Paul Goedeke | Student Life

Sophomore defensive lineman Seth Wight (left) and senior linebacker Corey Terman (right) prepare to tackle Case Western’s Dan Calabrese on Saturday, Nov. 5. The Bears were defeated 16-6.

The last time these two teams met, the Bears came out sharp, beating the Spartans 14-13. The story was different on Saturday, as turnovers and missed scoring opportunities proved to be costly. The Bears’ offense could not find the end zone afterward while the defense could not stop the Spartans from settling for field goals, resulting in a 16-6 loss.

“Our kids played hard, and they are a pretty [good] football team,” head coach Larry Kindbom said. “You can’t make mistakes against [Case Western] and we did. If you make mistakes, you’re going to lose. Pretty simple.”

Wash. U. came out strong in the first half, as junior quarterback Dan Burkett and junior running back Chris Castelluccio led the offense down the field to long drives. Both the running and passing game seemed to work well on the first three drives. On the second drive, Wash. U.’s offense drove the ball to Case Western’s 15-yard line, giving the Bears a chance to score first. However, junior kicker Eric Chalifour missed the 32-yard field goal as the ball sailed wide left. Chalifour’s uncharacteristic inaccuracy continued to plague him throughout the game. He missed the extra point after senior wide receiver Easton Knott’s 55-yard touchdown catch and a 27-yard field goal in the third quarter.

“I was really surprised,” Knott said. “Eric is an incredibly consistent kicker, and it seems like he never misses a kick. Everyone always has a bad day, but our loss isn’t his fault. If our offense is forced to settle for field goals, we need to [do] our job better.”

The Bears’ defense played sharply throughout the first half, forcing the Spartans to punt the ball on their first three drives. After Case kicked a field goal on its fourth drive, the team’s offense gained confidence and rhythm in the passing and running games, which lead to long drives into the red zone and gave Wash. U.’s defense a hard time. The Spartans converted three of their four scoring attempts while the Bears went zero for two.

In the second half, Case made some adjustments on defense to counter the Bears’ offensive strategy, forcing Wash. U. to punt on most of its drives and picking off Burkett on a drive that looked hopeful in the third quarter.

Kindbom put in junior quarterback Adam Banks in the fourth quarter, hoping he would bring some spark to the offense.

“We needed touchdowns in order to have a shot at winning,” Kindbom said, “So I thought maybe Adam Banks could help us. He did a fairly good job, but we came up short.”

Despite the loss, the Bears are still looking forward to their last game of the season, on Saturday at home against one of their biggest rivals, the University of Chicago. If Wash. U. wins, it will take possession of the Founders Cup, commemorating the first University Athletic Association game between the two schools.

“That game will be the last day to put on our pads for the team as seniors,” Knott said. “It’s senior day, so we’re motivated to go [out] as winners. They stole it from us last year and we want it back.”

Denton Zhou | The Observer

Senior running back Jim O’Brien runs through a hole against Case Western Reserve University on Saturday. O’Brien carried the Bears to victory with 150 yards on 28 carries and scored both Wash. U. touchdowns in the 14-13 victory.

Wash. U. (7-2) came back from two turnovers and a 13-7 deficit to hand the Spartans (7-2) with their second consecutive loss 14-13. The Spartans had won 38 games in a row in the regular season over the past three seasons.

Defensively, four players finished with 10 tackles or more for the Bears. Junior linebacker Kyle Larkin led the way with 15 tackles. The defense held Case to an average of 4 yards per play and came up with big stops when called upon, such as after senior quarterback Stephen Sherman’s interception in the third quarter. 

“The coaches put together a solid game plan, and we were able to execute,” Larkin said. “We were able to slow down their attack well enough to win the game. Our defense is all about teamwork, and we feed off of each other’s energy. We pride ourselves on playing fast, being physical and playing with passion.”

The three-and-out following Sherman’s interception ended in a blocked punt by freshman Michael Rademacher that gave Wash. U. the ball at the Case 46-yard line. The offense marched into the end zone in six plays, with O’Brien’s 3-yard touchdown run giving the Bears a 14-13 lead that they would not relinquish.

“The coaching staff did a great job figuring out which specific plays were working against their defense,” O’Brien said. “We stuck to those plays and the O-Line and H-Backs totally dominated the blocking game. There were times when Case’s defense knew what was coming, but they still couldn’t stop it because our guys did such an amazing job of firing out and blocking.”

However, the game was far from over.

