Eric Chalifour | Student Life

Senior center Alex Toth scores in the opening round of the Lopata Classic on Friday night against Whittier College. The Bears won 84-72, and knocked off No.1 ranked Augustana 71-68 in the championship game on Saturday.

After opening conference play with a 79-72 home win over the University of Chicago on Jan. 7 and an 87-71 road victory over Case Western University on Jan. 13, the Bears defeated Carnegie Mellon 66-64 on Jan. 15 to improve to 3-0 in the UAA and 11-3 overall.

“Our defense is really our best offense right now because we’re generating a lot of steals and layups off it,” sophomore guard Alan Aboona said. “Offensively I think we’re executing our screen offense really well. It’s pretty complex, so it’s hard to scout against us.”

Sophomore forward Chris Klimek, who missed six games with a broken finger before returning on Dec. 30 against Elmhurst College, led the Bears with an average of 15 points per game in the three league contests. He notched career highs of 17 points and nine rebounds against the Tartans.

Klimek missed his freshman season because of back surgery, and head coach Mark Edwards is glad to have him back on the court.

“He’s a smart offensive player, and he’s also very key on the boards,” Edwards said.

Senior guard Dylan Richter and sophomore guard Tim Cooney propelled the Bears to victory in their league opener versus Chicago. Richter had 20 points, and Cooney scored 19, making all seven of his shots. Cooney added six assists and four rebounds off the bench to earn UAA Men’s Basketball Athlete of the Week honors.

“I struggled a lot earlier this year, not playing as well as I would have liked to,” Cooney said. “But it was huge coming into that first game of conference and being able to play the way that I knew I could.”

Down 55-54 midway through the second half, the Bears used a 12-3 run to secure the lead for good.

Cooney had a hot hand again versus Case Western, scoring eight points on 4-4 shooting. Junior guard Ben Hoener was another standout off the bench, pouring in 16 points on 7-7 shooting.

Wash. U. took a 48-39 lead into the half and converted its first five shots to widen the margin to 58-46 early in the second half. The Bears’ largest lead of the game was 82-58.

Klimek carried the Bears in the first half against Carnegie Mellon, scoring 13 of the team’s 30 points as it clung to a one-point lead. The Bears pushed the advantage to 65-54 with just under four minutes remaining, but nearly lost it after a 10-1 Carnegie Mellon run. The Tartans missed an opportunity to tie the game on their final possession, and the Bears came away with a closer-than-expected victory.

The Bears struggled from the three-point line and the free throw line, shooting 1-12 and 11-20, respectively.

“It was good that we were able to pick up for an off shooting night and still come out with a win,” Cooney said.

The Bears open a four-game homestand Friday against Brandeis before getting set to duel with No. 23 New York University, University of Rochester and No. 8 Emory University, in order.

“This conference is a very tough conference, so the rankings don’t mean anything when you play,” Edwards said. “We could’ve been beaten Sunday very easily by Carnegie Mellon, [which has the third worst record] in the conference.”

Edwards has shuffled his starting lineup on multiple occasions this season, but he has used the starting five of Richter, senior center Alex Toth, Klimek, Aboona and freshman guard Brayden Teuscher for all three conference games. However, he said that the current starting unit is not necessarily the permanent one.

Wash. U. has been bolstered by strong depth, with a rotation that usually goes at least 11 deep and includes extensive minutes for three or four bench players.

“We get in foul trouble a lot—our starters do,” Aboona said. “Like [against Carnegie Mellon], I was in foul trouble—I only played like three minutes in the first half, so [Hoener] came in, and he really played really well.”

Ben Gottesdiener | Student Life

Freshman guard Maddie Scheppers drives by a defender during Sunday’s loss against No. 10 ranked Depauw.

The Bears enter this weekend’s slate of games with a 12-2 overall record, including 2-1 in UAA action. Wash. U. opened 2012 with a hard-fought loss to second-ranked University of Chicago, but the Red and Green bounced back last weekend with two road victories over Case Western Reserve University and Carnegie Mellon University.

“We are feeling very good about our position in the UAA right now. We came back from a tough loss against Chicago and got two wins on the road,” senior guard Dani Hoover said. “We can’t do anything about that loss now, so we are just taking each game one at a time.”

Against an undefeated Chicago team, the Bears fell just short in a matchup of two top-10 teams. The Maroons held onto a 17-12 lead with 10:22 before freshman forward Alyssa Johanson led Wash. U. on a 18-4 run that lasted 8:25 and gave the Bears a 32-25 halftime lead.

