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(01/16/14 4:02am)
The Middlebury women’s basketball team opened NESCAC play with a pair of games this past weekend, using a fast start to run past Bates on Friday, Jan. 10, before falling to a tough Jumbos team on Sunday, Jan. 12. The Panthers followed the NESCAC split with a home win over Colby-Sawyer to improve to 6-7 on the season.
On Friday, Middlebury held Bates to 20 percent from the field in the first half for just 15 points in building a 19-point halftime lead. The Panthers hit a trio of three-point shots in the half to help themselves to a large early lead.
“Our fast start was crucial to our success that game because we were able to set a time that was necessary to maintain the entire game in order to win,” said senior guard Scarlett Kirk ’14.
The halftime deficit would be too much for the Bobcats to overcome, as they outscored the Panthers in the second half only to fall by a final tally of 67-54.
Kirk – playing in just her fifth game of the season for the basketball team after wrapping up a soccer season in which she garnered First Team All-NESCAC honors en route to the team’s national semifinals appearance – led all Middlebury scorers with 17 points on 7-11 shooting, She also pulled down 10 rebounds to cement a double-double.
“Basketball uses some different muscles and there were a lot of plays I had to learn, but the transition was pretty easy,” she said. “It is fun to have another chance to compete after the successful soccer season.”
Forward Elizabeth Knox ’17 also got into the scoring fold, recording 14 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double of her own against Bates. Guard Sarah Marcus ’14 added 15 points, with Alexis Coolidge ’15 pouring in 14 off the bench to pace the Panthers on the day.
Matching up against seventh-ranked Tufts on Sunday afternoon, the Panthers struggled with turnovers in their eventual loss to the visiting Jumbos. While the Panthers kept pace on the boards and played strong defense throughout – holding Tufts to 30 percent shooting in the first half – poor second-half shooting and a 24-6 turnover margin spelled doom for the home team.
The Panthers were able to keep it relatively close until halftime, but fell far behind in the second period to lose by a final tally of 70-44.
“We were aware that Tufts was going to be a very difficult opponent,” Knox said. “We just went into the game with the mindset that we would have to bring a very high intensity and work extremely hard defensively to compete with their tall forwards. Offensively, we prepared to execute Middlebury basketball like always.”
Kirk’s play was again a bright spot for Middlebury, as she followed up Friday night’s performance with 12 points and 10 boards for another double-double. Knox led all scorers with 13 points, going 4-8 from the floor and hitting all four of her free-throws.
“A few things that worked for me in this weekend’s games were trying to get into good position down low and box out on the offensive and defensive boards,” Knox said.
Back in action on Tuesday, Jan. 14, the Panthers played host to Colby-Sawyer in a non-league game. The teams remained tightly locked through the first half, with the Chargers hitting three crucial three-pointers to keep the game competitive early. At the half, Colby-Sawyer clung to a slim one-point lead.
Coming out of the break, Middlebury was able to tighten up their defense while shooting nearly 50 percent from the floor. The Panthers took advantage of a significant rebounding advantage — including 13 boards from Kirk — to pull away in the second half and win 65-58.
Marcus and Rachel Crews '15 led the Panthers with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Coolidge — scoring 10 off the bench — was Middlebury’s other double-figure scorer in the game.
Middlebury moves to 6-7 on the season with the weekend’s split performance followed by the victory over Colby-Sawyer and starts NESCAC play at a 1-1 clip, while Bates and Tufts advance to 7-6 and 12-0 for the season, respectively.
The Panthers go on the road this weekend, Jan. 17 and 19, for conference matchups with Wesleyan and Connecticut College – who each recorded a win and a loss in the opening weekend of conference play. Wins against the Cardinals and Camels would put Middlebury in strong position heading into the heart of the NESCAC schedule later in January.
(01/16/14 12:56am)
The start of J-term is one of the happiest times of the year for Middlebury students. Unless you are one of those masochistic types who has opted to take J-Orgo or a CW, most Middkids have plenty of free time to ski, sleep, and relax. For me, J-term has always been a good time for soul-searching and some of the best possible soul-searching can be done with the aid of graduation speeches. Think about it: some of the world’s most successful people are asked to summarize the most valuable things they have learned in life in twenty minutes or less. Every year, scores of speakers across the US take up this challenge and his or her words are ingrained forever in the immortal walls of the internet. Here are ten of my favorite graduation speeches. I bet you a Dr. Feel-Good that you will find yourself inspired by at least one of them.
1. Cyma Zarghami (UVM, 2012)
This UVM alumna and president of Nickelodeon gives graduates reasons not to despair as they enter a tough job market. Warning: be prepared to listen to Spongebob diss Middlebury at the end of the speech.
2. Bill Watterson (Kenyon College, 1990)
The legendary cartoonist of Calvin and Hobbes describes how he took procrastination to a whole new level by recreating Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” from the Sistine Chapel on the ceiling of his dorm room. He also gives a lot of great advice on how to live a good life.
3. Oprah Winfrey (Spelman College, 2012)
Oprah shares three valuable pieces of advice with graduates of one of America’s oldest historically black colleges for women.
4. Steve Jobs (Stanford, 2005)
Ever wonder if that class you’re taking will be of any use to you in the future? Jobs describes how if he hadn’t taken a calligraphy class while he was at Reed, computers probably wouldn’t have the wide array of typefaces and fonts that they have today.
5. JK Rowling (Harvard, 2008)
Rowling, who with the success of Harry Potter became wealthier than the Queen of England, tells graduates that she herself was the biggest failure she knew seven years after her college graduation. She ends her speech by describing the power that imagination has to change the world.
6. Salman Khan (MIT, 2012).
The founder of the revolutionary educational website Khan Academy takes graduates through a powerful and entertaining thought experiment that has allowed him to live a life with minimal regrets.
7. Michelle Obama (Virginia Tech, 2012)
The First Lady takes a unique approach of giving a commencement speech by focusing on the lessons that the Hokie Nation has taught her in the wake of their 2007 school shooting rather than imparting her own advice to graduates.
8. Jonathan Safran Foer (Middlebury College, 2013).
In this speech, Foer makes the best argument that I have heard against the pursuit of human immortality. After listening to this speech, you will also find yourself spending more time taking in the scenery as you walk across campus and less time staring at your phone.
9. Ellen DeGeneres (Tulane, 2009)
Addressing the “Katrina Class,” DeGeneres details how she does not regret for a second her decision to come out publicly as a lesbian, even though it resulted in the canceling of her sitcom. Staying true to herself allowed her to make a return to television with an extremely successful talk show.
10. David McCullough, Jr. (Wellesley High School, 2012)
In this controversial, yet amazing, graduation speech, a high school English teacher tells his former students point-blank that none of them is special. A good reminder for most of us Middkids as well.
JONATHAN BRACH '13.5 is from Melrose, MA
(12/04/13 9:09pm)
The second-ranked Middlebury women’s hockey team continued its in-conference dominance with two wins against Trinity the weekend before Thanksgiving. Middlebury hosted the ninth annual Panther/Cardinal Classic the following weekend and welcomed some top-ranked squads to Kenyon Arena. On Saturday, Nov. 30, the Panthers defeated number four Elmira College 5-3. Middlebury experienced a hiccup in their winning ways on Sunday, Dec. 1 with a loss against number one ranked Plattsburgh, dropping the Panthers to 5-1 on the year.
The first game against Trinity was an exciting one, ending with a 3-2 win. Emily Fluke ’15 struck the fatal blow 1:18 into overtime, with a dart over the left shoulder of Trinity goalkeeper Kristen Maxwell off a pass from Carly Schaeder ’16. The other two goals came from Mackenzie Martin ’15 in the first period and from Katie Sullivan ’15 on a power play in the second period. Kate Moreau ’15, Fluke, Sullivan, and Anna Van Kula ’16 all earned assists in the first game.
The Panthers played a completely different game on Saturday, Nov. 23, sweeping Trinity with an explosive 7-0 win. Middlebury outshot Trinity 41-14, and five different Panthers had goals in the game. Captain Sara Ugalde ’14 and Sullivan finished with two goals each. The other goals went to Sullivan, Van Kula, Madeline Joyce ’14, and Martin. Fluke finished with three assists on the day, while Hannah Bielawski ’15 and Katie Mandigo ’16 had two each.
Ugalde is hopeful that this fast start portends good things for the rest of the season.
“It’s still pretty early in the season so we still have things to improve on,” Ugalde said. “But I think our team has a lot of potential, and our quick start helps us show that.”
The Panthers opened the Panther/Cardinal Classic with a game against the Soaring Eagles of Elmira. The Panthers were looking to avenge last year’s loss in the NCAA final against Elmira, and found it with a 5-3 victory.
Middlebury took the early lead with a goal 11:41 into the first period from Bielawski on a power play, but Elmira soon responded with their own power play goal eight minutes later. The Soaring Eagles took the lead 13:21 into the second period with a 4-on-4 goal. The teams traded goals early on in the third period, but then Middlebury’s offense caught fire. Carly Watson ’17 earned her first career goal on a power play goal to tie the game 3-3 with less than four minutes remaining in the last period. Middlebury then iced the contest with two goals in the last three minutes. Ugalde and Bielawski both netted goals to secure Middlebury’s vengeance over the Soaring Eagles.
Unfortunately, the Panthers could not keep their winning streak alive and dropped a game against top-ranked Plattsburgh 2-0 the next day. Plattsburgh has allowed only one goal against them in their first ten games. Middlebury’s Madeline Marsh ’16 played well with 19 saves, but Sydney Aveson of the Cardinals outplayed her with 21 saves. Middlebury threatened a few times, notably in the second period with a shot from Ugalde that hit the post behind the Plattsburgh goalie, but could not score.
Despite the loss, Joyce remains optimistic for the rest of the season and the team’s impending rematch against Plattsburgh scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 11.