The Spartans opened the fourth quarter by marching the ball 85 yards in 17 plays to the Wash. U. 3-yard line when the special teams unit came through again. Senior cornerback Brandon Brown came around the edge and blocked the 20-yard field goal attempt by Sam Coffey to preserve the lead for the time being. Coffey has connected on the most field goals in Spartan history and had made his first two attempts from 21 and 44 yards out.

“We have always put a lot of emphasis on our special teams, and we take each opportunity to practice our field goal block seriously,” said Brown, who also broke up three passes. “We’ve already blocked several kicks this year coming up the middle, so I guess that’s what Case had been preparing for. In doing that, they left me free to come off the edge.  I got a good jump on the snap, along with them not getting the hold down perfectly clean.”

Case Western got the ball back with 2:13 left to play and promptly drove 57 yards in 14 plays, sending the field goal unit on the field with 13 seconds left. Junior defensive lineman Daniel Sufranski blocked the 43-yard field goal attempt, sealing the upset.

Next week, the Bears travel to Chicago to face the University of Chicago (7-2) in the University Athletic Association regular season finale. The winner of the game will win the conference championship, as well as the Founder’s Cup, which is a trophy commemorating the founding of the UAA, and will have a chance at making the playoffs.

“This might be the biggest game us seniors will play in over the last four years, and we wouldn’t want it any other way,” O’Brien said. “It will all come down to this matchup against our biggest rival. They are a good team, and we will have to be our best to beat them.”

The Maroons are coming off a 61-22 victory over Carnegie Mellon, whom the Bears defeated 20-13 in overtime last week. The game will begin at 12 p.m.

Spencer Gay drives past a defender in Sunday’s victory. The Bears clinched the UAA title and an NCAA tournament bid. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

It was hardly an easy feat. On Senior Night, in front of a packed Field House on Friday, the Washington University men’s basketball team secured sole possession of the University Athletic Association title and an automatic NCAA tournament bid with a 65-62 win over Case Western Reserve University.

“Being able to win the UAA outright, on Senior Night, it was kind of a nice feather in our caps as seniors,” senior co-captain Aaron Thompson said. “For the team, it’s just a nice relief knowing that we’re going to be in the tournament for sure, and we don’t have to leave anything to chance.”

Up by two with just 5.9 seconds left in the game, the Bears defense forced a turnover on a Case Western inbounding play, sealing a tense game with an equally tense ending.

“We won [the game], and I thought we played well,” head coach Mark Edwards said. “Sometimes people get caught up in expectations, and they forget about the fact that the object of the game is to win it. Secondly, that nobody is going to play perfect. The third thing is that you’ve got to expect the other team to play well.”

Junior Spencer Gay had a team high of 18 points and three blocks to edge the Bears past the Spartans. Thompson, one of four senior players being celebrated on Friday night, scored 15 points.

The Bears had a hot start, taking a six-point lead with 14:54 left in the first half, relying on a strong inside presence and well-timed passes.

“[My teammates] set good screens for me, and I was wide open,” Gay said. “Sean [Wallis] got me the ball, I got in good position, and all I really had to do was lay it up.”

But with an increased Spartan defense, which forced errors and turnovers, the lead quickly disappeared.

“We’re so confident in each other…that sometimes, if they bump us or take away a cut…[mistakes] happen,” Edwards said. “We just have to know how to deal with it.”

Junior Alex Hildebrandt’s three-point play resulted in a 25-22 advantage with 5:59 to go in the first half as Case took a four-point lead into the break.

At the 15:18 mark in the second half, sophomore Tom Summers’ layup pushed the visitor’s lead to six.

Junior Caleb Knepper’s three-pointer reclaimed the lead for the Bears, part of a 12-4 run, but the game remained a close battle until the final buzzer. Thompson’s three-pointer with 90 seconds left pushed the lead to six, and proved to be vital in the win.

“As a senior, and having played in so many close games over the years, you kind of learn what needed to happen,” Thompson said. “In those situations…it’s your turn to step up to the table and take the team and put them on your shoulders and say, ‘Hey, this is what’s going to happen. Let’s go do it.’”

The Bears carried the momentum from Friday night into Sunday’s game against Carnegie Mellon University, the final home game of the season. Gay led the team, again, with a career high of 22 points. Senior Zach Kelly finished with 13 points in the 95-58 victory.

“Coming into the game, we didn’t feel as much pressure because we secured the UAA championship,” Gay said. “We were relaxed today.”

