated due to excellent blocking and observed that the back-row didn’t even have to do much. It was another excellent match for freshman outside hitter Lana Zonjic who led the team again with 13.5 points. Zonjic and Fanella each had 10 kills in the match. Zonjic also led with an impressive .500 shooting percentage. Senior setter Fernanda Bartels had a match high 29 blocks. Sophomore middle blocker Danielle Cook had nine blocks to lead both teams. Senior middle blocker/opposite hitter Holly Goode had 13 digs to led both teams. The […]

   
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  War on Ice: Mason ice hockey looks to make playoff push

  Sports September 27, 2010 at 3:29 pm Comments are Disabled

  Last year, George Mason University’s men’s ice hockey team finished fourth in their division and thought they were going to the playoffs – until they found out that only the top three advanced. Shortly thereafter, the team seemed to lose its seriousness. The turnover rate climbed. At the end of the season, the head coach left the team.

   

• Wide Word of Sports: The Drive, The Fumble, The Snow Days

  Sports September 27, 2010 at 3:24 pm Comments are Disabled

  Over the last five or six weeks, I have made it very clear that I am a huge fan of Cleveland sports while expressing my hatred for Washington teams. And part of the reason I enjoy bashing the District of Columbia teams is that being a Washington fan may be the only thing worse than being a Cleveland fan. We’ve had our hearts ripped out by Ernest Byner’s fumble, John Elway’s drive and LeBron James’s decision. But at least we’ve had good teams – although not good enough. Washington fans have just grown accustomed to their teams being awful. And that’s worse than anything the Browns, Indians or Cavaliers could ever do to us. But, with that being said, Cleveland sports teams have a knack for making decisions and comments that just leave me scratching my head and thinking, “What in the world are they thinking?” For instance, Larry Dolan, owner of the Cleveland Indians, has come up with the brilliant idea to turn Progressive Field into a “winter wonderland” during the offseason. (And I’m using the term ‘brilliant’ very loosely here, folks.) The “Snow Days,” as they are being called, will include holiday-themed trails and places for tubing on […]

   
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  Band of brothers: First season of club paintball gets underway

  Sports September 20, 2010 at 6:28 pm Comments are Disabled

  “Intense paintball action. Team building to the extreme. Working on communication skills under fire.” These phrases from Matt Hardman and Alexander Wagenknecht, the captains and founders of George Mason University’s new club paintball team, give a face and an attitude to one of Mason’s newest club teams. This time last year, Hartman wanted to form a team to compete with the thriving paintball programs at Virginia schools like Virginia Tech, Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Virginia and the dominating team at Liberty University. He looked into seeing how to create the team and, with the help of some other players he found by online forums and word-of-mouth, went to Mason’s club sports coordinator Bob Spousta. He and his team put money up front for tournament entry fees and hotel costs, hoping to get funding for the 2010-11 season. They received partial funding at the club sports meetings and went on to make their schedule for the season. A thousand dollars or more for a gun, $200 for a tank, $200 for hoppers, $100 for a mask, $70 for a jersey and plenty of money for other necessary recurring expenses like paint and the use of a field are just […]

   
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  Mason looks to tip Terps

  Sports September 20, 2010 at 6:22 pm Comments are Disabled

  After a strong performance against No. 1 Virginia (2-0-1) in an exhibition game, the George Mason men’s soccer team proved they can compete with any team they face, especially in the ACC. This holds true for another ACC and top-10 matchup at No. 7 Maryland (2-1-1) on Tuesday. The Patriots (3-1-0) have relied on CAA Rookie of the Week Sean Cote in goal as he held George Washington scoreless in his 45 minutes in goal as well as a shutout in his first start at American. Cote adds to a 2010 recruiting class ranked #13th in the nation, including key additions forward Wes Sever, defender/midfielder Alex Herrera, defender Zak Haapaoja and forward Hugh Roberts. As for upperclassmen, the Patriots have a talented array of scorers including sophomore forward Taylor Morgan, senior forward Parker Walton and senior forward Victor Freeman, who led the Patriots with 7 goals last season. The Terrapins return nine starters from last year including Jason Herrick and Matt MacMath as well as Casey Townsend, the ACC All-Freshmen team member in 2008, who missed 7 games with a leg injury in 2009. Last season, Maryland made a NCAA Tournament appearance and fell in the Elite 8 to eventual […]

   

• Wide Word of Sports: The epitome of cowardice

  Sports September 20, 2010 at 6:18 pm Comments are Disabled

  There is something about watching sports that makes us all hang on to the edge of our seats, just waiting for the next incredible play. We’re waiting for that game-saving catch or that series-winning shot that people will rave about for years to come. But, like I said back in August, we all thoroughly enjoy watching particular athletes crash and burn. Not literally, of course. Though I could certainly make a joke about Tom Brady’s car accident here and say something like, “I wonder if Gisele was chasing him with a football when he crashed his car.” But I won’t do that because he got in a car accident. There is absolutely nothing funny about that. What is funny, though, is that LeBron James now lingers among the top five of Most Disliked Athletes in the industry. According to the Q Scores Company, an organization that measures the general popularity of athletes, James used to be one of the most-liked athletes. But since “The Decision” on July 8, his reputation has sank to a valley so low that it rivals the reputation of Kobe Bryant, an admitted adulterer and an accused rapist. The only difference is that Bryant is the […]

   
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  FIFA comes to Mason: soccer facilities to be used if US receives World Cup bid

  Sports September 13, 2010 at 4:55 pm Comments are Disabled

  At 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 7, FIFA officials came to look at Patriot Stadium to see if it could be used as a practice facility for the 2018 World Cup. U.S. Soccer has submitted a bid to host the famous world soccer championship in either 2018 or 2022. However, they seem to be focusing on the 2018 bid. They are competing with England, Russia, Belgium and the Netherlands, who have submitted a joint bid, and Portugal and Spain, who have done the same. Indonesia and Mexico have dropped out of the running. As part of the process, FIFA officials have visited prospective countries since July 19, looking at practice fields as well as host stadiums. This is where George Mason University comes in. The university’s soccer facilities were used for the 1994 World Cup as they may be in 2018. “It’s a visibility issue. It would be great for the students to know that the university is on a world scale. Now, in 1994, it was a practice site and we got great exposure. So I think for the students to have that type of feeling is great for the university,” said Mason’s Assistant Vice President and Director of Athletics […]