“I think the loss against Plattsburgh will make us better,” Joyce said. “Playing top-notch teams outside of the NESCAC is always a good challenge.
Losing to a team like Plattsburgh early on in the season will push us to get better and work harder, so hopefully when we play them again there will be a different outcome.”
Middlebury looks ahead to a home game against Castleton State on Saturday, Dec. 7th.
(12/04/13 8:41pm)
The Middlebury women’s basketball team fell to 2-3 on the season with a 53-51 loss to Johnson State as they dropped two of three games over a two-week span. On Nov. 23 the Panthers fell 65-43 to Emmanuel, but rebounded three days later with a six-point win over Johnson State that featured a 20-rebound game from Katie Pett ’14 — her second such game of the season.
On Tuesday Dec. 3, the Panthers lost in heartbreaking fashion as a last-second, desperation heave narrowly missed after Castleton State took a two-point lead with 3.9 seconds remaining.
Middlebury fell into an early eight-point hole as efficient shooting from the Spartans gave the visitors an early advantage. Castleton State opened the game converting seven of their first 14 attempts including a pair of threes to take command of the game.
The Panthers audibled into a two-three zone in an attempt to deter the Spartans’ outside shooters, but Castleton State kept firing away, extending the lead to 10 midway through the first.
Junior forward Alexis Coolidge ’15 kept the Panthers in the game early, knocking down her first four shots of the game for eight first-half points. Point guard Laura Lowry ’14 took over the game down the stretch, pouring in 10 first-half points on 4-7 shooting as Middlebury made a late run to cut the deficit to three at the half.
After a promising run, the Panthers endured a sustained scoring drought to start the second half, failing to score until the 12:45 mark when forward Rachel Crews ’15 knocked down a 20-foot jump shot to cut the Castleton State lead to nine.
Defensively the Panthers shifted back into the two-three zone, forcing a Spartans miss, which led to a Pett layup on the other end. Following a Castleton State bucket, Crews knocked down another long two to draw Middlebury within seven at 43-36 midway through the second half. Crews made it three straight on the very next possession, knocking down a wing three and cutting the deficit to four, giving the junior seven points in a 2:22 span.
After the Panthers cut the lead to two, a quick four-point run by the Spartans extended the visitors’ lead to six before back-to-back baskets from Pett and first-year forward Elizabeth Knox ’17 cut the Castleton lead to 47-45. The comeback was realized two possessions later as Crews knocked down a corner three to give the Panthers their first lead of the game with 5:01 remaining.
“[Rachel has] always shot the ball that way, but never in games because she never was in a position to do it,” said head coach Noreen Pecsok. “When we’re in transition we want her to stop at the three-point line where then the defense has to guard her or leave her. And if they come out and guard her than she has position inside.”
Both teams struggled to convert from the free throw line down the stretch, with Castleton State taking advantage of a miss on the front end of a one-and-one by grabbing the loose rebound and scoring to take a two-point lead. Pett returned the favor on the other end, missing a left-handed shot in the key, but ripping the ensuing offensive rebound out of the hands of a Spartans’ defender and laying the ball in to tie the game at 51 apiece with 1:03 remaining.
After a pair of empty possessions for both teams, Castleton point guard Jade Desroches converted on a runner with 3.9 seconds remaining to give the visitors a two-point lead. Lowry took the ensuing inbound pass and launched a half court shot that clanged off the back iron, but would not fall for the Panthers who fell to the 2-3 on the season with the loss.
“It’s always hard to lose that way, but I felt that in our early season that was our best game,” Pecsok said. “We had a lot more assists and that’s when we know we’re better — when we share the ball. I thought we made adjustments on the fly and reacted really well to them. Our intensity levels were great. They have better scores than we do at this point in the season and we just kept fighting our way back. Some days are easier to coach than others and this team was an easy coach today because we stayed after it.”
First-year forward Elizabeth Knox ’17 — who missed her entire senior year of high school with an injury — led the team in both scoring and rebounding, making all five of her field goal attempts for 12 points while wrestling down 13 rebounds in just 23 minutes.
“She’s like a sponge,” Pecsok said of Knox. “She takes in information so quickly and one thing we’ve noticed about her right away is that she can compete at the intensity level we have here. Sometimes it takes a while for freshmen to get there and she has that. And hitting those shots — that’s a great sign for our future.”
In the Panthers’ narrow 48-42 win over Johnson State, Pett led the way, scoring 17 points and grabbing 20 rebounds as Middlebury overcame a woeful shooting performance to squeeze by the Badgers. The Panthers made just 17 of 64 field goal attempts — shooting less than 27 percent from the floor — and opened the game by missing 12 of their first 13 attempts, falling behind a similarly struggling Johnson State team early.
Trailing 6-2 more than eight minutes into the game, Middlebury’s trio of senior guards — Sarah Marcus ’14, Laura Lowry ’14 and Kristina Conroy ’14 — scored 11 points over the next 10 minutes of play, giving the Panthers an 18-10 lead with 2:13 remaining. The Badgers closed the half with five straight points, however, and tipped off the second half by scoring eight of the half’s first nine points to take a 23-19 lead.
Johnson State extended its lead to a game-high seven points with 7:41 remaining before Pett, who had scored just two points at that juncture, took over the game for the Panthers, scoring 15 points over the final 7:26 of the game. The senior from Saginaw, Mich. found her range by knocking down a jump shot before attacking the Badgers’ zone — a late-game adjustment — with three layups over a 2:38 span to swing the game in the Panthers’ favor and give her team a six-point lead with 1:55 remaining.
Pett then sealed the game at the free throw line, making seven of 10 free throws down the stretch to give her team the 48-42 victory. The former walk on leads the NESCAC in both rebounds (14) and steals (3.2) per game and is second on the team with 10.4 points per game.
“What she does at 5’7’’ is remarkable,” Pecsock said. “I find myself — and this rarely happens to me as a coach — watching her as a spectator. It’s so cool to watch. She’s smart and how she scores over people she scores over … I don’t know. And the rebounding is shocking. She has done it long enough for us to know it’s for real. It’s not a one-game thing. I can’t say enough about her — she’s fantastic in every aspect. I’m not sure I’ve coached anyone tougher.”
Pett uses a combination of pre-shot preparation and unrelenting energy and will to dominate the glass.
“I just try to get whatever angle I can,” Pett said. “Box out first and then go get it. I’m not big enough to just go get the ball so I have to get a position where I can get it. But once it comes off the rim I just keep going until I get it. If I have to hit the ball out of someone’s hands a couple of times, then that’s what I’ll do.”
For the Panthers, the victory over Johnson State was a needed rebound after a 22-point loss to Emmanuel the week before, in which Middlebury turned the ball over 22 times while shooting 28 percent from the floor. And while Pecsok’s squad continues to struggle to score, they turned the ball over a season-low nine times against Johnson State, including just three second-half giveaways and shot 45 percent from the floor in the first half against Castleton State.
The Panthers travel to Skidmore (1-4) on Saturday Dec. 7 and play four more nonconference games before they begin NESCAC play against Bates on Jan. 10.
(11/20/13 6:46pm)
Middlebury rang in the 2013-2014 season with two impressive performances in front of a home crowd, tying Bowdoin by a score of 2-2 on Saturday, Nov. 16 and shaming Colby by a score of 7-1 on Sunday, Nov. 17. Derek Pimentel ’15 and Connor Frick ’16 buried the key goals in the first contest, and 12 different players combined for points on Sunday.
Assistant coach Jamie McKenna praised the hustle the team demonstrated right from the opening faceoff and credited the offensive success to the quick learning curve of the younger players.
“We are definitely faster now than we were last year — we outskated both teams this weekend and moved the puck very well,” McKenna said. “We had a lot of young guys last year and now they know our system better. I think that was really on display in both games.”
On Saturday, Bowdoin struck first on a 3-on-1 rush that formed suddenly on a blocked Middlebury shot from the point. The Bowdoin winger rushed up the left wing and zipped a low shot off the pad of Middlebury goalie Mike Peters ’15 before a teammate capitalized on the rebound opportunity.
The lead held through the first intermission, but with two minutes gone in the second period Pimentel sounded the familiar goal horn for Middlebury’s first of the season. Matt Greenwald ’16 earned the assist with a quick pass off the side boards.
After killing off two Bowdoin power plays in the second period, Middlebury earned an advantage of their own and Frick electrified the 1500 fans packed into Kenyon arena. Breaking to his left past a defender at the blue line, Frick changed hands at the last moment and found space high on the right side of the net for the goal.
Midway through the third period, a rash of four penalties within two minutes opened up the ice for a 3-on-3 situation that lasted 19 seconds.
“I’ve never seen that in all my time here,” McKenna said. “But we were told to expect a lot more calls this year, so we need to be good on the power play and killing off penalties.”
Middlebury survived the odd-man situation but with only seven minutes left in the game, the Polar Bears stymied a Panther breakout and Bowdoin’s
John McGinnis deked to open up the legs of Peters and slide in a five-hole goal.
The Panthers urgently doubled the pressure and controlled the rest of the game, but a determined Bowdoin goaltender repeatedly denied the golden chances coming from the sticks of last year’s top scorers Louis Belisle ’14 and Matt Silcoff ’16.
“I felt good about the way we played,” said forward Ben Wiggins ’14. “Some of us were disappointed because there were really good opportunities to end that game, but that really just made us more hungry to get back out and win against Colby.”
Middlebury came out sticks ready on Sunday versus Colby, outshooting the Mules 41 shots to just 13. The offense cycled hard in the corners and worked the puck out to the perimeter for dangerous low shots into traffic. Many times it seemed like the Panthers held a power play advantage, positioning three shooters in a flexible umbrella atop the zone and patiently creating quality chances.
Pimentel delivered twice in the first nine minutes of the game, stuffing one rebound on the right post and nimbly lifting another into the net above a sprawling goaltender.
