Gathered students burst into a choreographed “flash mob dance” in front of Olin library at noon this Wednesday, Nov. 18th. The purpose of the dance remains unclear.

And that’s just how the team wanted it.

Senior tri-captain Erin Albers reached her 1,000th career kill while freshman Kelly Pang set a school record for digs in a single season. Both milestones were overshadowed by another spectacular weekend of play from the Bears as a whole, who took three wins here at the Wash. U. Field House in the NCAA tournament Central Regional. The Bears advance to University Heights, Ohio, with a chance to play for a national championship.

The Bears defeated Webster University on Thursday night (25-17, 25-14, 25-27, 25-15) and took out St. Mary’s University on Friday (25-21, 24-26, 25-18, 25-22). With one win between them and a trip to the NCAA finals, the team saved its best performance for last as it took out No. 8 Carthage College in straight sets (26-24, 25-23, 25-12) on Saturday night.

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Graham Chapel is filled with the influence of the Freemasons. The pillars, King Solomon in the eastern window, and the hexagrams in the windows are all symbols of Freemasonry. (Matt Lee | Student Life)

With lore about the Freemasons sensationalized in novelist Dan Brown’s latest book, “The Lost Symbol,” Washington University students may be surprised to learn that the University’s connections with Freemasonry run deep.

Originating from medieval traditions, freemasonry is a fraternal and charitable organization with secret rituals whose members share moral, intellectual and spiritual values.

Several prominent early members of the University community had ties to Tuscan Lodge #360, a Freemason society located in the Central West End. Some former Freemasons include Robert Brookings, William Bixby and William McMillan, all of whom have buildings named after them on campus. Architect James Jamieson, who designed many of the University’s buildings, including Brookings Hall, was also a Freemason.

Carl Barthold, a 1948 graduate of Washington University, is a member of Tuscan Lodge.  He refers to Brookings and other notable Freemasons as the “Washington University influence.”  He said that Brookings and Bixby were among the dozen or so highest contributors to Brookings Hall, and McMillan provided a substantial $20,000 to $25,000 loan to finance the building in 1907.

Freemasons have also had a significant influence on University architecture. Perhaps the most notable example of this is in Graham Chapel.
In the center of Graham Chapel’s eastern window is an image of King Solomon, a figure central to Freemason lore.

“King Solomon’s temple and building and its description is a part of the story that goes with the ritual that we have,” Barthold said.

In the stained glass window, Solomon is constructing a temple. He stands atop an oblong stone that represents the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant was said to hold the Ten Commandments, and it was on this Ark that Solomon is believed to have built his temple.

Two pillars, another symbol of Freemasonry, are on each side of Solomon and represent Boaz, great-grandfather of David and symbol of strength, and Jachin, the high priest at the temple’s dedication and symbol of establishment in the Lord.

The eastern, northern and southern windows in Graham Chapel also bear a subtle reference to the six-pointed star, or hexagram. Although perhaps most recognizable as the Star of David, the hexagram was believed to have been found within Solomon’s temple, as well as inside and outside many current Masonic lodges.

The two interlaced triangles suggested by the windows symbolize the opposition of two equal forces—light and darkness, good and evil, wisdom and ignorance, and other principles. The hexagram also came to represent the four Grecian elements—fire, water, air and earth—or, when taken together, totality.

Freemasons: Secret society?

Barthold said that although Freemasons are often represented as a secret society, their actions are often very public.

“Are we secret? Well, if you look in the telephone book, you’ll see Tuscan Lodge.  It’s there,” Barthold said.  “We’re not a secret society.  We’re a fraternity with some secrets.”

Although accurate and factual information about the Freemasons is available to the public, many misconceptions about the Freemasons still exist. Barthold said that it has been a tradition among Freemasons to ignore some of these misconceptions.

“We don’t want to argue with people who have their minds made up,” Barthold said.  But he added, “We’re being forced into changing that a little bit now.”
As for Dan Brown’s books, Barthold said that Brown could have taken any organization and written about it.

“I think they’re rather entertaining,” he said.  “But I don’t agree with all of it.”

Sophomore Rachel Folkerts said she was surprised to learn of the University’s ties with Masonry.

“That’s really bizarre that we have a Masonic influence,” Folkerts said.

Folkerts has read all of Dan Brown’s novels, except the latest one. She said her opinions of Freemasonry have been heavily influenced by what she has learned through pop culture.