Chicago came out of the break firing on all cylinders as it rolled to an 11-point lead thanks to a 22-4 run of their own. From there, the Red and Green continuously chipped away at the lead.

Three-pointers by senior guard Claire Schaeperkoetter and sophomore guard Lucy Montgomery twice got the Bears within one point, but Chicago pulled away in the final minute for a 65-62 final score, giving Wash. U. its second loss of the season.

“I think we played really well against Chicago and put ourselves in a good position to win that game. There was a stretch in the second half where we turned the ball over too much and had a few defensive breakdowns,” Hoover said. “Those are the kind of mistakes you can’t have against good teams. Obviously we would have liked to get the win, but I think our performance proved that we can compete with the top teams in the country.”

The team purged the Chicago loss from its system with a 63-38 rout of Case Western. The Bears’ defense suffocated the Spartans’ shooters all night, holding them to 25.9 percent shooting from the field.

“We are continuing to gel as a team, on and off the court, and we continue to improve every game. We came out strong against Case Western after a tough loss and showed that we can bounce back,” freshman forward Melissa Gilkey said.

Offensively, Schaeperkoetter found her stroke as she poured in 13 points, and Gilkey added 14 points and five rebounds. The game marked the return of senior center Brianne Monahan from an injury suffered against Hendrix College on Nov. 26 as head coach Nancy Fahey cleared the bench and rested her starters.

“Any win will boost a team’s confidence, but we see more than just a win. We focus on what worked for us and what didn’t and use those things to help us get better,” Gilkey said.

Against Carnegie Mellon, the Bears started each half slowly, but with the game tied at 26 with 8:24 to play in the first half, Gilkey broke it open. The freshman provided all the scoring in a 9-0 run that pushed Wash. U. to a 44-38 halftime lead.

The Tartans started the second half quickly, and, with 16:45 to play, Carnegie Mellon completed its comeback from a 12-point deficit and tied the game at 48. From that point on, it was all Wash. U.

Gilkey got things going with a three-point play, sophomore center Jordan Rettig hit a layup, and five minutes later, Monahan added a jumper in the paint to cap off a 15-0 run that put the Bears up 63-48. Wash. U. pushed the lead to 17 on two occasions, and the lead stayed in double digits the rest of the way as the Bears coasted to a 80-68 win.

Gilkey scored a career-high 21 points and added eight rebounds, while Hoover chipped in 16 points and five assists. Rettig had 12 points and six rebounds, while Monahan contributed 10 points.

“The great thing about this team is that any girl could be the one that steps up [in the] next game. We have a deep bench and so many girls are able to score and rebound,” Gilkey said.

Wash. U. continues its conference schedule with home games against Brandeis University on Friday, Jan. 20, at 6 p.m. and against New York University on Sunday, Jan. 22, at 2 p.m.

“We definitely have to protect home court in order to do well in the UAA. This weekend against NYU and Brandeis we will have to continue to execute on offense and limit our defensive breakdowns,” Hoover said. “The strength of this team all year has been our defense, so we will really need to bring it this weekend and the rest of the season.”

The Bears produced two NCAA automatic qualifying cuts and 20 NCAA provisionally qualifying cuts, nine of which would have qualified for the 2010 NCAA Championships.

The official qualifying times for the 2011 NCAA Division III Championships will be relased on Mar. 8.

Even though the women finished fourth and the men finished fifth out of seven teams in the UAA and watched rival Emory University run away with the meet on both sides, the teams looked on the brighter side in their evaluation.

“We weren’t disappointed, far from disappointed actually,” senior David Chao said. “Every guy gave it his all….We wanted to [finish in the] top two, but we were the smallest team in the UAA, and depth really matters here. Having the smallest team is a disadvantage here, but I think everyone brought something to the table, and we were really happy.”

Like he has all season, Chao shined for the Bears. He tied for second in the 50-yard freestyle and was a part of the second-place 200 freestyle relay on Thursday. On Friday, he followed with second place in the 200-freestyle and was a part of the second-place 200-medley relay and the second-place 800-freestyle relay.

He was also a member of the second-place 400-freestyle relay and finally broke through with a win in his last individual event, the 100 freestyle.

“I was sick and tired of getting second to Emory,” Chao said. “My goal was to hold back the Emory guys, and they were second and third. It was my last event, so it had to be good…luckily, things turned out in my favor, and I was happy with the way the race went. It was a lifetime best for me, and it has a great shot at qualifying for nationals.”