Peters held tight at his end to keep Colby at bay. During one sequence, Peters stretched out the right pad, then used the blocker athletically on a high rebound shot to kill off a Colby power play near the end of the first period.
The Panthers found a rhythm on the man advantage, scoring three power play goals on the night. With a 5-on-3 advantage just expiring, Evan Neugold ’16 drifted backwards to the left faceoff circle and clapped a one-timer off a pass from Ronald Fishman ’16 into the top corner. Jake Charles ’16 then joined on a rush behind Pimentel and sang a hard snapshot off the inside left post for his first Middlebury goal. On the power play again, Robbie Donahoe ’14 slapped a hard pass down low to Wiggins, who one-timed a second pass to Belisle for a bang-bang goal.
In the third period, Charles added another goal to his resume on a tipped shot from the point, and Mike Longo ’14 bore down toward the net on a three-on-one opportunity, flexing a lightning snapper over the goalie’s glove.
Just like his coach, Wiggins expressed contentment with the pace Middlebury brought.
“It was a great start,” he said. “Our pace of play really impressed me, especially for just the first two games of the season. We moved the puck and stayed focused well, so that all points in positive direction for the season.”
The Panthers hit the road next weekend, looking to carry on their fast-paced game and scoring success against Tufts on Saturday, Nov. 22 and Conn. College on Sunday, Nov. 23.
(11/14/13 12:20am)
Last week, on Thursday, Nov. 7 the College admissions office began formally reviewing early decision applications, which Dean of Admission Greg Buckles projected would be around 691 applications. This year, however, admissions is hoping to reduce the class size from 600-610 to 575 students for September admits and from 90-100 to 80-90 students for February admits, making an already competitive process even more competitive.
“The goal is to reduce the stress on crowded first-year housing overall,” Buckles said.
Each year, like those 691 applicants, high school seniors all over the country apply to college and admission counselors seek an efficient, fair way to sift through the extremely high number of applications. The College receives around 9,000 applications each year — last year that number peaked at 9,109 — and employs 13 full time readers, four seasonal readers and four operational staff members to review those applications.
Therefore, each admission cycle counselors grapple with making difficult decisions and making those decisions in an efficient, fair manner. Although this challenge is not unique to the College, the system it uses may be unique. Every admission office has a different method of choosing the incoming class and sifting through what will ultimately be acceptances and rejections. This system is a necessary evil, a formula, to make informed choices and predictions on how a student would perform on this campus.
“It’s a sifting a method,” Buckles said. “We are constantly sifting through a pool of applicants so that students begin to rise through the process, so to speak.”
At the College, the first part of this sifting process is the first read. Every application that comes through the office is read twice. The first read is usually completed by the regional representative; each counselor covers a few states or countries based on the location of the applicant’s high school. The second reader is usually chosen at random.
The two readers rank students in four categories: academic strength, extracurricular contribution and personal qualities on a 1-7 point scale. An overall score, the forth category, is then attributed to each applicant, which is not an average of the three categories, but is a recommendation.
“[The overall category] is a recommendation or a general sense of what the reader is recommending for a decision,” Buckles said.
According to the admissions office, the first, most important category is the academic rating of an applicant. This category looks at a student’s transcript, while taking into consideration the high school’s rating system and curriculum. Supporting materials such as the school report, letters of recommendation, testing scores, grades and personal essays are considered within this category as well. All those combined assigns an academic rating.
The rubric for the academic category, which reads, “To what extent does the applicant demonstrate intellectual achievement, engagement, and potential for academic success at Middlebury?” is the overarching question by which each reader attempts to apply a rating.
For this first-year class, the average academic rating, out of 7, for all students who applied was between 5.06 and 5.76 for admitted students. The average academic rating of students who enrolled was 5.45.
The next category, the extracurricular rating, which is also on a 1-7 scale, asks the reader, “What level of contribution will this student make outside the classroom taking into account skill level, initiative, and leadership capabilities?”
A seven in this category would suggest “an unusual and rare ability to contribute here at a national level talent,” while a one rating suggests “no foreseen involvement on campus.” Athletics, art and music would all be considered here.
The personal category which Buckles calls “the most illusive, and the most subjective” seeks to answer the question, “How will the Middlebury community be impacted by this student’s personal qualities?” with a 7 suggesting “exceptional potential to positively impact the lives of others.”
“[The personal category] is one we talk a lot about because it’s a hard one to know,” Associate Dean of Admissions and Head of Diversity Recruitment Manuel Carballo said. “We aren’t interviewing students or having conversations with them. But personal qualities are, to us, is this person going to be a good roommate or a good person to talk to?”
The last category, the overall category, asks, “considering the applicant’s overall contribution to campus including academic talent, extracurricular talent, personal qualities, and special considerations, what recommendation would you give to the committee?”
The overall category is where any special considerations are taken into account, including legacy status, first generation college student status or a set of extenuating circumstances.
Then, based off of the readers’ numerical evaluation of applications in the listed categories, applicants move into committee session where formal decisions are made. On average, only 50 percent of applicants make it to the committee session.
“The first reader may determine that a student is unlikely to be admitted,” Buckles said. “Then a senior, more experienced counselor will go back and verify that [not going to committee] is in fact the right decision and that all things being equal that person will not make it to committee.”
If it has been determined by the first two readers that a student should go to committee, then students are assigned to a committee group. During the regular decision cycle, the office has four different committee groups working at once, comprised of four to five people who get through about 100 decisions a day.
As committees begin reviewing applicants, one of the two readers usually presents the applicant to the committee, and each counselor gets one vote to either admit, deny or waitlist the student.
“I call this precision guesswork. We are trying to apply consistent, fair, ethical, human, educational standards and applications to what is a very subjective, dynamic process. We are trying to make good decisions about 17-year-olds.”
Any decision that cannot be made easily or that the smaller committee is not positive about are passed off to a full committee session which is usually held for a week at the end of the decision process. Both Buckles and Carballo noted that they almost always have to trim the class during this portion, noting how difficult that process can be.
“To me, the hardest part of the process is students come in from such different backgrounds — educational backgrounds, family backgrounds — that there is no way to equate things,” Carballo said. “So how do you compare them? How do you compare students from schools who have a library just like ours to school that don’t have one. It’s not a choice. We have to put them in the same pool and make some decision.”
Read a response by the Alumni Admissions Programs.
(11/07/13 10:53pm)
Snake Pit with Adeline Cleveland ’13.5 & Alan Sanders ’13.5
Middlebury Campus (MC): How did you form?
Addy: Both of us came together at the beginning of this semester. We’ve been friends for a while and we’ve each had different shows all four years. We’re in our last semester, and our former partners graduated last year, so we were just chatting one day and decided to do a story together.
MC: How did you come up with the name?
Alan: I came over to Addy’s house one day, and her friend from high school was there, and he works in a reptile house.
Addy: He makes snakes, like he alters different parts of their DNA.
Alan: It was a wild experience. And the next day we were supposed to fill out the application. So we came up with SnakePit.
MC: How would you describe the sound of your show?
Alan: We are a hip-hop show, but we also play a lot of new electronic and electronic-pop acts.
Addy: It’s not really a theme every show, but sometimes a common thread will appear as the show goes on and we kind of just go from there, depending on the flow of the show.
Alan: We try to play new music as much as possible – we play what came out each week.
MC: Three adjectives.
Alan: Slithery
Addy: Dangerous
Alan: Venomous
MC: Why should listeners tune in?
Addy: We generally play songs that flow well into each other so it’s nice to listen not only for one song, but the show is pretty coherent as a whole, and our banter is pretty on point. It’s intentional and informative. Alan is pretty knowledgeable and up-to-date on the artists and albums we’re playing, and I don’t know that stuff. So we’re not both talking at people, we’re both conversing.
Alan: It’s a good way for listeners to get to know new music and new artists. Also, our show is on a Thursday night, so people can listen when they’re in the library studying or in their dorm rooms, not studying. Eighty percent of our listeners are from town, not on campus. Our listeners vary between lots of different age groups.
MC: How do you broadcast to listeners across different age groups?
Addy: Making a conscious effort to not just have our conversation center around stuff that happens at the College. We definitely bring things that are happening on campus, but I think by keeping our conversation centered around current pop events and music, that’s easier to relate to than two students talking about Proctor dining hall.
Second Hand Groove Machine with Jebb Norton ‘13.5 and Eric Benepe ‘13.5
MC: How did you form?
Jebb: Destiny.
Erik: We went to the first meeting our second semester, and we had known each other before. We had very similar musical taste and decided to do a show together.
MC: How would you describe your musical style?
Erik: We do a different genre every week, we have different themes. Sometimes we’ll pick a genre, sometimes we’ll pick a period in musical history, sometimes we’ll play instrumental beats with different speeches we’ve gotten by famous people.
Jebb: We did a show for Shel Silverstein a month ago. We played a bunch of his poetry and songs that he wrote and stuff by his friends. We have fun with it.
Erik: Basically, we both listen to a lot of music and on our show we try to play things that we’re interested in and use it as a way to find out more about the music we like.
MC: Three adjectives.
Jebb: I’d say funky. More than most people would think of, I think funk music is about doing what you want to do, and we definitely bring the funk.
Erik: Goofy. We get kind of ridiculous sometimes. We’ve got a solid core of fans, but sometimes we get callers and we have no idea who they are.
Jebb: I like it because every week, we have a two hour period where we never do work. It’s just a period where we can listen to music and talk, or just think. It’s just a separate mind space from normal time at Middlebury.
MC: Do you think that vibe is communicated to your listeners?
Jebb: Yeah totally, I hope so. If we were doing homework, I think they would know. It would change, we wouldn’t be as engaged.
MC: Do you plan ahead?
