Recent Posts

• 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 […]

   

• Mason’s Budget Cut Plan: Administrators Discuss $17.6 Million Cut from 2010 University Budget

  News1 September 22, 2009 at 2:36 pm Comments are Disabled

  Emily Sharrer, Editor-in-Chief About 100 members of the George Mason University Faculty Senate gathered in Harris Theater last Wednesday to hear Senior Vice President Maurice Scherrens and Provost Peter Stearns discuss the ways the university is dealing with the newest $17.6 million budget cut for the 2010 fiscal year. The university’s operating budget currently stands at $887,117,600. Slightly higher class size numbers and a lack of money to be put toward student services are two of the main ways students will be affected by the cut, according to Scherrens. “I think the major impact is that there are going to be slightly more students in classes,” said Scherrens. Stearns also addressed this point during the meeting, claiming that average class size has recently risen from 26 to 28 students due to increased enrollment. Since 2008, $45.3 million has been cut from the university’s budget. Most schools across the state have seen similar budget cuts according to Scherrens. “It’s not much different for other schools,” said Scherrens during the meeting, “everybody’s going to show the same general [rate of decrease].” Stearns and Scherrens outlined the main parts of the university which will take cuts to offset the 15 percent budget cut. Instruction […]

   

• H1N1 Hits Campuses Close to Home: Universities of Virginia and Maryland Affected by Pandemic

  News1 September 22, 2009 at 2:34 pm Comments are Disabled

  Lema Baha, Broadside Correspondent The number of swine flu cases is rapidly rising on college campuses throughout the country. According to the American College Health Association, of the 236 reporting institutions there have been 4,974 new cases of the H1N1 virus for the week of Aug. 29 to Sept. 4. So far ABC News has reported that there have been three deaths among college students due to complications related to the virus. George Mason University has not reported any cases of swine flu this semester, but neighboring schools have not been as fortunate. The University of Virginia has had 151 swine flu cases so far this fall, and has even set up a tally on their student health services website to report new cases of the virus on campus. Sandy Murray, director of nursing at UVA, said the tally is updated every day and sometimes several times a day to keep up with the rising number of infected students. UVA has been following the Centers for Disease Control’s suggestions on how to contain and respond to cases of swine flu. The university has encouraged self-isolation of diagnosed students until 24 hours after their fever has passed and sick students have been […]

   

• Enrollment Rises: Mason Increases Size of Student Body

  News1 September 22, 2009 at 2:32 pm Comments are Disabled

  Sonya Hudson, Managing Editor This year, 1,500 more students than expected enrolled into George Mason University. According to Dan Walsch, Mason’s press secretary, this means basically nothing will change for students on a day to day basis in the short term. “Students will continue attending classes and living their lives as normal,” said Walsch. “What this could mean down the road is an increase in class sizes.” Walsch also noted that the recent budget cuts will contribute to fewer offered sections of classes and an increase in class size. “The university can physically accommodate these students,” says Walsch, “but what the university is focusing on is maintaining a quality education for all these students.” According to Walsch, the university surpassing its enrollment target means that the university has a good name, as many students are transferring to Mason, many more are deciding to attend as freshmen and the retention rate is higher than last year. Walsch speculated that some of this stems from the bad economy, which is encouraging people to stay in school, take more courses and go back to school to increase credentials for better paying jobs. Students returning to Mason speaks to the quality of education they are […]