In both of the weekend’s games, the Bears grabbed control early on and never gave up the lead. Junior Alex Hoover’s 15 points paced the Bears as they routed the Rochester Yellowjackets 68-40 on Friday night at the Wash. U. Field House. They followed up with another big win against the Emory Eagles with a score of 61-47 on Sunday.

“It’s really beneficial when you’re not worrying about playing catch-up with the team,” senior co-captain Janice Evans said. “It makes you feel good about how you’re playing.”

The wins improved the Bears to 18-2 overall and 8-1 in conference as they maintained their lead over the rest of the University Athletic Association.

The majority of the first half consisted of the two teams trading blows, with an early Wash. U. run being countered by Rochester. This gave the Bears a slim 16-15 lead before Evans stole the momentum from the Yellowjackets. Evans made a jumper and then stole the ball and passed it to Hoover, who dished it right into sophomore Bethany Morrison’s hands for a three-pointer.

That sequence was the beginning of a 15-1 Bears run that senior co-captain Zoë Unruh  capped off with another three-pointer. The Red and Green took a 32-18 lead into the half, with Hoover’s 11 first-half points leading the way.

“Coach [Nancy] Fahey had talked to me before the game about how I needed to be more of a threat on offense,” Hoover said. “So I took that to heart and tried to be more aggressive, and it worked out well.”

The Bears extended their lead even farther out after halftime, as Unruh pitched in eight more points while Evans and graduate student Jaimie McFarlin both added five more. The team shot 44 percent from the field and was extremely efficient from three-point range, hitting eight of 13 shots.

With the win, the Bears successfully avenged their only conference loss of the season, which had taken place a week earlier on Rochester’s home court.

“There was for sure some extra fire,” Evans said. “We didn’t like losing. It was an ugly loss we had at their place, so to come back and do what we did was great.”

The Bears’ winning ways continued against Emory on Sunday, when the they pulled away right from the beginning. The Eagles put up no points until almost halfway through the first half, while the Red and Green dashed to a 13-0 lead. A 36-10 halftime margin gave the Bears all of the cushion they needed for the rest of the game.

McFarlin led the team with 11 points, all of which came in the first half as several of the team’s regulars sat out most of the second. The team defense was the highlight for the Bears, as eight different players recorded steals and held the Eagles to 34 percent shooting from the field. Wash. U. also forced 19 turnovers and converted 21 points.

“We take a lot of pride in trying to stop people defensively,” head coach Nancy Fahey said. “We had to adjust against Emory and we did a pretty good job.”

Wash. U. is back on the road for their next two games, as the Bears head to the Northeast for the weekend. They face Brandeis University on Friday in Waltham, Mass., followed by a contest at New York University on Sunday.

The article’s understanding of the transition from a Division III to a Division I institution is backed up by frustratingly little research—such a conversion is actually much more complicated than Gottlieb might believe. If Wash. U. did decide to support Division I athletics, the school would not be allowed to start a solitary pilot program as Gottlieb suggests. According to the official Web site of the NCAA, “Division I member institutions have to sponsor at least seven sports for men and seven for women (or six for men and eight for women) with two team sports for each gender.” Suppose that Wash. U. decided to take this step and converted all of its athletic programs. Once a school takes this step to become Division I, it is placed on probation for four years, during which time the institution is barred from giving athletic scholarships and participating in postseason play. So no, a school cannot “literally buy itself a quality Division I basketball program,” as Gottlieb suggests.

Even if becoming Division I was so simple, it must be recognized that being a Division I school does not automatically bring “glamour, glory and money.” Division I, in addition to claiming such prestigious programs as Duke and Stanford, is also the affiliation of lesser-known and undoubtedly less glamorous programs like Quinnipiac University and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

The article, in addition to misrepresenting the process of converting to Division I, critiques the current athletic program in a way that is offensive and inaccurate. Gottlieb suggests that “salary money [be] set aside for good coaches.” Gottlieb, or anyone else who shares this view, is obviously ignorant of the exceptionally high quality of the coaching staff at Wash. U. Several of Wash. U.’s coaches have coached at many levels of competition—including professional—and most would state that they prefer the balance of athletics and academics provided by a Division III institution.

Mr. Gottlieb also discusses the hypothetical upsides of having successful athletic programs, ignorant of the fact that Wash. U. already boasts one of the most storied and accomplished athletic programs in the country—of any division. The past few years alone have provided numerous examples of Wash. U.’s athletic prowess. The men’s basketball and women’s volleyball teams have both won national championships in the past year. Women’s soccer finished second place in the nation this year. (Speaking of volleyball and women’s soccer, did anyone else notice that just a few columns over from Gottlieb’s article, a bolded title read “Wash. U. to honor national champions and women’s soccer”?) The women’s basketball team, in addition to beating Division I Southern Illinois University Carbondale this year, was the national runner-up in 2009 and in 2007. The men’s tennis team won the national championship in 2008. Clearly, Wash. U. has experienced more success than many Division 1 schools could dream of.