Erik: We’ve gotten to a point where we don’t know how to plan that much. We know each other’s music style well enough and we have good chemistry. We sort of improvise what sounds good.
MC: Why should listeners tune in to your show?
Erik: Because we emphasize playing good music, and we don’t talk too much. When we do talk, we try to contribute things to teach people about the music.
Jebb: We don’t ask each other what we had for lunch, and then talk about it for fifteen minutes. People should listen to us because everyone needs an escape. And that’s what we give.
Rock in Rio with Fabiana Benediini ‘15 and Jess Parker ‘16
MC: What is Rock and Rio?
Benedini: So Rock in Rio is actually not a world show, it’s Brazilian music – Brazilian country and rock. Brazilian rock says a lot about Brazilian history so most of the bands complain about the government and how corrupt it is. There are a lot of songs about disillusionment and anger and those are really good. And Brazilian country is about Brazilian daily culture, so heartbreak, drinking a lot and women.
MC: How did the show start?
Benedini: Jess and I were having dinner at Proctor. She wants to learn Portuguese so I said okay, let’s have a show so you can practice by listening to music and you can talk in Portuguese. Her mom’s Brazilian and she wants to learn Portuguese so she knows a little bit and she’s taking Portuguese for Spanish speakers right now.
MC: Do you speak Portuguese on the air?
Benedini: We do speak in Portuguese to each other when she asks about the lyrics.
MC: Are the songs from growing up in Brazil or are they more modern?
Benedini: It’s hard to find modern songs but I can usually message my friends in Brazil and they can tell me what good music is going on right now. So I get input from Brazilians.
MC: When does the show air?
Benedini: It airs Wednesdays from 7 AM to 8 AM. It’s super early. It feels like it’s super early. It’s so fun to see Jess there and hang out with her. And it’s a good way to start our morning, especially because it’s music about heartbreak or anger – it’s hilarious.
MC: What you might hear:
Capital Inicial, “It is usually about corruption or disillusionment and it is rock.”
Ivete Sangalo, “It’s pump up music. It’s a style that is very typical of Brazil.”
MC: Any callers?
Benedini: Jess’s mom called once.
Almost Famous with Ben Goldberg ’14 and Maddie Dai ’14
MC: As the General Manger, what is your role at WRMC?
Goldberg: I kind of do a little bit of everything. I am learning as I go. The official description of my position is I’m the student president [of WRMC], I’m responsible for budget and the money side of things. We have a business director for that as well but I’m very much involved. I’m also a link between us and the administration, student activities and probably most significantly, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission). On a day-to-day basis, making sure everyone else is doing what they need to be doing. So, it’s a full time job.
MC: What would be your pitch to listen to WRMC?
Goldberg: It’s nothing like anything else you have on the air in Addison County – commercial free radio, tastefully picked music. We’re not catering to a certain audience, we’re not playing just top 40 hits.
Dai: There’s a lot of banter, there’s a joke a minute.
Goldberg: It’s nice to hear a range of student voices giving input. It’s a surprisingly personal experience to listen to someone’s show and what they’re up to and what they’re listening to.
Dai: If you’re driving a car, what else are you going to do?
Goldberg: All the shows are pretty different. We are predominately music, alternative music (whatever that means), but it’s at least diverse to some degree. We try to make it as diverse as possible but the fact that you’re listening to peers or even to someone you don’t know playing music they care about, have something to say about and want to share that with you, that’s a way to connect with other people. It’s so much more fulfilling than just putting on your iPod or putting on a CD when you have someone crafting a playlist for you.
MC: Almost Famous’ description says, “From boy bands to mental breakdowns.” What does that mean?
Dai: We go through all those iterations. One day we’ll be a boy band and the next we’ll have a mental breakdown. It’s actually our third show together and it’s been the evolution of us. We started in Oxford, we went abroad there.
Goldberg: Oxcide student radio.
Dai: There’s not many things Middlebury does better than Oxford but radio would be one of them. They have more Nobel prize winners in general but we have a good radio station. So we went there and then we had a show last semester called Zig-a-Zig-Ah which was a Nineties tribute show and now we do pop.
Goldberg: It was sort of a natural evolution. On our first show, Back to the Boombox, we would pick a different era of music but focusing on some sort of pop era, more or less.
Dai: We relive a lot of our childhood memories. But at a time when we were extremely awkward probably and it’s not necessarily overly sentimental, at an exciting time of middle school dances.
Goldberg: Maddie and I come from wildly different places but strangely enough we are able to connect through Nineties pop culture. That was the foundation of Zig-a-Zig-Ah and we didn’t want to have to be stuck playing just nineties music and the nineties music we were listening to for the most part was pop or some variation thereof. So now on Almost Famous we’ll do each week a different phenomenon in pop music.
Dai: Not to intellectualize it but it is interesting to look at pop as industrialized, very attuned to different cultural fads and movements and the movement from boy bands to girl bands.
Goldberg: We’re taking a stab at sociology.
Dai: Via Wikipedia.
Goldberg: Neither of us are trained sociologists. I still haven’t taken a sociology class but we can speak at length about Britney Spears or Justin Timberlake or Beyoncé and it’s nice because everyone who’s listening knows what we’re talking about.
MC: What are some typical songs or artists on Almost Famous?
Goldberg: Lately there’s been a lot of Lorde.
Dai: And also because I’m a New Zealander so I’m shamelessly promoting her.
Goldberg: And also her album is just objectively pretty good.
Dai: Britney is often the epicenter from which we like to compare other artists, in terms of her career that’s gone through so many evolutions, rising and falling, so there is some Britney but we talk about her more than we play her.
Goldberg: I don’t feel like there is a pattern in the artists we play but I guess as far as pop goes we play a lot of Beyoncé, Rihanna here and there, Justin Timberlake. Music we respect, whether as individuals we respect them or we respect their music.
Soul Food with Josh Swartz ’14.5 and Alia Khalil ’14.5
MC: Tell me about the formation of Soul Food.
Swartz: I spent part of the summer in New Orleans and inspired by the music culture down there and going to see live music down there and pretty much everyday thing that people do. That’s something that I loved. It’s also just the time of our show from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. when ppl are just finishing up classes, getting a burger at Proctor and getting ready for the weekend. It’s easy to listen to, puts you in a good mood, old and new. This is the first semester that SF has been in existence. Alia and I have a good rapport. We have a good time.
MC: Explain what Soul Food is.
Khalil: It’s two friends sharing their music with all their other friends. In every set, there’s definitely one song you can fit your taste to. We play a lot of different types of music, but even within the soul genre, there are older and recent songs.
Swartz: A big part of the show is us bantering about Halloween costumes and favorite animals, community events, and things that happen at Middlebury. Our last guest has a particularly good Norah Jones impression. Our conversation focuses on light-hearted fun things, like talking about Halloween or movies. The tone of our conversation is very upbeat and easy to listen to. It is something we’re conscious of: everything we do is geared toward a universal audience.
Khalil: Regardless of if you’re in Middlebury or not, you’re able to understand our conversations. A lot of radio shows have inside jokes, but that is not us.
MC: What does the music do to you?
Khalil: It energizes you. We always say it is music that feeds your soul so it’s not limited. Our generation doesn’t realize how versatile soul music can be which can include lyrical ballads or some songs with strong beats.
Swartz: One tradition is that we always end every show with the same song: “September” by Earth Wind and Fire. That song really legitimizes what our show is about. Everyone recognizes it; it’s a happy song. It used to make more sense because it used to be September. Now we just use it to feed people’s souls.
MC: What is the best show moment to go down in Soul Food history?
Swartz: We got a call from Vergennes, who I think calls in to WRMC a lot — so this might not have been that special — but he said, “Wow, I really loved the show” and was super supportive. I actually think that he is someone who calls in pretty frequently, but I like to pretend that he just called in our show.
Khalil: My favorite moment was when we introduced “September” for the first time and we were just kind of joking about autumn activities and announced that we were going to. Closes the show.
Swartz: From that moment, we could both feel it was the start of a very powerful tradition. It happened in our very first show; it happened so organically.
MC: What can you guarantee that your listener will hear when they tune into the show?
Khalil: You will hear Josh’s awesome radio voice, which a is a bit of an alter ego from his normal voice. He sounds like a radio DJ who plays soul music.
Swartz: We always talk about a concert that is happening or happened at Middlebury. We do talk about local music scenes. In our last show, we played Apenglow to promote that concert on Higher Ground on Sunday. There’s a local consciousness to our show. That’s being part of the Middlebury community and the Vermont community — that’s an important part of being a radio show.
Khalil: We both have different taste in music and we both complement each other in new bands we’ve heard of and introduce each other. Even in my own radio show, I’m always finding new songs.
The Campus Voice with Greta Neubauer ’14.5 and Ian Stewart ’14
MC: Explain to a 5th grader what the Campus Voice is.
Neubauer: The Campus Voice is a way to bring the work of the Middlebury Campus and its writers into broader dialogue with the members of the community who are commenters on the story written in the Campus. They relate to those issues and we make that vocal and in a dialogue, where people can interact beyond the pages.
MC: What is the difference between the dialogue on the Campus Voice and one with your friends?
Stewart: It seems in most conversations with your friends, you kind of try to get to an agreement on an issue. Whereas with the show, no one has to leave agreeing. Part of what we do is to try to tease out the distinct arguments that are being made at different sides of the issue. When you’re with your friends you’re less likely to push your friends that we can be with our host hats on.
Neubauer: The differences among people who go on the show are greater differences than those in our groups of friends. A lot of the friends that I have these conversations with — we all sort of have the same opinions about this issue. The Campus Voice brings the dialogue out of niches on campus.
MC: Why should someone who reads the newspaper want to tune into the show 4 days later?
