Sports

• Homer, sweet homer: Montefusco hits go-ahead single in home opener

  Sports March 25, 2010 at 10:45 am Comments are Disabled

  By Cody Norman, Staff Writer Duquesne University Dukes catcher Jared Bowser did not get much of a chance to hit the ball after getting hit by a pitch twice as the George Mason University’s baseball team and Dukes totaled seven hit batsmen. Although the Patriots were responsible for six of them, the team rallied from a four-run deficit to win its home opener 8-4 on Friday afternoon. Having won 30 of their past 32 games played on Spuhler Field, the Patriots took the field in the home opener against a sliding Dukes team. Mason won its fourth consecutive game, improving to 8-4 on the season, while the Dukes dropped to 3-13 overall. Senior starting pitcher Kevin Crum took the bump for the Patriots but just did not have his best stuff. Crum struggled early, allowing three runs in the second inning before settling down and providing Mason with a solid outing. The staff ace allowed four runs in more than six innings, but command issues were apparent as he plunked five batters in the contest. “[Kevin] competes [on] each and every pitch and you can see as he gets out of there, we’re still in the game even on a […]

   

• Sports in a minute: Postgame recaps and hot news at Mason

  Sports March 25, 2010 at 10:44 am Comments are Disabled

  By Cody Norman, Staff Writer and Brian T. Chan, Sports Editor Foster opts to transfer George Mason University men’s basketball redshirt freshman forward Kevin Foster has decided to transfer to a school near his hometown in Lakeland, Fla. Foster, who was part of the freshman class with forwards Ryan Pearson and Mike Morrison and guard Andre Cornelius, sat out last year while earning the redshirt and played a key role off the bench in the early part of this season. Foster cashed in 15 points in the Puerto Rico Tip-off, but it wasn’t until the latter half of the season that he was a major player for the team. In last month’s game against the William & Mary Tribe, he shot 11-for-16 from the field and tallied a career-high 22 points; in his first start, Foster had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds in the Homecoming game. With a heavily stacked young team, Foster ends his one-year stint, averaging 4.5 points in 26 games. Outdoor track and field opens 2010 campaign at Mason Quadrangular The men’s and women’s track and field teams hosted their outdoor season opener at the Mason Quadrangular on Saturday. With a number of Mason […]

   

• Powell’s Playbook: Madness only begins in March

  Sports March 25, 2010 at 10:41 am Comments are Disabled

  By John Powell, Asst. Sports Editor So here, in the last column for this season, I will write about the men’s basketball team in retrospect. The first issue I will address: I was right. It turns out that the terrible Colonial Athletic Association’s postseason tournament performance was the last dagger in the season. Going to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament was not the expected end to the Patriots’ season, especially with a lose in the first round after being the headliner. Everyone knows that the Mecca of college basketball is the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s 65-team (yes, I count the play-in game) tournament. But going to the National Invitational Tournament is respectable, and the level of competition is where the mid-major teams flourish. If anything, the CIT and the College Basketball Invitational are where the strong mid-major schools should rule. I would think that the CAA’s top teams that were snubbed on selection Sunday — Northeastern, William & Mary, VCU and Mason, in that order — would do well in the tournaments they were placed in. Old Dominion was the only CAA team that did better than expected in their tournament. The first game saw ODU upset the sixth-ranked Notre Dame […]

   

• Scags claw back, beat Patriots: Mason surrenders 27-point lead

  Sports March 25, 2010 at 10:39 am Comments are Disabled

  By Cody Norman, Staff Writer After being rammed by VCU in the quarterfinal round of the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament, the youthful George Mason University men’s basketball team settled for a postseason appearance in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament where they took on the Fairfield Scags. And their inexperience showed as the Scags rallied from a 27-point deficit in the second half to oust the Patriots 101-96 in the first round of the CIT. Though they were without team captain and high-scoring junior guard Cam Long, Mason came out firing on all cylinders and poured in 13 points in the first four minutes of play. They were getting clean looks at the basket on seemingly every possession and took a 24-8 run into halftime with a comfortable 49-20 advantage. Sophomore forward Mike Morrison set a career high in points with 19 in the first half on 8-for-10 from the field. Morrison pulled down seven rebounds and swatted four shots in an impressive early performance. Sophomore guard Andre Cornelius was on fire as he knocked down 4-of-5 three point attempts for 15 points in the early going while Mason shot a combined 59 percent from the floor. The second half began in similar […]

   

• Top five sports cities: New York regains its athletics prestige

  Sports March 25, 2010 at 10:38 am Comments are Disabled

  By Chris DeMarco, Staff Writer There were certain aspects of each city that were used in making this list. The criteria used in ranking the top sports cities were based on: greatness of each professional team, the dedication of the fans, how the city related to each team and collegiate prestige. The number of championships each team won had only little influence on how each city ranked. 1. New York Pro teams: Yankees, Mets, Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, Giants, Jets and Red Bulls; 43 combined championships. College(s): St. John’s, Manhattan New York, by far, has the most team championships, with the Yankees claiming 27 of them. New York is the city with the greatest team of all sports: the Yankees. They have two teams represented in baseball, basketball and football. No other city has that distinction. New York is the biggest media market in the country, and everything a prominent athlete does in this city becomes headline news. New York has fans almost everywhere. You can see a Yankee fan almost anywhere you go. Besides having the most championships, the city has probably the most loyal and passionate fans. The combination of the most championships and a loyal fanbase makes New […]

   

• Like father, like son: Junior adjusts to new role and provides an immediate impact