The most logically flawed and confusing assertion made by the article is that somehow acquiring Division I athletics would magically transform Wash. U.’s admitted lack of school spirit. It is a lamentable fact that Mr. Gottlieb believes the Wash. U. community would rather support an inevitably struggling Division I team than show enthusiasm and support for the dominant programs that currently exist at our university.

Nobody is denying that Division III is different than Division I. At Wash. U., athletes are accepted into the University of their own accord, they take the same course load and are held to the same academic expectations as non-athletes, and they typically excel in and out of the classroom. Students who feel as Gottlieb does are free to transfer to schools with a more sports-centric focus, if that’s what they really want out of their college experience. Or, they can accept the fact that Division III does not mean third rate, and show our athletes some respect.

Brianne, Mik, and Tricia are sophomores in Arts & Sciences. They can be reached via e-mail at bcmonaha@wustl.edu,
mccarter@artsci.wustl, and pabrandt@wustl.edu.

Sophomore Dylan Richter scored 14 points to help defeat the University of Rochester on Friday. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

The Washington University men’s basketball team capped off a four-game road trip unscathed, highlighted by two victories this weekend against conference rivals University of Rochester and Emory University.

On Friday in New York, graduate student Sean Wallis led the squad in an 82-78 thriller over Rochester, tying his career high of 27 points and adding 10 assists.

“It was really important for us to continue this road trip with a win,” Wallis said. “I was able to get to the free-throw line and make some free throws. I wasn’t really thinking about the points or anything like that, just getting the team a win.”

The largest lead of the game was 10 points in favor of the Bears, but that lasted only 35 seconds. Bur the Bears’ smart plays and perseverance helped them escape the contest with a victory.

“We gave them a bunch of different looks that caused them problems,” head coach Mark Edwards said. “In the last few minutes of the game we didn’t have a true post on the floor. Even though our posts were playing pretty good, it just gave us a little more flexibility.”

Junior Spencer Gay chipped in with 15 points for the game, while sophomore Dylan Richter added 14.

After Friday’s win, the Bears headed to Atlanta to face Emory in a game that decided sole possession of the University Athletic Association conference lead. Drawing on experience in high-pressure situations, the Bears came away with a 65-56 win over the Eagles.

“We have an experienced team that knows what it’s like to play in this conference,” Edwards said. “They know that on Sundays you have to be just as sharp as you were Friday night or you’re going to get caught, especially when you’re playing somebody that’s already first place in the conference.”

“Knowing that the conference was on the line, I feel like it energized us a little bit,” Gay added. “One thing that we stress a lot is that the UAA championship is won on Sundays, so every Sunday we have to come out and play as hard as we can.”

With these two victories, the Bears improved their road record to 8-1 on the season, and have continued to assert their dominance away from home.

“I think it’s our ability to leave everything back in St. Louis— distractions, class,” Wallis said. “Now it will be nice to head home, play on our own court, and hopefully we will have the fans out to support us on Friday night.”

The Bears return to the Field House at 8 p.m. on Friday and noon on Sunday, and those two games will once again be against Rochester and Emory.

“It’s not going to be any walkover, and both teams are coming back ready because of what we did last weekend on their home courts,” Wallis said. “Obviously [last weekend] was a confidence builder, but at the same time, if we are not playing our game—playing well—we could come out on the other end [without the win].”

Women’s soccer
(13-2-1, 5-0-1 UAA)

Best case: UAA champion if Wash. U. beats Chicago, Case defeats Rochester

Worst case: UAA Runner-up if Wash. U. loses to Chicago, Rochester defeats Case

The No. 8 women’s soccer team holds a one-point lead over the University of Rochester and defeated the Yellowjackets 2-1 in overtime on Oct. 18.

If Rochester beats Case Western Reserve University at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night and the Bears do not defeat Chicago, the Yellowjackets will win the conference. The Bears must beat Chicago for the outright title as Rochester defeated Emory. Emory tied with Wash. U. on Oct. 17. Two ties are worse than a loss, according to senior co-captain Becca Heymann.