“The fact I know [about Freemasonry] from Dan Brown books shows how they’re viewed in culture,” Folkerts said.  “I know it because of these fictional, pretty ridiculous stories, so that’s the context that I think of them in.”

Sophomore Emma Brown had two shots in the Nov. 7 loss to the University of Chicago. Wash. U. tied for the UAA title with the University of Rochester and earned an automatic NCAA bid. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

Despite holding an undefeated streak dating back to Sept. 5, the Washington University women’s soccer team (14-3-1, 5-1-1 UAA) could not overcome the University of Chicago on Saturday, Nov. 7.

The Bears, who entered the game one point ahead of the University of Rochester, failed to secure an outright University Athletic Association (UAA) title with the 3-0 loss.

Both teams will have a share of the UAA crown because Rochester tied with Case Western Reserve University. But the Red and Green will receive an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament because they defeated Rochester 2-1 in an earlier season matchup. The appearance will be the team’s seventh consecutive.

The first goal against the Bears occurred 24 minutes into the first half when a Chicago forward shot the ball through the legs of freshman goalkeeper Clara Jaques, about 10 yards away. The Maroons stifled Wash. U.’s offense for the whole game, even though both teams were allowed 11 shots and six corner kicks.

“The biggest challenge, I think, was getting our rotational offense together,” senior captain Carter Schwarberg said. “[Chicago] packed a lot of people in the back, and our forwards had some trouble connecting with each other.”

The second half saw the Maroons’ lead jump by two goals. Eight minutes in, Chicago midfielder Emily Benoit was able to shoot above Jaques’s reach. As the time ticked away, Wash. U. turned up the heat to try to turn the game around, but Chicago matched its intensity. With 10 minutes left, the Chicago offense once again lit up for a give-and-go 12 yards out.

“It’s a conference game, so all these games, they really matter. Every team in our conference is really good…[The games are] always battles and you really just have to be on top of it if you want to win,” senior captain Libby Held said.

As NCAA play approaches, the team hopes to have senior Caryn Rosoff available. Rosoff was absent from the Chicago game because of the lower calf strain injury she received last weekend against New York University.

“We just learned that no matter what, no matter how well we’ve been playing the past couple weeks, we can’t be complacent,” Schwarberg said. “Always on our toes, always ready for the next person no matter what happens.”

Some players said the team just never really found its groove in the game. The Bears are still confident, however, even with the disappointing loss.

“In terms of the tournament, we might have a little bit harder of a seed.” Schwarberg said. “We might have to play a harder team earlier on in the tournament, but I’m not worried about it.”

Tournament seeding will be determined Monday during a live broadcast on the NCAA Web site.

With additional reporting by Hannah Lustman

Freshman Meg Buker sets the ball in the UAA championship match against Emory University on Nov. 7. Buker stepped in for the entire tournament as classmate Marilee Fisher injured her ankle during warm-ups on Nov. 6. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

The Washington University women’s volleyball team lost a match this past weekend for the first time in nearly a month and a half as it dropped the final match of the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship in a sweep to Emory University (25-18, 25-19, 25-21) in Chicago.

The loss, the team’s first since a loss to University of Missouri-St. Louis on Sept. 22, cost the Bears a UAA title and spoiled an otherwise stellar weekend of play in which the team swept Rochester University (25-15, 25-13, 25-23), Case Western Reserve University (25-17, 25-21, 25-14) and New York University (25-13, 25-17, 25-14).

“Certainly we played an incredibly motivated team, and we didn’t execute the skills very well,” head coach Rich Luenemann said.

The Bears hit a roadblock early on when freshman setter Marilee Fisher injured her ankle in warm-ups for the first match. Freshman Meg Buker took her place and averaged 29 assists per game for the tournament. Her strong play was a key part of the Bears’ success in their first three matches.

“You always have to go with that mentality of being prepared to go in,” Buker said. “I have a great team there to support me. That takes a lot of the pressure off because you know that you have five other girls who are going to take care of business and have your back.”

Against Rochester, sophomore Lauren Budde put on a tremendous showing, registering 16 kills to only one error while also tallying 12 digs. Budde put up a similar line in the following game against Case, with 13 kills and 12 digs.

On Saturday, the Bears came out strong again in their win against NYU. Senior co-captain Erin Albers picked up 13 kills to lead the team, which had one of its best offensive days of the season with a .390 hitting percentage.