Stewart: Issues are changing constantly on the campus. The dialogue is changing, new events are coming out, absurd emails are being sent out and are not being sent out and so the story, as with any story, evolves. This is a nice chance to check in a few days later. There’s not that pressure of the 500 or 600 words [in print]. Just tell the straight facts. Get your three quotes in. Tell it in this neat, closed story. Another thing is that it’s different to hear someone’s voice and to hear their pauses and their inflections and their emotions, their excitement. That’s something that no amount of adjectives and adverbs on print will be able to recreate. You’re taking out a layer and so you’re closer to the people and story than you might be with a story on the page.
Neubauer: I also think that we’re taking an issue that’s come up on campus and bringing it back to the broader conversation. Whether it’s homophobia on this campus or the topic of dialogue.
Kyle Finck: Also, moving forward the point is not only to read the news but to interact with the news, so in terms of submitting questions, getting them answered, whether it’s having Dean Collado on or a student provoked by Collado’s blog. This is about interacting with the news.
MC: What is the best moment captured on your show?
Stewart: The one I keep thinking about is when we did a show on spoken word artists and hip-hop rap artists on campus. To see their art on campus and the way they talked about it was almost seamless. I was so blown away by their articulateness in the Q&A part of the interview that I felt like it was an extension of the rhymes and language in their art.
Neubauer: That too was my favorite moment of the show. There was something really special about seeing the performance and the question. I always love when I go to an art museum and I want to hear the whole description of the painting on an audio guide or docent and so I really like to hear interpretation. That was cool to hear them in spoken terms give us that description. Similarly, talking about the interpretation of Chance’s lyrics. I come to a different place on the issue having engaged with people who talking about it a lot.
Stewart: The idea that you can change our opinion in a conversation in the same way it had naturally is unique to the radio. You’re just selecting snapshots in newspaper — that’s what is going to represent what you felt at that moment and that’s valuable, but we have the chance to change someone’s mind over the course of the show and see the evolution the same way it happens to us sitting there and listening.
MC: What’s one thing you can promise listener in every show?
Stewart: Almost everytime when someone says something, they were sincere about it. You will hear a true sincere moment that is not a sound byte. It’s something they thought about or believed.
Neubauer: You think you understand Middlebury, you talk in classes but it’s not the same as hearing people’s perspectives. It’s surprising. I have this idea that I understand Middlebury and its student body, and it’s not true.
(11/06/13 10:28pm)
McCallum Foote ’14 threw five touchdown passes and just four incompletions in the final home game of his decorated career, leading Middlebury to a 40-13 blowout victory over Hamilton on senior day and improving the Panthers’ record to 6-1 on the season. Tight end Billy Sadik-Kahn ’14 caught three touchdown passes, improving his NESCAC-leading touchdown receptions mark to nine, and emergent running back Ryan Hislop ’15 scored the first two touchdowns of his career.
After stalling on fourth-and-one at the Hamilton 30-yard line on its first drive, the Middlebury offense elevated to previously unreached heights, finding the end zone on each of its next six possessions.
“There are times, particularly with a passing offense when everybody feels in sync and things are a little slower and the windows are a bit bigger and I think that’s the way the offense felt,” said head coach Bob Ritter. “And certainly defensively we played really well and forced some early three-and-outs.”
First-year wide receiver Grant Luna ’17 catalyzed the outburst, hauling in three of his seven catches on the first touchdown drive. On the first play of the drive from the Middlebury 30-yard line, Foote sailed a sideline throw that Luna brought down with a leaping, one-handed catch. Then, two plays later, on third-and-10, Luna made a streaking catch over the middle for 16 yards and a first down. The Panthers slot receiver ran a similar route out of the slot on the next play, this time picking up 18 yards to the Hamilton 21-yard line.
“He has done a tremendous job for us,” Ritter said. “For a first-year, his knowledge off our offense and how to run routes is really impressive. And he runs with a lot of precision, he catches everything and he has no fear. And that has made him one of Mac’s favorite targets.”
A Foote-to-Sadik-Khan connection for 16 yards put the ball at the five-yard line, where, on first-and-goal, Foote hit his running back Hislop in the flat for a pylon-reaching score, the first of Hislop’s career.
“We knew they were going to blitz when we were in the red zone and we called a certain protection where I don’t have any responsibilities to protect the quarterback — I just get out into a route,” Hislop said. “I got out into the right flat as soon as I could and before I knew it Mac threw me the ball and I dove to try to get into the end zone.”
After waiting nearly three seasons for his first career score, Hislop found pay dirt for a second time fewer than 70 seconds later, this time on the ground. The second touchdown was set up by a pair of ball-hawking plays, first by the Middlebury kick-coverage unit, followed by a defensive takeaway. On the kickoff subsequent to Middlebury’s first touchdown, gunner David Elkhatibb ’15 stripped Hamilton return man, Joe Jensen, of the football, which the Continentals recovered at their own one-yard line. Running back James Stanell carried the ball to the four-yard line on first down, but on the next play Continentals’ quarterback Chase Rosenberg, facing pressure from an edge blitz, fluttered a ball over the middle, which first-year linebacker Addison Pierce ’17 intercepted and returned to the one-yard line.
On the sideline, Hislop realized that he might have a chance to score a second touchdown in quick succession.
“The ball was on the half-yard line and I thought, ‘it could be a run play, I have to get dialed in’” Hislop said.
On the first play from scrimmage, Hislop took a handoff from Foote, bounced the ball to the outside away from a penetrating defensive lineman and twisted his way into the end zone.
Hamilton found some continuity on its next drive, injecting heavy doses of the run, to great effect. Stannell and Rosenberg combined to run the ball six times for 29 yards on the drive’s first seven plays. Then, on second-and-seven from the Middlebury 30-yard line, a Rosenberg 11-yard scramble was negated by a holding penalty. On the following play, outside linebacker Jake Clapp ’16 blitzed over the left tackle, sacking Rosenberg and ultimately forcing a Continentals’ punt.
The Middlebury offense drove 80 yards in less than two minutes, as Foote completed five of six passes, including a high-arcing spiral over the top of the Hamilton defense, hitting Brendan Rankowitz ’16 in stride for a 42-yard gain. Three plays later, Foote found Sadik-Khan running a post route for a 13-yard touchdown, giving the Panthers a 20-0 lead less than three minutes into the second quarter.
The defense forced three-and-outs on each of the next two Hamilton possessions, which the offense turned into two more touchdowns and a 34-0 lead. Foote marched the offense 52 yards in 2:06, connecting with Minno for a 29-yard touchdown down the sideline. On the following possession Matt Rea ’14 entered the game, carrying the ball and lowering his shoulder for added emphasis. Again, Foote capped off the drive, making a pair of precision throws over the middle, first threading the needle to a sliding Luna before high-pointing Sadik-Kahn on a seam route for a 25-yard scoring strike.
“Coming into the game I told Billy it should be a pretty good day for him,” Foote said. “Their safeties play pretty deep and pretty wide and I knew we were able to hit a couple of seam balls against them last year with Billy Chapman.”
Trailing 34-0, the Continentals softened the scoreboard with a touchdown drive of their own to end the half. Jensen, somewhat atoning for his earlier fumble, took the kickoff following Foote’s fourth touchdown pass 44 yards up the sideline where he was forced out of bounds by kicker Mike Dola ’15 at the Middlebury 48-yard line. 11 plays later, Rosenberg punctuated the drive with a six-yard quarterback-keeper off right tackle.
The Panthers opened the second half with their sixth and final touchdown drive of the game. Foote and Sadik-Khan continued to exploit Hamilton’s two-high safety scheme, as the senior tight end hauled in three more receptions for 53 yards, including a 22-yard touchdown on the same route concept the pair dialed up on the second touchdown. Alertly, Hamilton’s backside safety read the play and covered enough ground to make a play on the ball, resulting in a simultaneous catch that was awarded to Sadik-Khan for the touchdown.
“That route is an option route, so if the safety is over the top, I’m supposed to cut it off,” Sadik-Khan said. “I saw him in the corner of my eye and I thought we had enough room, but as the ball was in the air, I saw he was gaining ground pretty fast. You’re going to get hit either way so you go up and catch the ball, but he definitely had a good piece of the ball. My hand was over the tip of the ball, but his hands were around the side of it … but I had it.”
Stannell ran for 53 yards on the ensuing Continetals’ drive, culminating in a four-yard score and narrowing the Middlebury lead to 27. With 6:46 remaining in the third quarter, however, Ritter elected to pull Foote, who completed 25 of 29 passes for 33s yards and five touchdowns, followed by most of the first-team offense, shortly thereafter.
Neither team scored from that point, as the Middlebury offense was largely ineffective after Foote and the first-team unit exited the game. Middle linebacker Tim Patricia ’15 registered his second career interception in the fourth quarter, stepping in front of an underneath route over the middle and boxing out the intended receiver.
“I had been caught staring at the quarterback’s eyes earlier in the game; I kind of floated and guys got underneath me a couple of times,” Patricia said. “The difference on that one was that I made sure to take my drop right off the quarterback’s eyes and then focus also on where the receiver was in relation to me. So check the quarterback, check the receiver and I got underneath it and made a play.”
Patricia added 12 tackles to lead the defense, including a sack of Rosenberg. Safety Matt Benedict ’15 added 11 tackles, giving him 30 in the past two games and Jake Clapp sacked Rosenberg to increase his total to 4.5 on the season —good for fourth in the NESCAC.
Middlebury travels to Tufts (0-7) on Saturday for the final game of the season. A Middlebury victory and a Wesleyan loss would guarantee the Panthers a share of the NESCAC title. The Cardinals (7-0) play at Trinity (5-2) where the Bantams have won 50 straight regular season games.
[CORRECTION: The photograph above went uncredited in the print edition of this story; it should be credited to Paul Gerard.]