  Sports March 25, 2010 at 10:35 am Comments are Disabled

  By Fernanda Bartels, Staff Writer Last season, junior Eric Lucas recorded 309 digs, falling two digs short of matching the highest individual single-season record for digs of all-time. The record was set by his father Ric Lucas 25 years ago. Ric was a two-time All-American and a member of the 1984 National Collegiate Athletic Association All-Tournament men’s volleyball team. Eric learned how to play volleyball early in his life from those close to him, especially from his father who was always hitting, passing and setting with him during his time off. “I wanted to pepper with him all the time,” said Lucas, a computer science major at George Mason University. “Whenever he wasn’t playing in a match, he would be peppering with me on the sidelines. I just loved volleyball from the very beginning.” Eric started playing volleyball outdoors. Playing grass and beach tournaments shaped him as a volleyball player. “I prefer outdoor because you have to do everything,” said Lucas. “You have to pass, set and hit. I’m a good all-around player; I’m really good outdoor. I started playing it first, so I just have this passion for it.” His awards speak for themselves. Eric won the High Performance […]

   

• Caller unknown: Former goalkeeper tries out for MLS

  Sports March 25, 2010 at 10:33 am Comments are Disabled

  By Donald O’Mahony, Staff Writer Former George Mason University men’s soccer goalkeeper Sean Kelley had always hoped for the opportunity to play professionally, but it was never his intention to ignore a call from one of the Major League Soccer teams. The spring semester was underway, and in late January, a phone call from an unknown number disrupted Kelley during class. He thought nothing of it until he received a call from Patriots Head Coach Greg Andrulis a little bit later. “I knew something was up because my coach never calls me,” Kelley said in an article on MLSnet.com. “I figured it out. I just wanted to run out of class and head on over here. It was a pretty exciting time.” The unknown number turned out to be FC Dallas goalkeeping coach Drew Keeshan, who called to inform Kelley that the team wanted him to come to Texas and train with the chance of earning a contract. “I had not been doing a whole lot since the end of the season, so [Andrulis and I] started a training program,” said Kelley. Twice a week, he and Andrulis went over goalkeeping drills in his preparation for professional soccer. The sudden […]

   

• Perfection: 15 up, 15 down: Anderson mows down the Bears with perfect game as Mason completes Saturday sweep

  Sports March 25, 2010 at 10:32 am Comments are Disabled

  By Brian T. Chan, Sports Editor To follow a solid two-hit shutout from sophomore Miranda Cranford in the earlier game, senior starting pitcher Becky Anderson capped Saturday’s doubleheader with a perfect game, retiring all 15 batters in the George Mason University’s softball team’s 8-0 win against the Morgan State Bears. The Patriots easily took the first game of the weekend’s four-game set, defeating the Bears 6-0. Moving closer to the .500 mark after starting the season 1-5, the Patriots improved to 5-7 overall with the sweep while the Bears dropped to 4-8. On Saturday, the player sporting the number 4 on her jersey became the fourth pitcher in Mason history to reach perfection, the first since 2002. Anderson, who made her first start since March 9, struck out six batters and managed only one ball to leave the infield. With the perfect game, Anderson lowers her conference-best opponent’s batting average to .170. “I felt like I didn’t have my stuff, but I still hit my spots; Kara [Weiner] was really framing the ball well,” said Anderson. In the matinee game, Cranford went six innings, allowing two hits and striking out three batters; freshman Amanda Buffington, who had a team-best 2.00 […]

   

• MLB Season Preview

  Sports March 1, 2010 at 2:48 pm Comments are Disabled

  Donald O’Mahony, Staff Writer Brian T. Chan, Sports Editor AL East: New York Yankees The defending champions will be difficult to dethrone this season. Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui and Melky Cabrera are all gone along with a few pitchers from the bullpen. But, as usual, the Yankees did not shy away from new player acquisitions. They upgraded their pitching staff with Javier Vazquez, who has pitched over 200 innings in five consecutive seasons, finishing second in the 2009 Cy Young voting. They also brought in Curtis Granderson, who hit 30 home runs for the first time in his career last season, to replace Johnny Damon. The key for the Yankees this season will be to find the chemistry they had last year again. With so many changes on the roster, it may be difficult at first. It has become their tendency to get off to a slow start. However, you can count on the Yankees being in a good position at the end of the season. AL Central: Detroit Tigers The Tigers have developed one of the best young pitching rotations in baseball. They will count on their young guns to carry them deep into the season once again this […]

   

• Powell's Playbook: Anyone's Game

  Sports March 1, 2010 at 2:45 pm Comments are Disabled

  John Powell, Asst. Sports Editor So Mason’s loss may just come back to bite them. They had a shot at Northeastern on Saturday, but the late foul by Ryan Pearson may have cost the Patriots the game. It was one of the lowest-scoring contests I’ve ever witnessed. No doubt it was because of the referees’ tendency to allow contact everywhere — on offense and defense, on shooting and dribbling — without blowing the whistle. I don’t blame Ryan for the contact. First of all, on a fast play like that, it is, as Coach Larranaga said, “a mad scramble.” Second of all, the referees had not been calling many shooting fouls on the Patriots; Northeastern only shot eight free throws the entire game. Finally, Chaisson Allen made a good play. Instead of attempting to drive to the basket with under a second to go, he pulled up for the trey, probably hoping to make it or get fouled like he did. Ryan should have figured the referees game-calling out by that point. There were only two Patriots with more than one personal foul: Luke Hancock with two and Pearson with four. The referees may have just had an eye out […]