Sophomore Brendan Morin set a new Wash. U. record, finishing first in the 100 butterfly on Friday with a time of 49.87 seconds, a time that would have qualified in the championship meet in 2010.

Senior Kartik Anjur wrapped up the individual events Friday with a win and new school record in the 100 backstroke. His time of 51.02 seconds was 0.04 faster than his school record, set at the Wheaton Invitational earlier this season, and also would have qualified for nationals in 2010.

Freshman Chi Pham once again led the way for the women’s team. Pham swam NCAA-qualifying times in two events, won one race, and set provisional times in five other events, en route to being named UAA Rookie of the Year.

“It’s really great, and I’m really happy,” Pham said when asked about the honor. “It’s tradition for the male and female Rookies of the Year to kiss, but that didn’t happen. Bummer!”

On Thursday, Pham was one of four women to break the UAA record in the 200-individual medley, but she finished in second after leading most of the way. Carnegie Mellon’s Molly Evans swam a strong final leg to take the race.

“[Evans] really came out of nowhere,” Pham said. “I didn’t see her coming. She had an amazing last 50. I guess there’s always next time.”

Pham got her win in the 100 backstroke on Friday, where she broke away from UAA record-holder Jackie Schneider of Emory in the last 50 yards. The two had identical times in the first 50 yards, but Pham prevailed by 0.12 seconds. Her final time of 56.88 seconds was an NCAA “A” cut.

“I was kind of surprised to win in the backstroke,” Pham said. “The only thing I was thinking about was finishing as hard as I could. I really couldn’t believe I won.”

The school record in the 200-freestyle relay fell on Thursday thanks to a second-place swim from junior Karina Stridh, freshman Allison Siegel, Pham and junior Amy Vanlishout. Their time of 1:36.49 was good for an NCAA “B” cut.

The Bears travel to Chicago next weekend for the Midwest Invitational, their final chance to set qualifying times for the March 23-26 NCAA Division III Championships.

Eric Chalifour | Student Life

Senior co-captain Spencer Gay, seen here in a game against Illinois Wesleyan University on Dec. 18, scored a career-high 23 points against Brandeis University on Sunday. Gay is the Bear’s leading scorer this season and averages 15.9 points per game.

The team defeated New York University 80-76 on Friday before trouncing No. 21 Brandeis University 70-36. The Bears now stand at 8-8 (2-3 University Athletic Association) on the season.

The win over NYU also ended a six-game road losing streak for the Bears.

Sunday’s faceoff with Brandeis featured Wash. U.’s best defensive performance of the season by far, as they held the Judges to a dismal 24.1 percent shooting percentage and no points in the last 8:42 of the game.

The Bears shot 52.7 percent from the field, marking their second-best field goal percentage of the season. Senior co-captain Spencer Gay led the offensive charge with a career-high 23 points.

“I think a lot of it had to do with the energy the kids brought to the game,” head coach Mark Edwards said. “We executed offense very well, and our defense played well, so [Brandeis] couldn’t get their baskets, and we did.”

The players attributed the defensive showing to increased focus and a need to prove that the team was better than its sub-.500 record indicated.

“The difference between [Sunday’s] game and the rest of the season was we just flat out had more energy, and we wanted to win that game a lot more than Brandeis wanted to,” said senior Caleb Knepper, a co-captain. “We had so much intensity, and we shut down their offense because we were the aggressors on defense.”

When asked if the team had a particularly good defensive strategy prepared against Brandeis, Knepper explained that sound execution was the key to the sound defensive performace.

“There really wasn’t any [specific defensive scheme],” Knepper said. “We change our defense for every team we play, so [on Sunday] it was more our energy.”

After taking an 11 point lead over the Judges into halftime, numerous Wash. U. players said that the Judges appeared to lose focus and stopped putting their full effort forward in the second half. Brandeis’ missed 13 consecutive shots to end the game.

“I wouldn’t say they quit, but we sure took the competitive spirit out of them,” Edwards said.

The Bears snapped their losing streak on Friday in a close victory over NYU. Neither team led by more than six points at any moment during the game.

The Bears had a few standout performers, including Gay, who led the team with 22 points, and sophomore Ben Hoener, who posted a career-best 18 points. The team also went nine of 16 from three-point range.

“When our players can hit outside [shots], especially when [opponents] are guarding us in a zone, it really is extremely effective in opening up the inside,” junior co-captain Alex Toth said.