(11/06/13 10:23pm)
The Middlebury volleyball team ended the regular season on a positive note, winning both of its last home games to finish with a solid record of 18-6. On Friday, Nov. 1 they bested Bowdoin 3-1, then followed up by beating Bates by the same score on Saturday, Nov. 2. The Panthers improved to 5-5 in NESCAC play to tie for 6th place along with Trinity.
Friday’s win against Bowdoin was an especially important victory, as it demonstrated Middlebury could keep up with the best of NESCAC volleyball. Before facing off against the Panthers, the Polar Bears were 8-1 in conference play, losing only to powerhouse Williams in a close game.
The first set was disheartening for Middlebury, as they couldn’t keep up with a close 17-25 loss. Despite only committing five errors, Middlebury seemed listless on offense through the first set, mustering up only five kills on 33 touch attempts. However, Middlebury was able to turn it around in the second, notching 13 kills to win 25-18. Despite a close third set (25-23), Bowdoin was unable to keep up the fight. Middlebury punctuated its proud performance with a final set score of 25-17, including a 7-0 run, mirroring Bowdoin’s first set dominance. Lizzy Reed ’15 came up with 21 digs on the game, committing zero errors.
Saturday’s matchup against Bates provided an opportunity for the Panthers to consolidate their place in the NESCAC tournament. Bates has suffered within conference play this season, and came into the game sitting at a lowly 2-7 record.
Middlebury commanded the first set with a 25-13 win, letting the Bobcats know who was in charge early on. However, Bates wasn’t ready to concede keeping up in the second set, only losing 25-21. In the third set, Bates escaped with a 25-23 win, capitalizing on eight Middlebury errors. However, the Panthers weren’t going to allow a comeback on their own court, and put the game away with a 25-19 victory in the fourth and final set.
Captains Megan Jarchow ’14 and Amy Hart ’14 both put up 18 kills, ending their impressive offensive seasons without skipping a beat. Olivia Kolodka ’15 matched their offensive output with a defensive outing of 18 digs.
With positive end to the season, the Panthers are optimistic of their chances in the NESCAC tournament.
“Doing so successfully during the last weekend of the regular season gives us a lot of confidence going into the tournament,” Gabi Rosenfeld ’17 said. “Hopefully we can carry our success against Amherst. I think our offense will be able to match any others in the NESCAC.”
Middlebury looks ahead to its first match of the NESCAC tournament and postseason on Friday, Nov. 8. They face Amherst, who they lost to on their first meeting of the season, but defeated the second time around.
(11/06/13 8:08pm)
13 miles of sidewalk. Over 300 acres. Even for a 14-year Landscape Services veteran like John Quelch, these numbers are daunting. Nevertheless, Quelch has an eye for detail when mowing and holds his team to a high standard.
“Maybe it would surprise [students] if they saw what we didn’t do or if they saw someone who didn’t care how it looked,” said Quelch. “For me in particular, no matter what it is, I look for the end result – what it looks like when you’re done. When you start off, it’s not pretty, but you chug away and get it done.”
Landscape Services Supervisor Clinton Snyder pulls out a map of campus full of little Sharpie markings that divide the campus like a battlefield; a commander keeping track of troops on the battlefield. “We have an average of 12 to 18 guys working in landscaping and it’s broken up into three groups,” said Snyder.
North, Central and Athletic are the three zones in which Landscaping operates.North encompasses everything from College Street toward Bicentennial Hall, Central covers the areas around Old Chapel and Athletic demarcates the athletic fields to the south. Quelch is the crew chief in charge of Central and is responsible for 5 or 6 staff members who run the landscaping from Old Chapel to the CFA.
“He makes sure everything is looking good,” Snyder said. “This is a high-profile area of the College and he works with his guys making sure everything is mowed and it looks primo.”
The mowing happens on a schedule. “The North crew mows on Monday and Tuesday, and we mow Central on Wednesday and Thursday,” said Quelch. “Usually it takes us a little over a day and a half to mow our section and then we have to string trim it, all around the trees and any objects that you can’t get to with a mower. That’s quite a bit of work just doing that. In the summer it’s pretty much mowing and weed whacking.”
The team has a Toro lawnmower with wings on it that drop down and can mow 10 to 12 feet on either side which they use to mow large fields and open areas. As the weather turns colder, Landscaping has been preparing for the first snowfall with an eye to keeping the exits of buildings free from snow.
“We were working on it yesterday. We have to distribute shovels to every building and the custodians,” said Quelch. “The custodians will sometimes take care of the front and they’ll just shovel 6 or 7 feet out for us just to help out because we’re sometimes short-handed in that department.”
Landscaping also has to work with the Facilities auto shop to prepare the tractors and trucks for moving snow.
“We have plow trucks that we are responsible for maintaining and guys out in plow trucks. Then we have tractors to do all the sidewalks and the larger equipment (the backhoe and the payloader) doing the parking lots and removing the snow,” said Snyder. “They just started doing it now, right into Thanksgiving, getting every piece of equipment ready so when the snow falls, we’re ready with the trucks, the tractors and the snow blowers. This is the rotation we start now – taking out winter stuff and putting away the summer stuff.”
Once heavy snow begins falling, the real work begins.
“Bicentennial Hall has to be shoveled on the roof – the entire top,” continued Snyder. “We have 200 plus buildings and over 300 acres that we’re taking care of, so every building has an entrance and an exit, everything has to be shoveled, usually six feet wide out to a walk or out to a drive.” The wear and tear on machines and tools is evident after only a few years. “Brand new shovels get worn right down,” added Snyder.
Quelch also has his share of snowstorm horror stories.
“We had a really big storm on Valentine’s day 7 or 8 years ago,” said Quelch. “It was brutal; lots and lots of snow. I called up here and told people if they didn’t have to travel not to do it,” said Quelch. “People stayed here that night and the College paid for however many hours you worked in that storm, they gave you double your hours. They had cots out for people to stay in.”
On the Gator, Quelch does hesitate to do some clean up at a moment’s notice.
“I’m going to pick up this branch while I’m here,” said Quelch, stopping the vehicle to grab a large branch that had fallen down in from of the Emma Willard House. Right now, however, the main target is fallen leaves.
“We have a lot of leaves and a lot of them are still on the trees now. Oaks always hold them,” Quelch said. “We are constantly after leaves, as long as we can do it before the snow hits.”
All the leaves are collected via vacuum devices that are attached to either a box on a Gator or a separate truck.
“We have a leaf vacuum – a vacuum that goes in a straight shot and sucks them up,” Quelch said. “And then we have another one that we are experimenting with this year. The auto shop people built a box on the back of it. It has an engine on it and it has knives and it chops the leaves up and blows them into the box on the back of a Gator.”
“They also like to mulch as much as they can with the mowers,” said Snyder, a tactic used to get as much organic matter as possible back into the ground. “But at some point they have to stop doing it because you get so many leaves you’re basically just plowing because there are so many leaves so they need to start picking it up.”
The leaves are first brought to the Facilities services building but eventually they go to a site off of the TAM which Landscaping calls the ‘stump dump’. Quelch pointed out this site while on the Gator, where Landscaping keeps gravel, brush, woodchips, and manure from the Morgan Horse Farm. Leaves are piled next to the manure and food compost from the dining halls is mixed in. “We turn that into topsoil so we have fresh topsoil,” said Snyder.
A little-known part of Landscaping’s duties are R-25 forms, a variation of a work order which lists events all over the College that require the department’s attention.
“It’s our responsibility to read that and see what is going on each day,” said Snyder. “It says in each event to see if it’s something we need to do. It could be as little as getting garbage cans out there or roping something off.”
Landscaping also takes care of the brunt of Monday morning’s trash pickup.
“I get sick of that but to keep it looking nice it’s got to be done because there’s always beer cans, broken glass, napkins. We start our day out Monday morning with campus pickup,” said Quelch. “Usually it takes about 2 hours with 4 people.
“We’ll get a call like, ‘At FIC there’s broken glass across the whole parking lot.’ You have to stop what you’re doing and take care of it,” said Snyder. “They stood by that parking lot and drank and every time they drank a bottle they threw it. By the end of the night there was broken glass across the whole parking lot.”
The ridgeline houses and the mods are reportedly the worst spots for garbage in the campus. Despite incidents like this, Quelch is nonplussed.
“It is our job, but sometimes it’s frustrating if you go down there three or four times, but it’s in our job description,” said Quelch. “Most of them are very respectful like when we are cleaning off a sidewalk. A lot of students come by and say thank you. That’s pretty nice to hear that they appreciate what you are doing for them.”
The importance of being alert is obvious on a Gator. While driving the Gator around campus on Friday, Quelch made a point to veer off whenever pedestrians were near, an unspoken rule of landscaping.
“When we are mowing and students come by we idle down, shut our blades off, and let them come by,” said Quelch. Quelch also said his crew is mindful of keeping the noise down around lecture halls and other classrooms.
Quelch grew up in Vermont and started work at 12 years old as a butcher and meat cutter. “That’s pretty much what I’ve done for most of my life until I cam here,” said Quelch.
“You learn a lot about blood and guts, that’s for sure. But I can do the whole job.”
Quelch pulls up at 468 McKinley, a College house near the athletics center and points to a group of three facilities crew members. The three all wear the backpack-style leafblowers and use them to drive leaves into a pile, fighting gusts of wind.
“We definitely play the wind and we couldn’t really suck the leaves up today because they don’t suck up when they’re wet and it clogs a lot,” said Quelch, referencing a rainy morning.
Despite the monotony of mowing, Quelch says he enjoys his work.
“Mowing up the leaves and chopping them up with the smell of the fresh air is awesome,” said Quelch.
(10/30/13 10:54pm)
At the age of 20, most people are still thinking about what they want to do when they “grow up.” This is not the case with up-and-coming musician Chancelor Bennett, who is by no definition ‘most people.’ Better known by his stage name Chance the Rapper, the Chicago born hip-hop artist is riding his growing momentum on The Social Experiment Tour, which stops at the College on Nov. 2.