The conference championship is the Bears’ third in the past four years, and the 10th in program history. Washington University (22-2, 12-1) concludes the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 27, at the University of Chicago (13-11, 7-6).

“I am proud, but I’m also happy for [the team]. The seniors are going to go out in style, and not just with the winning, but putting on a nice legacy for the young kids coming in,” Edwards said.

“The thing about the UAA is that anybody can beat anybody on a given night, so really taking care of your home floor and beating the teams that you should beat is what you have to do to win the UAA. You’re going up against good teams, and if you split, that’s basically what you’re looking for,” junior co-captain Aaron Thompson said.

Senior Tyler Nading dropped 21 points, and Thompson scored 19 to lead the Red and Green, and both junior Zach Kelly and sophomore Caleb Knepper also scored in double figures.

Despite entering the game with a 4-8 overall record, the Spartans stunned the home crowd with a 20-12 lead midway through the first half. Senior guard Steve Young was the main driving force for Case, hitting his first three shots from beyond the arc. Young finished with 11 points in the half and 21 points overall.

“We knew that they were going to come out tough. Every team that we’ve played this year has come out knowing that we’re the team they want to beat and that they come out and play differently than they show on paper,” Nading said. “We knew Case wasn’t going to be the 4-8 team that they were, and true to form, in the first half, they hit just about ever shot they took. We weren’t surprised.”

The Bears responded to this deficit with a 10-0 run, aided by four points from junior John Wolf and five from freshman Dylan Richter, but soon found themselves down again after Case’s own 7-0 run with seven minutes left in the half.

Thompson scored the final basket before halftime, cutting Washington’s deficit to four points heading into the locker room.

Coming out from the locker room, the Spartans were a different team. Taking advantage of their 0-5 start to the half, Thompson scored Wash. U.’s first seven points in an 11-2 run, reclaiming the lead, 41-38. By the 12:14 mark, the Bears had built a double-digit lead.

“We went into the locker room at halftime and talked about what we needed to do, and then we came out and did much better in the second half. A lot of it was defensively,” Nading said.

As Case Western narrowed the lead to just three points, Kelly hit a layup that sparked a 13-4 run, putting the Bears ahead 76-64 and putting the game out of reach.

Sunday morning’s game against Emory University was much less of a contest. The Bears scored 12 unanswered points to start the game, eight of which came from Thompson. All 14 of his points came in the first half, hitting three of four from three-point range.

“When our guys do a good job of moving the ball around, setting picks for me and getting me open, it’s pretty easy to knock down shots. I have to give [my teammates] all the credit. They do a great job of getting me open and giving me the ball where I need it,” Thompson said.

The Eagles hit their first shot with 15:43 left in the first half but could not escape a 20-point deficit after a pair of free throws from Nading. Senior Sean Wallis and Thompson then hit back-to-back threes to prevent any chance of an Emory comeback, stretching the lead, 40-18.

In the second half, Knepper scored 10 points to extend the lead to 32 as the Bears coasted to their 13th win of the season. Nading, Wallis, Thompson and Knepper all scored in double figures.

With this 79-58 win, Washington University holds a 42-3 record at home since the 2005-2006 season. Coach Mark Edwards also recorded his 490th win as head coach.

The Bears will be away from home over the next two weekends, beginning this Friday Jan. 23, against the University of Rochester (9-2, 2-1 UAA). The team then faces No. 18 Carnegie Mellon University (11-2, 2-1 UAA).

//

The Washington University women’s cross country team continues to sit atop the UAA, placing second this weekend at the 2008 University Athletic Association Championships while the men placed seventh. Emory University hosted the meet Saturday at the Georgia International Horse Park in Conyers, Ga.

In a season full of injuries and adversity, the No. 18 women’s team captured second place with the help of sophomore Taryn Surtees, who took the 2008 individual title. Surtees, who ran in second for most of the race, finished strongly with a time of 21:37.22, winning by over 15 seconds.

The women placed second only behind No. 6 Case Western University. Emory, the University of Chicago and the University of Rochester rounded out the top five. Other top runners and impressive performances for the Bears came from Elizabeth Phillips, Erica Jackey, Angela Hartman, Hope Rathnam and Molly Schlamb, placing ninth, 10^th, 12^th 20^th and 24^th respectively.

“The biggest excitement was finishing four points behind Case Western. They’re ranked sixth, and we’re ranked 18^th. So to be that close in point total is really exciting,” Surtees said.