Over the course of six minutes in the middle of the second half, Knepper hit four three-pointers, accounting for all the Bears’ points during that stretch.

“I know that my role is to add leadership coming off the bench and show the guys what we need to do in order to win,” Knepper said. “When they give me the ball in a position to score, I know that I am supposed to do that. It’s a pretty easy job to have.”

Knepper and Toth described these two games as a turning point in the season, as the players demonstrated the upside of a team that has been consistently strong on defense all year but has not lived up to the program’s extremely successful reputation.

“This weekend, more so than any other wins we had, we really felt like we needed to come out and not just win because we’re used to winning or because we felt like we needed to, but come out [and] be who we are going to be the rest of the season,” Knepper said. “I definitely think it was a turning point for us, and we’ll hopefully be able to keep that ball rolling for the next game coming up at home this weekend.”

The Bears will look to continue their winning streak this weekend at the Wash. U. Field House, with games on Friday at 8 p.m. against Carnegie Mellon University and at noon on Sunday against Case Western Reserve University.

Nathaniel Margolies | Student Life

Junior Dani Hoover goes up for a layup against the University of Rochester on Jan. 16. Hoover led the Bears with eight rebounds in an 80-54 victory over NYU last Friday.

The team continued the UAA portion of its schedule with a pair of dominating efforts over the weekend, with the then No. 8 Bears taking out New York University 80-54 on Friday in New York City and handling Brandeis University 66-36 on Sunday in Waltham, Mass.

With the victories, the Bears moved up to No. 8 in this week’s D3hoops.com Top 25 poll.

The Bears carried the momentum of the Jan. 16 double-overtime win against then-No. 5 University of Rochester to their games this past weekend.

“Obviously the Rochester double-OT [victory] was pivotal, not going down two games [in the conference standings] was huge at that point,” head coach Nancy Fahey said. “We’re trying to take that momentum and just keep concentrating game-by-game at this point, but it did give us a boost, and we hope to just keep carrying it with us each game.”

Wash. U. put on a clinic from behind the three-point line to begin the game against Brandeis. On the strength of seven triples within the first 7:15 of the game, including four from senior co-captain Kathryn Berger, the Red and Green found itself on the right end of a 30-3 lead toward the midpoint of the half.

“Honestly, I just kind of think that everyone on the team was in the zone, so we were having quick passes. If anyone on the team had an open shot, they knocked it down,” junior Dani Hoover said. “It was just one of those things where all five players on the court were clicking at the same time, and we just weren’t making very many mistakes.”

Despite only hitting one three-pointer in the rest of the game, the Bears lead never dropped below 25 points for the remainder of the game. After going into the half with a 42-14 advantage, the Bears began to spread the ball around even more in the second half. In all, 13 players picked up at least one point, while seven players tallied at least two assists. Only Berger (16 points) and sophomore Kristin Anda (10) scored in double figures.

Wash. U. shot 45.6 percent on the game. Brandeis, meanwhile, shot 24.1 percent, which the Bears attributed to a combination of good defense on their part and poor luck for their opponent.

“They’ve got some good shooters on their team. We were able to play some pretty good defense. They missed some open shots, but I think it’s both our defense and it just wasn’t their night,” Dani Hoover said.

The Bears needed a bit more time to get going on Friday night, as they faced an NYU team that gave them a very even matchup until the 8:54 mark of the first half. With the score tied 18-18, Anda and freshman Jordan Rettig came off the bench and scored baskets, sparking a 9-0 run to give the Bears a lead that would hold for the remainder of the game.

NYU would cut the deficit to four, but the Bears continued to pull away, and two baskets from Rettig right before the half gave them a 43-30 lead going into the locker room.

“We changed a little bit, strategically, offensively, what we were doing,” Fahey said of the team’s adjustments. “Defensively, we were sound, but we went to a different attack, which I think helped us exploit some of the things that we saw in the scout films, and I think the kids took really good advantage of it.”

The team never took its foot off the pedal in the second half, shooting 51.9 percent from the floor and playing strong on the boards, outrebounding the Violets 21-11.

Anda led the team with 14 points and has now come off the bench to score in double-figures in five of the team’s last six games, including Sunday’s contest.

“We knew we had an explosive player last year, and the opportunity presented itself this year, and she’s really taken advantage of that,” Fahey said. “She’s a very athletic, explosive player, and that has really helped us, whether it’s boarding or keeping the game at a high tempo. She’s having a really good year, and we’re excited for her.”

