Sports

• In My Own Words: Visiting Some Old Friends

  Sports October 1, 2009 at 1:49 pm Comments are Disabled

  Fernanda Bartels, Staff Writer With conference games starting this weekend, the real competition begins now. I have been waiting for this time of the season since the beginning of August. We are at the point where we played enough games to become a cohesive unit, but we still have some adjustments to make. We have improved in fundamental aspects, but we are not playing our best yet. We overcame some tough opponents, but the most amazing victories have yet to come. There is no better time during the season than now. It has been exciting especially due to the fresh start this season. Even though we have been playing for over a month, I still have that cold feeling in my stomach when I step on the court for our first conference match. It’s amazing how that feeling doesn’t go away even after many years of volleyball. Besides the excitement of a first game, it is also good to play our rivals. There is a big difference between playing the James Madison University Dukes and the Wright State Raiders. In my collegiate career, I have played against Wright State once. My expectations for Wright State were based on the information […]

   

• The Rise of Stadiums: Teams Look for Change in Scenery

  Sports September 22, 2009 at 2:58 pm Comments are Disabled

  John Powell, Assistant Sports Editor The last year has seen a gargantuan difference in stadium trends. Two $1 billion stadiums have been constructed. The world’s largest replay board was constructed not once, but twice for the same stadium. Two comparisons can be made: the billion-dollar budget baseball stadiums in New York and the differences in the two largest stadiums in the National Football League. The new Yankee Stadium has become the monument of the New York Yankees. The Steinbrenner philosophy, “This is the Yankees, everything has to be done first-rate,” is embodied in the $1.5 billion stadium. While many other ballparks have a relatively low seating capacity, the Yankees play in front of a stadium which accommodates 52,000 fans. The average ticket price has risen to $72.97, a 76 percent increase from 2008. There are seats for everyone’s price range. Tickets are only $5 for the obstructed view seats while the premium seats can go for up to $2,625 per game. 1,400 video monitors give fans the ultimate game experience, used for instant replays and delayed video for fans that get out of their seats for the concessions. The new Yankee Stadium is the most expensive ballpark in the game, […]

   

• Sean Kelley, Keeper of the Safe: Senior Goalkeeper Dominates Opponents

  Sports September 22, 2009 at 2:57 pm Comments are Disabled

  Fernanda Bartels, Broadside Correspondent For opposing offenses, facing the George Mason University men’s soccer goalkeeper Sean Kelley is their worst nightmare. The Lexington, Ky. native held opponents scoreless in six of the nine final games last season. Kelley started playing soccer when he was young. Coming from a family of athletes, the talent for sports came naturally.  His father, Scott Kelley, played basketball in college. “[My dad] was a big influence with sports [and was] always very supportive,” said Kelley. Kelley played baseball, basketball and soccer before focusing only on soccer. When it came down to choosing his main sport, he chose soccer over the other sports because he was “better at soccer” and also his friends’ influence helped him choose. Kelley was a standout player in high school, where he was recognized nationally in his senior year, being nominated as a member of the NSCAA All-America team, Gatorade Player of the Year as well as winning other honors. He was one step away from Mason after he caught Head Coach Greg Andrulis’ attention. “I was part of [Andrulis’] first recruiting class. I liked where he wanted to go with the team. I also wanted to go away from home,” […]

   

• The Ultimate Yankee: Even After 15 Years, the Captain is Still on Top

  Sports September 22, 2009 at 2:56 pm Comments are Disabled

  Chris DeMarco, Staff Writer One has to wonder if the New York Yankees knew what they were getting when they picked shortstop Derek Jeter in the first round of the 1992 Major League Amateur Draft. The Yankees have the Houston Astros to thank for not listening to one of their scouts, Hal Newhouser, who advocated using the first pick on Jeter, and selecting Phil Nevin instead. All Jeter has done since then is accumulate a collection of accolades, including the Rookie of the Year award, an All-Star MVP award and a World Series MVP award. No one would have thought that the rookie shortstop for the Yankees would have turned out to be this amazing, let alone make the starting lineup for the Yankees in 1996. Manager Joe Torre, who was in his first year with the Yankees, took a chance and it has paid off big time. It seems that no matter what Jeter accomplishes, he still ends up being labeled as “overrated.” A lot of critics undermine the worth of Jeter. A lot of people claim that his age is catching up with him and that he does not play the position as well as others in the […]

   

• In My Own Words: Five-Set Frenzies, The Life of a Mason Student-Athlete

  Sports September 22, 2009 at 2:54 pm Comments are Disabled

  Fernanda Bartels, Broadside Correspondent The most exciting way to win in any sport happens when you rally from a deficit, when your team was behind for most of the game. In a volleyball match, being down two sets does not mean the game is over. Instead, it means it is about to start. We have to fight to take the third set with a different mindset, now that we have nothing to lose. The pressure is not on our side of the court anymore. After losing two sets, there are no responsibilities of winning the match. Holding back is not an option; we must leave all our feelings and energy on the court. If something went wrong in the past two sets, learn from the mistakes, but let the anger go. It is time to try every play in the playbook, and every player must push to do their best. It is essentially all or nothing. With that attitude, we go back to the court feeling great. Even though we are losing the match, numbers have no meaning when the result is all that matters. That is when everything starts to work out for our team. We start to work […]

   