There was only a slim margin of 38 seconds between Phillips and Schlamb.

The men captured the seventh spot, outscoring only the University of Rochester. New York University won the UAA title.

Despite a disappointing finish, the men’s team had five runners who all finished within 12 spots of each other. Senior Nick Silverman, freshman Tucker Hartley, junior Alex Bearden, sophomore Dave Spandorfer and junior Matt Kruger placed 33^rd, 36^th, 27^th, 39^th and 45^th place respectively.

“The men’s meet wasn’t a disaster, but it was nowhere near where we want to or need to be right now. We finished seventh out of eight, in perhaps the best conference in DIII, so [it was] not as bad as it looks, but our hope was to finish fourth,” freshman Tucker Hartley said. “Right now, we are doing everything we can to be prepared for the Midwest Regionals. Our recent increase in training intensity is only just beginning to take effect, and the next week will be vitally important. To qualify will not take a drastic change in training; we just have to work as hard as we are able, trust in our fitness and run to our maximum capability on November 15.”

The cross country teams will compete again in two weeks, with the women looking to defend their three straight NCAA Midwest regional titles at the 2008 NCAA Midwest Region Championships on Saturday November, 15 in Rock Island Ill.

“[The women’s team] had a really good performance, and it’s really encouraging [that] we’re in a lot better place now than before. We had a freshman place in the top ten and ran a personal record, and that’s all a step in the right direction,” Surtees added.

“We’re not thinking about what injured people could’ve helped us,” senior Nick Silverman said. “We’re racing with the team we have.” 

The Washington University women’s soccer team won two fiercely competitive games this past weekend and emerged as the UAA conference champions for the third straight season and sixth season overall. The No. 8 Bears recorded 2-1 victories against No. 16 University of Rochester on Friday and then Case Western Reserve University on Sunday to seal the UAA title before the end of conference play. The Bears (14-2-1, 6-0-0 UAA) also secured an automatic bid into the NCAA Division III tournament by winning the conference title.

In the first game this weekend against Rochester, junior forward Caryn Rosoff scored twice in the 2-1 victory.

“We came really pumped. We knew we definitely needed a win… It was a really physical game. We really stepped it up and got the job done,” Rosoff said.

Rochester scored first in the match off of a corner kick in the tenth minute, but the lead was short-lived. After a spectacular offensive build-up, Rosoff chipped the ball over the opposing goalkeeper to even the score up at one apiece at the 13:15 mark.

Less then three minutes into the second half, Rosoff collected a deflected loose ball at the edge of the box, took it past a defender and launched the game-winning goal into the upper left corner.

“Rochester was a very physical game, but we were the much more skillful team,” junior back Cassie Scaman said.

With the win against Rochester, the Bears only needed to beat Case Western to get into the postseason and win the UAA championship.

“Against Case, it was about coming out and getting a championship. Everyone was into the game, and we played hard,” Rosoff said.

Again, the Bears fell behind first and entered the break trailing 1-0. The play in the first half was sloppy, and the team seemed to struggle to find any sort of offensive rhythm. After halftime though, the Bears came out roaring, moved the ball around better and thoroughly controlling the game.

“We woke up in the second half and realized what we were playing for. We were playing for the championship; this game was the season. We dominated the second half,” Scaman said.

Senior midfielder Caitlin Malone leveled the match after taking a cross from junior midfielder Elyse Hanly and heading the ball into the back of the net in the 62^nd minute.

The winning goal would not come until the 90^th minute. Rosoff hit a pass in front of the goal, which Malone drove into the back of the net.

“When the second goal went in, I had no idea how much time was left. They told me that there was 15 seconds left,” Malone said.

The team, which has National Championship aspirations, has not lost sight of what they need to do, despite the exciting and eventful weekend.

“Winning conference has always been our team’s goal. Had we not won conference, [we] would have been pretty upset,” Malone said.

“Third year in a row being UAA champs is a great feeling. It shows how much work we put in… how much we love it. But it’s only the beginning. Every single game is big. Every single game we will play is bigger game than any game we’ve had,” Scaman added.

Wash. U. finishes UAA play on Saturday against the University of Chicago. The game will be at 12:30 p.m. at Francis Field.

“The will of our team and the team dynamic is what’s getting us through all of these games. It’s our chemistry,” Scaman said. “It’s not because we have the most talented individuals, it’s because we play for each other and we play for the love of the game.”