Rettig picked up 11 points, while Berger tallied 10 and has collected double-digit point totals in all but two games this season. Senior Alex Hoover’s six assists led the team, as did Dani Hoover’s eight rebounds.

With the wins, the Bears sit at 13-3 overall (4-1 UAA) and are tied for second in the conference with Case Western Reserve University, whom they will square off against this weekend at the Wash. U. Field House. The team will take on Carnegie Mellon University on Friday at 6 p.m. and Case on Sunday at 2 p.m.

In their most recent game, the Bears fell to the University of Rochester 86-80 on Jan. 16. In the first few minutes of the game, the Bears and the Yellowjackets appeared even; however, with 11 minutes left in the half, Rochester pulled away.

A 17-4 Yellowjackets run pushed the score to 21-10.

“We came out really flat and didn’t have much intensity,” senior co-captain Caleb Knepper said.

Rochester continued to hit shots and played strong man-to-man defense, preventing the Bears from scoring. The Yellowjackets led by as much as 21 points in the first half and entered the break with a 41-26 lead.

However, in the second half, the Bears clawed their way out of an 18-point deficit, cutting the lead down to two points with 11:10 left in the game.

Wash. U.’s run began when sophomore Ben Hoener brought the ball down and passed to junior co-captain Dylan Richter. Richter swung it to junior co-captain Alex Toth, who hit a lay-up with 18:25 remaining in regulation.

“If we put together a full game instead of 10 minutes stretches, we can compete with anyone we play,” Richter said. Within the next three-minute stretch, he nailed two three-pointers and a layup.

The Bears continued to press the Yellowjackets’ lead with baskets from senior co-captain Spencer Gay, freshman Tim Cooney and Richter, but Rochester’s Nate Vernon and Mike Labanowski stopped the bleeding, each making a three-pointer.

Rochester made 12 foul shots in the last 1:43, and while freshman Alan Aboona sunk two triples and Hoener and Richter each made a three, the Bears could not complete the comeback.

“We dug ourselves a little hole, which is probably the biggest thing that hurt us,” Richter said. “We had a good comeback, but we don’t want it to get to that.”

Three-pointers again decided the outcome of the Bears game against Emory University on Jan. 14. Even though Richter scored a career-high 25 points, the Eagles sunk 12 three-pointers, eight in the second half, to take the win by one point, 69-68.

Emory played a fast-paced game, which resulted in nine turnovers for Wash. U. in the first half. However, after a 15-3 run, including six points from Richter, the Red and Green led 39-31 at halftime.

“It was a fast-paced [game]; that’s their style, but I thought we handled it pretty well,” head coach Mark Edwards said.

On a three-pointer from Richter, the Bears took a 14-point lead to start the second half; the lead did not last long, however. The Eagles made four three-pointers to cut the lead to five by the 12:30 mark. Emory’s Alex Gulotta then hit three straight three-pointers to turn a two-point Wash. U. lead into a seven-point Emory lead with 4:39 remaining.

“That is a trend we have been having, in the Emory game,” Richter said. “We will get ourselves a good lead and then for whatever reason, we will drop our intensity and let the other team catch up.”

The Bears attempted to come back late, with a layup from Hoener and a three-pointer from Knepper with 2.6 seconds left, but again fell short.

“When you lose by one, you can’t be too pleased, but it was a great game,” Edwards said.

In the Bear’s UAA opener against the University of Chicago, the team suffered a 79-77 loss on Jan. 8. Four days later, the Red and Green dropped its sixth straight road contest, falling to Webster University, 61-58. The Bears shot just 1-of-16 from three-point range, while Webster shot 6-of-10 from behind the arc.

“We would like them all to be wins, and it’s disappointing to have the outcomes we have had recently,” Richter said. “But the silver lining is they have all been close games.”

The team’s only win of the break came against Benedictine on Jan. 4. Cooney recorded his first career double-double, with 13 points and a career-high 11 rebounds.

The Bears will hit the road this weekend, facing New York University on Friday at 8 p.m. EST and No. 21 Brandeis University on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. EST.

“It’s always important to pick up where we left off. We left the first semester on a sweet note, and I wanted to pick up from there and keep going,” Edwards said. “But we ran into a little snag, and now we are fighting against teams who are coming out on top.”

Drew Koch | Student Life

Junior Patrick McLean kicks the ball in a game against NYU on Sunday.

“We’re still trying to win the league, but really our goal is just to make a playoff run,” said co-captain David Klein, a senior.