But the concert created as much controversy as excitement, centering around an initial lack of tickets and an ongoing uproar over perceived misogyny and homophobia in his lyrics. In response, the administration asked Chance not to sing the controversial lyric “slap-happy faggot slapper” of "Favorite Song" or use any homophobic terms during his entire performance. According to Dean of the College Shirley Collado, Chance agreed to these terms.
Releasing his first mixtape, 10 Day, after a ten day suspension during his senior year of high school, Chance soon garnered 80,000 downloads and the attention of Forbes magazine, which featured 10 Day in their ‘Cheap Tunes’ column. This growing recognition landed Chance a spot opening for fellow rapper Childish Gambino on tour, and spurred further collaborations with rappers Hoodie Allen and Joey Bada$$. Acid Rap, Chance’s second mixtape released in April of this year, has already achieved 250,000 downloads and catapulted the rapper into wider national recognition. Featuring other artists such as Twista, Vic Mensa and Action Bronson, Acid Rap received critical acclaim and a BET Hip Hop Award nomination for best mixtape, landing him a spot on the famous Lollapalooza festival.
Will Brennan ’16 grew up in Chicago and attended school just a few train stops away from Chance’s school, Jones College Prep, learning of the rapper’s huge ambitions through mutual musical friends.
“He and other rappers on the Save Money label like Vic Mensa were making singles and dropping mixtapes left and right,” Brennan said. “But when I left Chicago I had no idea that Chance would make it as big as he has in recent months.”
The Middlebury College Activities Board, or MCAB, chose the fall concert because of demonstrated student interest in more rap and hip-hop and Chance’s up-and-coming potential, according to MCAB President Elizabeth Fouhey. Chance’s music was relatively well known on campus before his appearance was announced, discovered through the internet or on WRMC. Will Brennan started playing Chance on his own WRMC show because of the home connection, but became a much bigger fan after the release of Acid Rap.
“His jazz harmonies and electronic beats made a really interesting combination that I had never heard before,” Brennan said. “I didn't know what to think of his squawkish noises at first, but I realized it was a part of his playful nature as a musician. I think Chance makes music that is ultimately true to himself and more importantly true to the environment in which he surrounds himself in Chicago.”
Brennan was not the only student impressed by Chance’s distinctive sound. Adam Benay ’13.5 is a huge fan of Chance, listening to Acid Rap every day this past summer.
“I was getting so into him,” Benay said. “I heard a rumor the first or second day of school that he would be coming, and I was thrilled. Kid Cudi came my first semester and this was a nice capstone.”
When MCAB announced Chance the Rapper as the fall concert, needless to say, many people on campus were extremely excited. In an all-student email on Sep. 23, MCAB revealed the Nov. 2 concert date, announcing “Tickets on sale soon,” and directing people to look to Twitter and Facebook for more information. MCAB decided to advertise the event solely through their Facebook page and on the Middlebury Box office website, leaving many students without tickets. Late in the day on Oct. 14, the campus buzzed with news that the tickets to the concert had sold out, leaving many scrambling and willing to pay well above the $12 ticket charge to obtain a highly sought after ticket.
Fouhey explained that the organization decided how to advertise the event at MCAB executive board meetings, brainstorming for electronic advertising alternatives to the all-student email, which has in recent years experienced a push for limited use.
“MCAB made an online status which was shared by dozens of students on MCAB in the hopes that it would reach all corners of campus,” Fouhey said. “We thought that with the excitement on campus and word of mouth, the ticket release information would spread throughout the student body. Our standard procedure is to release the tickets and then do an advertising push once they have been put on sale.”
Benay, who had not ‘liked’ MCAB on Facebook, was one of the students shocked to discover that he had missed his opportunity to purchase a ticket.
“There was a huge portion of people who fell through the cracks,” Benay said. “I found person after person who said ‘What are you talking about? When did the tickets go on sale?’”
Due to uncertainties regarding the Memorial Field House construction, MCAB booked the concert in the McCullough Social Space, which only allowed for 600 tickets to be sold. In addition, the event was limited to students only and each ID holder could only purchase two tickets.
Many students may not be aware of the multi-step process involved in bringing an artist to Middlebury, including the important role of a middle agent to assist in communicating with MCAB which artists fit the desired genre, dates and price range. According to Associate Dean of Students JJ Boggs, bringing a desirable artist to rural Vermont for the right price is no easy task, and the MCAB committee decides which of the suggested acts fits the College.
“[MCAB has] a challenging job, and they have been criticized in the past for hosting unpopular shows,” Boggs said. “They are simultaneously trying to meet student interest, manage their budget responsibly, offer a variety of programming, and at the same time, consider ‘what might the social ramifications be for Middlebury College?’”
The problem with MCAB’s marketing strategy, according to many students, is that not every student is on Facebook, and even those who are may not check their accounts on a regular basis. At the time of the sale, MCAB had a little over 1,100 followers in a student body of 2,500, many of which were alumni. The organization had previously used posters and emails to advertise concerts and many criticized the decision to publicize through social media accounts that students had to join and actively use to be notified.
Fouhey acknowledged that the ticket release issue is a learning experience for MCAB and that the organization never meant to cause the dissatisfaction resulting from the social media marketing idea.
“We understand the frustrations of students about ticket sales,” she said. “It was never our intention to limit or restrict who would know about the ticket release information. We fully acknowledge that we could have done a better job navigating this ticket release. We will certainly learn from this mistake, and in the future we will look to broader methods of communication.”
Boggs reacted to an impassioned letter from Benay, first published on middbeat, and other general student concerns over the way the ticket sales were handled, quickly taking action. On Friday, Oct. 25, Boggs sent out an all-student email announcing that the College was able to secure Nelson Arena, and that more tickets would be made available for purchase soon due to the larger venue. The move to Nelson was motivated by safety concerns, as administrators realized that McCullough did not have the capacity for the crowd or the extensive set and entourage that travels with Chance.
“The real hero of this story is JJ Boggs,” said Benay, pleased with this outcome. “People are reasonable here and it’s very reassuring to know that things can get done.”
Lyric Controversy
In the email, Boggs also referenced student concerns expressed over the perceived misogynistic and homophobic language in Chance the Rapper’s lyrics. But for students like Luke Carroll Brown ’14, Co-Chair of the Community Council, limiting the lyrics and song choice was not enough.
“I think we can all agree that violent homophobia and misogyny are clearly out of bounds and have no place on this campus,” Brown said. “Multiple songs on Acid Rap depict actions that are in clear violation of our community standards, a reality that should prohibit Chance's presence on campus. This performance is especially upsetting in light of the recent hate-letter that managed to combine homophobia with the threat of rape against a student at this college; at a time in which our community should be finding ways of making maligned groups feel safer, we instead chose to hire an unabashedly homophobic singer to perform a concert.”
“The Concert Committee co-chairs and I were completely unaware of the content in question when we booked Chance,” Fouhey said. “The concerns over some of the lyrics were brought to our attention last Monday, Oct. 22. I do sincerely apologize. We never intended to hurt anyone.”
Besides Brown, the controversy has sparked a debate from a variety of other opinions about discussing homophobia on campus and applying community standards to artists visiting the College.
SGA President Rachel Liddell ‘15 said that Chance’s content is disrespectful and offensive to many students on campus, but worries that talk about completely canceling the concert would have crossed a line from concern to censorship.
“I find the content offensive, yet I respect the right of others to tell me things with which I don't agree,” Liddell said. “I don’t want people to be censored. I think that saying ‘bringing Chance to campus condones homophobia’ is an overstatement.”
Liddell further explained that if the concert had been canceled, Middlebury still would have been obligated to pay Chance for a show that never happened. She also believes that the debate resulting from the controversy is a positive outcome, asserting that, “the concert will spark the conversations people wanted to have.”
Boggs added that a complicated conversation took place when considering what to do about the concert.
“Right now we don’t have criteria for evaluating these kinds of decisions. Our struggle was to figure out how to be compassionate and effective allies amid all the complexity in a short period of time. We have a lot to learn from this situation, and we need to figure this out together,” Boggs said.
Collado personally spoke with Chance’s management, requesting that the artist leave homophobic lyrics out of his performance.
“[Chance] is aware of our concerns and our plans for an engaging and honest community forum,” wrote Collado in an email. “[Chance’s manager] said he understood and respected our request and that he was looking forward to being on campus and performing for us.”
Cailey Cron ’14 appreciated the censorship of the lyric, but feels that the controversy should be channeled to discuss a larger campus issue.
“If a lyric is missing, it’s not going to matter unless we seize the opportunity to have a conversation about homophobia on this campus,” Cron said. “Chance will come on Saturday and then on Sunday he will leave. This is not about Chance the Rapper. What we need to fight is blissful ignorance. Chances to address homophobia have come up twice in the past few weeks, and as a campus we need to talk. I’d like to see the administration take a strong, public stand against homophobia. I’m at a loss as to why that’s controversial.”
Benay disagrees with the idea of canceling the concert.
“Of all rappers, Chance’s stuff is way more about drugs and how hopeful he is about his future, and he has lyrics about anti-violence.”
While Benay disagrees with Chance’s use of the word ‘faggot’, he thinks that the compromise between Chance and Collado is reasonable.
“It sort of bums me out that he uses that word, but the idea that he would not come just because of that is sad especially because MCAB hit it out of the park in terms of choosing an act this time.”
To address this issue, Boggs announced that at 7 p.m. on Monday, November 4 in Axinn 229, Student Activities and MCAB will be hosting an open forum to discuss how decisions are made about all kinds of possibly offensive art forms at the College. The forum aims to allow candid conversation about the application of community standards to artistic expression and how they should affect choices about who is invited to campus. MCAB also hopes that this conversation will help to better inform the student group’s decision making in the future.