So after three strong performances to begin the weekend, what happened against Emory?

“Really we just kind of got frazzled in that last game, it was just mental mistakes, mental errors,” sophomore Tricia Brandt said. “We had a few too many serve-outs.”

Certainly the Bears didn’t do themselves any favors against Emory, registering 20 errors. Their .150 hitting percentage was also one of their lowest outputs of the season.

“For whatever reason, that was probably not our usual self out there,” Buker said. “And we seemed to have a hard time getting the momentum back or maintaining it in the first place.”

Despite the loss, the Bears seemed content with how the weekend went. “We really played well and Meg really stepped up under the pressure and she just did a great job,” Brandt said. “We had a really strong tournament in all of our games, except this last one.”

With Wash. U. being picked as regional site for the NCAA tournament, which starts next weekend, the Bears have a great chance to put this loss behind them. Given that the team that has finished second in the UAA Tournament has won the national title each of the last two years, the team certainly isn’t put off by this one loss.

“When we got together at the end, I just said, ‘I want everybody to take two minutes and give yourself a little kick in the butt and evaluate what you could have done better,’ and certainly we’ll focus on that,” Luenemann said.

With additional reporting by Hannah Lustman

Junior John Duncan dribbles the ball as a University of Chicago defender attempts to knock it loose in the Bears’ 1-0 loss on Nov. 7. (Matt Mitang | Student Life)

CHICAGO—When an official’s call dictated the deciding goal in the game against the University of Chicago, the men’s soccer team’s final game ended much the same way the season first began.

Near the end of the game’s first overtime period, junior Randall Schoen was whistled for a foul at the top of the box. The play set up a penalty kick for the Maroons’ Stanton Coville, who converted to end 99 minutes of scoreless play. In the team’s double-overtime home opener on Sept. 1 against Illinois Wesleyan, two Washington University goals were called back by officials.

“Obviously we weren’t pleased with the result. The game was pretty emblematic of our season in a lot of ways in that I thought we were the better team, but we just had what I thought was an awful call go against us,” junior captain Alex Neumann said. “A lot of times this year we have been the better team, but we’ve just gotten unlucky bounces, unlucky calls, and things just haven’t turned out the best for us.”

Both teams took very few shots; Wash. U. recorded nine, while Chicago took 11. In the second half, the Bears controlled the ball, moving much of the play to the Maroons’ defensive half. Despite the counterattack, the Bears took only two shots in the second half.

“I thought especially in the second half and in the overtime, the team played really well. I was just really proud of the guys,” said senior captain Nat Zenner, who did not play due to injury. “I couldn’t have asked for anything more, and it’s frustrating to lose on a pretty bad call.”

The two teams played a physical game. Each team was issued three yellow cards in regulation. Prior to the game, the Bears had only received six yellow cards in the entire season. The officials also called 38 fouls.

“[The team] played very, very well. There was no difference between our team and theirs—I think my team is better than Chicago, but they’re good,” head coach Joe Clarke said. “Again, we gave up the odd goal.”

Clarke said the game illustrated improvements the team has made throughout the season in midfield play.

“Our entire midfield had changed from last year, essentially, except for Zach Hendrickson. And so that was the biggest thing, developing that midfield and creating an understanding, and that gradually got better and better and better,” Clarke said “I think we became a strong group going in both directions. [We] just needed to be better in the two penalty areas.”

Zenner highlighted the team’s enduring spirit.

“We got a lot better [at] our ability to really play hard the whole game and be a difficult team to play against,” Zenner said. “Not only is that our team’s greatest strength, but it’s also the thing we improved upon most this year was just being really, really difficult to play against and showing a lot of heart throughout the whole game.”

After the game, the team’s fan base, traveling from multiple states and international locations, honored seniors Zenner, captain John Hengel, goalie John Smelcer and Ryan Grandin.

“I love my seniors. They’re all going to be very hard to replace. Johnny Smelcer I think helped elevate this program probably as much as any player in their time, in their career…Johnny Hengel has been our leading scorer three out of his four years. He’s just a kid [that] if he gets the ball around the box, he’s just our best sharpshooter,” Clarke said. “Ryan Grandin hasn’t gotten the time that others have gotten. He’s handled that like a great team player does…Nat Zenner has been a two-year captain. He moved around to a lot of different positions and always responded well.”

The Division III Men’s Soccer Championship bracket will be released today, and the Bears are eligible for an at-large bid.