The No. 10 Bears played 110 scoreless minutes to a 0-0 tie with the No. 21 Violets in their Sunday matchup.

The game saw few scoring opportunities for either team in regulation. Wash. U. held an advantage in shots and corner kicks, 11-8 and 4-1, respectively. The biggest offensive edge for the Bears came in the second overtime period when they recorded three shots without allowing the Violets any chances at the net.

“[NYU is] a big, physical team. Technically they’re just as good as us, they like to pass the ball,” freshman defender Nik Patel said. “Like us, they’re a hard-working team…They move around quite a bit, and it was almost like playing ourselves, we get a little taste of what we do to other teams.”

The shutout was the Bears’ thirteenth in the 2010 season. Their .38 goals against average is just short of the all-time school record of .35 and ranks ninth among all Division III teams.

“I felt that overall, you can’t really say one team had an advantage over the other,” Patel said. “We had a strong defense. Both ways, creating opportunities to score were tough.”

The tie came after the Bears’ third consecutive victory last Friday night against Brandeis University. After giving up an early goal to the Judges’ forward Lee Russo, the Red and Green went on a streak of strong counterattacks and continued to rack up offensive opportunities throughout the first half. According to head coach Joe Clarke, the Bears’ previous success this season allows for a calm mentality in the event of early setbacks.

“I think it’s based on the history that they’ve been winning, so they believe in themselves, they’re like ‘OK we can do this,’” Clarke said. “Success builds on success, and you gain confidence.”

With less than three minutes left in the first half, the Bears were able to capitalize on a breakaway by junior forward Dylan Roman. He maneuvered past the Judges’ defense and tied the score at one.

“This was not a 4-1 game. I think Brandeis was very good. They got the first goal and held [the lead] until Dylan [got] a goal for us right before the half, which changed everything,” Clarke said.

In less than seven minutes of play across the two halves, Wash. U. would go from down one to up two. Building on the momentum of Roman’s goal, the Bears began the second half with a whirlwind pair of goals from freshman forward Jeremy Kirkwood. The first goal was set up by a corner kick from senior midfielder Cody Costakis, whose serve found Kirkwood in front of the box, scoring on a header.

Kirkwood scored his second goal of the night 1:23 later on the ensuing possession, with an assist from junior forward Patrick McLean. McLean leads the team with 15 points on the season.

“On the second [goal], Pat made a nice run, and he drew three defenders. The ball kind of bounced out right to me, and I was able to slip by them and tuck away the one-on-one with the goalie,” Kirkwood said.

Junior Zach Hendrickson’s goal in the 75th minute put a cap on the Bears victory. It was his first score of the season.

The Bears’ matchup with the Maroons on Saturday concludes regular season and conference play. Game time is set for 2:30 p.m. at Francis Field, and with a victory and an NYU loss, the Bears could claim their first UAA title since 1999.

Johann Qua Hiansen | Student Life

TThen-sophomore Michael Burnstein runs in the Washington University Early Bird Meet on Sept. 5, 2009. Burnstein won the men’s individual UAA cross country title on Oct. 30.

The men won the University Athletic Association championships for the first time since 2003 while the women’s team won for the first time since 2005. This was only the second time in conference history in which both champions came from the same school.

“There were really strong performances across the board, which is definitely what contributed to the win for both teams,” freshman Gabby Reuveni said. “What was really phenomenal about both races [on Saturday] was that each individual gave 100 percent effort, making the team success that much more exciting,”

Running at one of the most well-known courses in the world, each team put on an extremely impressive performance at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, New York. Junior Michael Burnstein became the second student-athlete in school history to win the men’s individual championship, taking the race with a time of 25:40 on the 8-km course. Co-captain Liz Phillips, a junior, led the women’s team, finishing fourth overall with a time of 22:07 on the 6-km. course.

“I didn’t feel great going into the race, so I wasn’t sure how I’d feel in the actual race, if I’d have my legs under me. With 600 meters left, I had the most left at that point, so it worked out,” Burnstein said. “We’ve had a lot of cross country success, especially recently, so it’s an honor to be up there with the greats.”

Other impressive performances from the men’s team came from senior Dave Spandorfer, a co-captain, who came in fourth with a time of 25:42, and sophomore David Hamm, who finished ninth with a time of 26:01.

“Winning UAAs was one of our primary goals coming into the season, and doing so reflects what we’ve accomplished to this point and what we’re capable of accomplishing in the next few weeks,” junior Daniel Rosenbaum said.