Volleyball
(25-3, 7-0 UAA)

Best case: UAA champion if Bears advance to championship match and win

Worst case: Place in the top four of UAA teams if they fail to make the championship match

The No. 3 Wash. U. volleyball team defeated every UAA team in round robin play, earning the top seed in this weekend’s UAA championships. No. 4 Emory University is the top seed in the other pool. The Bears swept Emory (25-19, 25-17, 25-18) on Oct. 17. Wash. U. takes on NYU, Rochester and Case in pool A. The champions of both pools play for the UAA championship.

The Bears also are the top-ranked team in the region and have a good chance of hosting at least one round of the NCAA tournament.

Men’s soccer
(9-6-3, 3-3 UAA)

Best case: If all teams lose above Wash. U. lose and the Bears win, Wash. U. will still be in fourth

Worst case: If Emory beats Carnegie Mellon and Wash. U. falls to Chicago, the Bears will be in fifth place in the UAA standings

The Bears are currently in fourth place in the UAA rankings and face Chicago (4-1-1 UAA). With losses to Carnegie Mellon and Rochester, which lead the conference with a 5-1 record, the Bears have no chance of winning UAAs. Carnegie Mellon plays Emory, while Rochester is up against Case Western Reserve.

In terms of gaining an NCAA bid, beating Chicago, the fourth-ranked team in the Central Region, would give the Bears a quality win in their favor.

The postseason fate of both soccer teams and volleyball will be announced on Nov. 9.

The No. 16 women’s team (14-4, 6-1 UAA) will rematch No. 15 NYU (16-2, 5-2 UAA) tonight at 6 p.m., five days after the Bears defeated the then-No. 8 ranked Violets 63-53. Sophomore Kathryn Berger posted a team-high 11 points in the victory, the 10th win for the Bears in their past 11 games.

During halftime of the women’s game, the 2008 Washington University Sports Hall of Fame class will be recognized. Ten of the newest inductees are former student-athletes, including Tasha Rodgers, a member of all four women’s basketball NCAA National Championship teams from 1998-2001, and Kevin Folkl, the men’s basketball team’s ninth all-time leading scorer and career leader in field goal percentage.

Also being inducted are two Distinguished Service Honorees, Hord Hardin (’35) and W. Edward Lansche (’48), bringing the total in the Hall of Fame to 132.

The men’s basketball team, ranked No. 2 in Division III nationally (17-1, 7-0 UAA), will then play NYU (13-5, 2-5 UAA) at 8 p.m. Junior guard Aaron Thompson will look to continue his hot streak, having scored 29 points in Sunday’s 67-56 win. Thompson is averaging 18.6 points per game for the season and has led the Bears in scoring the past five games.

The St. Louis Rams cheerleaders will perform during halftime of the men’s game and will be signing autographs after the game.

“[The Rams cheerleaders] actually contacted us and wanted to come perform at Wash. U., and they’re actually tied in with somebody who is affiliated with [the University],” said Trevor MacDonald, director of marketing and external relations for Washington University Athletics.

Tonight is also Eliot Night, where many of the contributors to University and athletic funding are invited to attend both games and a dinner beforehand.

Trying to remain perfect in UAA conference play, the men will play Brandeis University on Sunday at noon. Brandeis (12-6, 5-2 UAA) is the No. 2 team in the UAA and will be looking for revenge after a close 80-75 loss on Friday, Jan. 30 in which the Judges gave up the most points they had all season.

Despite having four players score in double figures, the Judges were bested by Wash. U.’s balanced offense and Thompson’s 18 points.

“Rematch games are always a little bit harder, especially offensively, because the other team gets to make defense adjustments. But if you flip that around, we get to make defensive adjustments also,” junior forward Cameron Smith said. “Every game in the UAA is going to be a dogfight, and Brandeis is one of the better teams [in the conference] this year, and we know they’re going to come to play on Sunday.”

Sunday, Feb. 8 is the second annual Youth Day, featuring free autographs from all of the basketball players, face painting, J.J. Jumper (the NCAA mascot), giveaways and much more youth-centered programming.

“We’ve done a lot of clinics throughout the year where kids keep coming back because they need a Sean Wallis or a Tyler Nading, and they want to come back and see them play and say hello to them. I think it’s nice to see the kids come out and get to see their idols play, and meet them and get their autographs,” MacDonald said.

At 2 p.m., the women take the court in another tough battle against No. 24 Brandeis (13-4, 3-4 UAA). Last weekend, the Bears defeated Brandeis 61-55 in a come-from-behind victory.

This weekend’s women’s games are of added importance given how close the UAA standings currently are. Wash. U. and No. 3 Rochester are tied atop the conference at 6-1 while NYU is only one game behind at 5-2. Rochester will face Emory and Case Western Reserve University this weekend, both of whom are 2-5 in conference play while Brandeis and NYU will also face the University of Chicago (13-5, 4-3 UAA) this weekend.