• Statement Game: The Clash of In-State Rivals

  Sports September 22, 2009 at 2:53 pm Comments are Disabled

  John Powell, Assistant Sports Editor Overview: The George Mason University women’s soccer team looks for another win as they take on the James Madison Dukes. Going into the Mason Tournament, the team has won every game played in the state of Virginia. The Patriots hope to continue their home success against the Dukes. Mason: The Patriots (5-1-0) came out of the Tribe Invitational with a tournament win and a ranking as the seventh-best team in the Mid-Atlantic region. Mason has won its four games at home, scoring a combined 14 goals while holding opponents to only two, bringing them to fifth in the nation in scoring offense. The main contributor to this new ranking is senior forward Kelly Keelan, who won the CAA Women’s Soccer Player of the Week award. This is the second time Keelan has garnered this award, in addition to last year when she played as a goaltender, showing her positional diversity. Freshman forward Tiana Kallenberger won the CAA Women’s Soccer Co-Rookie of the Week award. Second in goals and assists on the team, she is a foundational forward for the team. Kallenberger and Keelan are both ranked in the top 60 in the nation in scoring. […]

   

• Getting over the Hump: Men’s Soccer Looking to Return to the Big Tournament

  Sports September 22, 2009 at 2:50 pm Comments are Disabled

  Tim Blank, Broadside Correspondent The men’s soccer team failed to make an appearance in the NCAA Tournament the year after their last appearance prior to last season. This year’s team feels as though they can buck that trend of two years ago and make a second straight appearance in the NCAA tournament. Currently, the team has a 2-2 overall record after splitting a pair of games and finishing in third place in the Adidas Gamecock Classic in Columbia, S.C. Many of the players that are on the team think the current team has more talent than the one from last year. “We’re slightly ahead of last year’s team; we’re playing well as a unit. We just have a few things to fix here and there,” said sophomore defender Eric Zuehsow. The team will play the Longwood Lancers at George Mason Stadium on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Lancers lost 2-0 against the Old Dominion Monarchs at the beginning of the season and played against the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams on Sunday, so the team knows that the Lancers have played against some good competition so far during the season. “They have a good program down there, so we have to […]

   

• Patriots Take on Retrievers: Women’s Soccer Continues Rampage

  Sports September 22, 2009 at 2:46 pm Comments are Disabled

  Fox Parker, Broadside Correspondent George Mason University women’s soccer team will play against the University of Maryland Baltimore County Retrievers on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at George Mason Stadium. As of Friday, the Patriots are 5-1, matching their win total for the entire 2008 season. Mason will take on a winless UMBC team that has scored only one goal this season, while allowing their opponents to tally 12 goals against. Conversely, the Patriots have racked up 25 goals in their six games and have allowed just six against. The scoring onslaught is led by redshirt junior midfielder Omolyn Davis who leads the Patriots with six goals. Davis is followed by freshman forward Tiana Kallenberger and senior forward Kelly Keelan, who have four goals apiece. Keelan is also filling up the stat sheet as Mason’s assist leader with five. Freshman goalkeeper Katie Frey has been solid for the Patriots in the net. Frey has started five of the six matches and made 14 saves in her young Patriot career while only allowing four goals. After the match against the Retrievers, the Patriots will open up their CAA schedule against the James Madison Dukes on Thursday Sept. 24 at George Mason Stadium. The Patriots […]

   

• Fall Spotlight, Skills for the Kills: Women’s Volleyball Triad Looks to Conclude Collegiate Careers on a High Note

  Sports September 22, 2009 at 2:41 pm Comments are Disabled

  Kevin Nydam, Broadside Correspondent It may prove to be a difficult task to find someone on campus who is not thrilled about the start of this year’s George Mason University women’s volleyball season. With a 9-3 record to begin with and taking three out of four matches in the N.C. State Classic last weekend, the team is heading in a positive direction. As this college season is the last for seniors Sam Simmonds, Laura Turner and Rebecca Walter, they are determined to give their all for the opportunity to leave with something to hold on to for the rest of their lives. “There’s a special feeling about this season—everybody’s always positive,” said Simmonds, the 5-foot-11-inch lefty right-side hitter from South Australia. She is a psychology major and plans to either return to Australia for graduate school, travel or work towards a child development program in Africa. Simmonds began this season with 155 sets played, 220 kills and 198 digs in the books. She first started playing volleyball after someone recommended she play because she was tall and left-handed. Sam experimented with it and has been playing ever since. After playing a few years in Australia, she met Paul Koncir, the assistant […]

   

• Playoffs or No Playoffs? The Ongoing BCS Debate

  Sports September 14, 2009 at 12:14 pm Comments are Disabled

  Chris DeMarco, Staff Writer Would a playoff system result in Bowl Championship Series busters Boise State and Utah advancing to the National Championship Game? It might. Over the last four years, undefeated Boise State and Utah teams have shocked heavily favored Oklahoma and Alabama, respectively. In both of those seasons, both Boise State and Utah were the only undefeated teams left standing, but yet did not have the opportunity to play for a national championship. A playoff system would be an interesting concept for college football. The current BCS system just does not cut it. Lackluster teams not in the top 10 have no business playing in the BCS games. Conferences should not have automatic bids into the BCS games either. There is no reason a lackluster team from the ACC or the Big East should be any way involved in the BCS. In previous years, we have seen multiple teams playing in the BCS games that were ranked outside the top 10 in 2008 with 19th-ranked Virginia Tech and 12th-ranked Cincinnati, and 2007 with 14th-ranked Wake Forest. Only the top-rated teams should be eligible for the BCS. It would not be that hard to have a playoff in college […]