On the women’s side, senior Jessica Londreree finished in sixth place with freshman and UAA rookie of the year Sarah Fisher finishing right behind her in seventh place.

“It was definitely one of the most exciting days in Wash. U. [cross country] history,” Phillips said.

What made this victory particularly impressive for the men’s team was the fact that they defeated New York University, a team which was not only ranked ahead of Wash. U. in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll and took fourth place last year at nationals, but a team that had also won the previous four UAA championships.

“NYU is a great program and the model for excellence in the UAAs,” Spandorfer said.

Similarly, the women earned a special victory by coming in as underdogs and defeating NYU and the University of Chicago, teams they had lost to just two weeks ago at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Brooks Invitational.

Despite the achievements over the weekend, the Bears have little time to rest, as they are just getting started with the postseason. In two weeks, both the men’s and women’s teams will travel to the 2010 NCAA Division III Midwest Regional Championships.

“Our season’s hardly done. We’re just heading back to work now and focusing on what we sought to accomplish in the beginning: to qualify for nationals and then do the best we can at the meet,” Spandorfer said. “We’re getting stronger by the week, and our training has set us up to do pretty cool things.”

The Midwest Regional Championships will be held on Nov. 13 in Credit Island, Ill. The race is set to begin at 11 a.m.

With additional reporting by Kurt Rohrbeck.

The “injury bug” and the rest of the University Athletic Association had other ideas.

With arguably three of the country’s best players—junior Lauren Budde and sophomores Kelly Pang and Marilee Fisher—on the sidelines with injuries on Sunday, the team dropped its first two matches of the season at the second UAA Round Robin, losing a 2-3 decision (25-20, 16-25, 25-21, 23-25, 12-15) to No. 23 New York University and a 1-3 contest (26-24, 14-25, 29-31, 19-25) to Case Western Reserve University. With the losses, the Bears dropped to 23-2 overall and 5-2 in UAA play.

Fisher and Budde were both unavailable with concussions, with Fisher’s injury occurring during a team midweek team practice and Budde’s occurring in the game against Emory. Pang, meanwhile, was already sidelined with a knee injury.

“Obviously you never want to lose,” Fisher said, while also acknowledging that it was tough to watch from the sidelines. “It’s a sucky feeling, it’s a feeling that you learn to hate, that you learn to fight to never feel again.”

The losses spoiled the team’s 3-2 victory over Emory (25-22, 18-25, 17-25, 25-21, 15-6), the last team to defeat the Bears before this weekend with a sweep in last season’s UAA championship.

“The UAA has evolved into the premier Division III volleyball conference in America,” head coach Rich Luenemann said. “The losses are that…just losses, not the end of our season.”

The Bears took two of the first three sets against NYU, but after a third-set victory in which the team hit .361, the hitting went cold for the rest of the match. The Bears played to a .081 hitting percentage over the fourth and fifth sets, including a .040 (13 kills, 11 errors) percentage in the fourth set.

The Bears tried to rebound in the fifth set. A run of five straight points in the fifth set, all from kills by sophomore Drew Hargrave and freshman Kaia Schwartz, put the Bears up 9-7, but the Violets took five of the next six points to bring them to a 12-10 lead that they did not relinquish. The Bears staved off one match point before falling 12-15.

Hargrave led the team with 15 kills, while freshman Megan Odenthal ran the offense with 41 assists. Defensively, four players had double-digit digs, with senior Ali Hoffman’s 25 leading the group.

“Everyone comes out ready to [play us hard] just because we’re Wash. U.,” Hoffman said. “Their defense was incredible. Some girl would just come out of nowhere. Their defense and their energy was amazing, and we were playing at a deficit, but that didn’t affect us against Emory…it’s hard to say.”

Despite a quick turnaround before the match, the Bears managed to take the first set against Case before dropping the next three, including a tough 29-31 loss in the third set, which allowed Case to take the lead for good. The team’s hitting as a whole improved on the match, with a .239 percentage compared to .172 against NYU, but only freshman Meghan Byrne registered double-digit kills with 15.

On Saturday, the Bears took out the Eagles by staging another comeback from down 1-2, the same way they did against No. 3 Juniata College in September and again against No. 17 University of Chicago two weeks earlier (in which the Bears were down 0-2).

Down a set, the Bears took the lead in the fourth set and turned away an Emory rally to force a fifth. After inching out to a 5-4 lead, the Bears exploded on a 10-2 run to place an exclamation point on their victory.

Budde, in her only match of the weekend, picked up 12 kills and 18 digs in the match. Odenthal tallied 44 assists in her first start of the season, and Byrne’s 18 kills led the hitters.

The win, coupled with a 3-1 (25-20, 25-17, 20-25, 25-17) victory over Carnegie Mellon, provided some silver lining in a weekend that gave the team its first losses in nearly a full year.

“We’re ranked No. 1 for a reason. We have the most heart, we’re No. 1, and whenever a ranked team starts to come at us, we beat them down. Emory’s just such a rival…they just weren’t gonna win,” Hoffman said.

From there, the weekend got tougher, and a young team that had as many as five freshmen on the floor at points took some hits for the first time this season.

“I know they’re only going to get better,” said Hoffman, the only senior on the court for much of the weekend. “Sometimes you could see the tension going through our freshmen…[but] they were awesome this weekend. Their energy is always positive.”

Wash. U. will head back onto the court on Tuesday, Oct. 26, traveling across St. Louis to face Webster University. The team hopes that Fisher, Pang and Budde will all be healthy by then.

“Losing now is a lot better than losing in two weeks [in the conference championships]. I think we’ll take these losses to heart, and it can only get better from there,” Fisher said.

Matt Lee | Student Life

Junior Dylan Roman works the ball up the sideline against Emory University on Oct. 3, a game that ended in a 0-0 tie. Roman’s game-winning goal on Saturday, Oct. 16 against Case Western Reserve University was the first of his collegiate career.

In Sunday’s game against the University of Rochester, the Yellowjackets struck first with a goal in the 20th minute from forward Steve Welles. Despite the early deficit, the Bears answered less than three minutes later when sophomore forward Kenji Kobayashi notched his second goal of the year on an unassisted chip shot.

The 1-1 lasted through the end of regulation, forcing the Red and Green into its third consecutive overtime game. Just 1:18 into the first overtime period, the Bears surrendered the “golden goal” to Rochester midfielder Max Fan.

The contest with Rochester marked the first time in the 2010 season that the Bears allowed two goals in one game.

“I think we’re unlucky to give up two goals, definitely,” junior forward Patrick McLean said. “Their offense was very linear, in that they would just send a bunch of big guys in the box and try to cross it or throw it in…we still play our normal style but just [make sure] that when the ball comes in the box everyone is where they’re supposed to be.”

The loss broke a recent trend of consecutive overtime victories for the Bears.

“The goal is always to win before overtime, but when it comes now, we’re pretty used to it; we’ve been in overtime more often,” junior midfielder Michael Chamberlin said. “The goal is just to score as quickly as possible, and on Sunday, it just didn’t go our way.”

Despite the loss, the Bears maintain a competitive ranking in both the National Coaches Association of America top-25 poll (No. 15) and the central region poll (No. 2). With three UAA contests remaining in the Wash. U. schedule, the team can take first place in the conference by winning out.

“We feel good about where we are; we’re still in control of our destiny, which is important to us. If we win the rest of our games, [the loss doesn’t really matter]…we like that we control our own destiny still, but we want to focus on becoming a better team,” Chamberlin said.

Friday’s game against Case Western Reserve University was a reversal of Sunday’s results. The Bears’ defense proved too much of a challenge for the Spartans, and Wash. U. held a 16-3 advantage on shots for the game, a 1-0 overtime win.

“Against Case, it was just really a matter of ‘if we could score’ because they were definitely not going to score on us,” McLean said. “We just couldn’t really score; they were packing [players] into the back.”

Senior Harry Beddo led the Red and Green with five shots, followed by junior Dylan Roman and sophomore Zachary Query, who tallied three shots each. Despite the offensive tilt in favor of the Bears, they were unable to break the 0-0 stalemate during regulation.

Less than two minutes into the first overtime period, Roman would break the scoreless play with his first career goal on a through ball sent from senior midfielder Cody Costakis.

“We were able to play our game on Friday,” Chamberlin said. “It took a while for us to finally get a goal in; we would like to be able to work on imposing our game a little more [strongly]. We felt [that] we dominated the game, and we’d like to be able to score goals in games like that [earlier].”

The squad has now concluded its road schedule for the 2010 regular season and will return to Francis Field for a five-game home stand that begins tomorrow against Principia College at 7 p.m. Three UAA foes—Brandeis University, UAA-leading New York University and the University of Chicago—round out conference play and the regular season.