Forum
Cron does not think that the controversy should revolve around two groups of students pulled to join one extreme opinion or the other. “We’ve created a false choice between having performers violate community standards and censoring all dissenting opinion,” Cron said. “I hope we can use the concept as an entry point to a far more important conversation that has to do with us as a community and the relationship between the student body and administration. It is a hard conversation to approach if the administration hasn’t publicly stated its commitment to protecting and welcoming the queer community and concerns.”
Boggs has high expectations regarding the potential impact of the forum.
“I hope that while we wrestle with these issues, we can commit to listening carefully, act in ways that foster inclusivity, and bridge the divide that’s happening right now,” she said. “Knowing that this is just an initial conversation, I’m hopeful we can both show support for students who feel marginalized and influence MCAB’s work in positive ways.”
[CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article, as well as that in print, stated that "the administration asked Chance not to sing Favorite Song." This was incorrect; they asked Chance not to sing the lyric “slap-happy faggot slapper” or use any homophobic terms during his entire performance. ]
(10/16/13 6:07pm)
The Middlebury men’s team stopped a two game slide this weekend with convincing victories over Trinity on Saturday, Oct. 12 and Hamilton on Sunday, Oct. 13 at home during Fall Family Weekend. The crowd full of friends and family witnessed what could be a turning point in the Panthers season.
On Saturday, the Panthers (5-3-1, 4-3-1) outmuscled the Trinity Bantams (7-2-2, 3-2-2) in a 3-1 victory. Coach Dave Saward credited the Panthers’ physicality for the victory.
“Our physical presence was a challenge for Trinity,” Saward said. “The strength of the Trinity team is that they have a very dynamic front six that attack from all angles, thus it was important that we worked hard to deny service from their mid-field up to their strikers.”
The Panthers’ back line played well despite some nagging injuries to Deklan Robinson ’16 and Graham Knisley ’14 in the center. The Bantams only mustered five shots all game, and just three on net. Including Sunday’s game, the Panthers have been outshot only once this season, in the season opening overtime defeat at Amherst.
Middlebury’s first goal started at the back when Robinson fed the ball down the right side to Tom Bean ’17 who quickly led a streaking Adam Glaser ’17 with a nice pass.
“Glaser had a step on the Trinity defender and from such an advantage he rarely relinquishes the lead,” Saward said. “This proved to be the case as he rushed clear of the Bantam back line and calmly chipped the ball over the desperate dive of the goalkeeper.”
Only six minutes later, Robinson claimed some glory of his own. After Trinity failed to clear a corner kick effectively, Harper Williams ’15 played the ball toward the back post where Robinson finished with an emphatic header.
Trinity then got one back at the 38:34 mark, when a long clearance found a sprinting Trinity winger behind the Middlebury back line. Trinity player Fernando Torello slid the ball past keeper Ethan Collins ’14 to equalize within one at halftime.
Not to be outdone, Glaser’s hard work earned him a second goal on the day. Glaser chased down the Trinity defender and caused some confusion between him and the Bantam keeper. Glaser stole the ball, turned and shot in one motion for the goal.
Glaser now leads the team with five goals on the season and 11 points.
“Even though Glaser is a freshman, he is a mature and skilled player on the ball who always seems to be in the right place and can create space between defenders to quickly shoot the ball,” teammate Tyler Bonini ’16 said.
On Sunday, the Panthers looked to sweep the weekend against the visiting Hamilton Continentals (2-5-3, 1-3-3). Middlebury took an early lead in the 12th minute when Sam Peisch ’14.5 cleaned up a rebound off of Noah Goss-Wolliner’s ’15 blocked shot for his first goal of the season.
For the remainder of the first half the Panthers controlled possession, but it did not come easily. Around 15 minutes in, Knisley hit the turf twice while defending Hamilton’s attacks. Moments later, Philip Skayne ’17 leapt for a header and went end over end when a Hamilton player took out his legs. With three minutes remaining in the half, Bonini played a set piece into the box that Bean was nearly able to finish but for some contact, leaving Bean with his hands in the air and staring at the official.
Middlebury had a handful of close scoring chances in the second half. In the 67th minute a long set piece resulted in the ball being redirected and glancing off the outside of the post. The Panthers produced a flurry of attacks in the final 15 minutes of the half. In the 79th minute Williams’ corner was snagged by the leaping Hamilton keeper. Middlebury recovered the ball quickly and mounted a counter attack led by Bonini. Streaking down the right side, Bonini cut back nicely and tried to finish with the left foot but was denied by a diving save.
The Panthers were still not done. Off of a long throw Bean had a decent look at the net, but was unable to get a shot off and the ball was cleared from danger.
Hamilton continued to throw its weight around in the second half, but to no avail. In the 61st minute Collins made an easy catch off of a free kick and took what was clearly a deliberate shoulder from Hamilton’s Buck Reynolds.
Hamilton’s best scoring chance came with 22 minutes remaining in the game. John McGuinnis crossed a beautiful ball Daniel Kraynak, who desperately laid out for the ball. Kraynak beat Collins but went wide of the net.
Middlebury tried to put the game away in the 78th minute. A Hamilton defender took down Robinson outside the 18 resulting in a free kick. Off the set piece, Williams found the back of the net with a header, but was called for a foul, negating the goal.
With just two minutes remaining a shoving match halted play when Hamilton’s keeper slid to take out Glaser as his shot went high over the net. Some Hamilton defenders took offense to Glaser’s aggressive run, enough so that one shoved Glaser to the ground as he tried to get up. Officials put a stop to the confusion, and Middlebury iced the game less than a minute later when Glaser crossed it low to Skayne for the goal.
Saward took some positives from last week’s loss at Tufts and believed that if the team brought the same level of commitment to the weekend they would have success.
“From my perspective, the team did all of that and more,” Saward said. “They were rewarded for their hard work and positive attitude with two very good wins and 6 points. Now we need to sustain our effort for every minute of every game left and we shall see where that takes us. Nothing is guaranteed.”
Middlebury rose to second in the NESCAC over the weekend, though still a distant second to table-setting Amherst. They will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 19 at Bates.
(10/09/13 11:02pm)
Middlebury (8-2) stomached a 4-2 loss to last year’s national champion Tufts Jumbos (7-1) on Saturday, Oct. 5 but recovered to celebrate a 5-0 win against M.I.T. on Sunday Oct. 6.
The team covered many miles, both literally and figuratively. The trip to Boston and back was a long one, during which the team learned a great deal about how to motivate and prepare for their four remaining regular-season games. Although the Tufts game frustrated and embarrassed the Panthers, Sunday’s complete performance absolved their blunders and razzed the team with rediscovered confidence. Anna Kenyon ’16 returned strongly to action after knee surgery while Bridget Instrum ’16 and Katherine Theiss ’14 also energized the Panthers with flashes of exceptional field hockey.
Middlebury opened with a less than bouncy start on the rubbery field turf of Tufts on Saturday. The small flecks of recycled tire beneath the artificial grass slowed the pace, to the Panthers’ dismay, and handcuffed their skillful passing style of play against the more physical Jumbos.
Tufts pounded into Middlebury’s zone early to earn a penalty stroke, but goaltender Emily Knapp ’15 dove to her left to keep the game scoreless. No defensive heroics could ignite the offense, and the first half ended 1-0 for Tufts with just three shots for Middlebury.
“We did not step off the bus ready to play. We started with pretty low energy,” said offensive force Catherine Fowler ’15.
Fowler helped to rally the team briefly in the second half by dishing to Theiss for a goal. However, Tufts would respond immediately to score three goals in twelve minutes, one goal coming far too easily on an inexplicable defensive lapse on a Tufts corner play. In the last seven minutes, the four Middlebury forwards finally tapped into the fight, earning a corner for Pam Schulman ’17 to smack home, but Tufts clamped the potential comeback into just a final whimper.
“I prefer to lose now in the regular season than in the postseason because it gives us a chance to learn,” Fowler said.
Last years team went all regular season without losing, and the first loss against Depauw in the NCAA Regional caught them by lethal surprise.
After the game on Saturday, the team joined heads for 30 minutes to discuss the loss, during which they all agreed that the team’s preparation was lackluster.
“We need to play for the full seventy minutes,” said Kenyon, referring to the sluggish start on Saturday. “Also, we spoke about the difference between deciding to win rather than assuming we are going to.”
On Sunday, Middlebury returned to form by deciding to demolish an unsuspecting M.I.T. team. Theiss redirected a long drive from Fowler in the 13th minute that jumped above the M.I.T. goalie and propelled Middlebury to a hot start. Unlike other teams that have packed in defensively against Middlebury, M.I.T. left enough space for the Panthers to score some pretty goals on the run rather than hitting shins or feet and needing to score on corner plays.
Instrum brought Middlebury ahead 2-0 before the second half by gutsily stealing the ball near the midfield line and weaving through a slew of defenders between her and the M.I.T. goal line before fooling the keeper. Schulman and Fowler coordinated a surge of scoring just after halftime, scoring two goals in under one minute to push the Panthers to a four goal lead. For the last word, Lauren Berestecky ’17 received a pass from Ellie O’Brien ’14 and scooped a nifty backhander into the corner for her fourth tally of the season.
The bus ride back from M.I.T. bore little resemblance to the scene a day earlier, the players and even head coach Katharine DeLorenzo taking turns at the bus microphone for karaoke. Fittingly, the coach gave a rendition of Marvin Gaye’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” allegorically describing the highs and lows of Middlebury’s season so far.
The Panthers happily return to their native turf next weekend to play Trinity on Saturday, Oct. 12 and Hamilton on Sunday, Oct. 13, the last two home games of the regular season.
(10/02/13 5:31pm)
Competing in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional Championships, the men’s and women’s tennis teams faced some of the best players in New England from Friday, Sept. 27 to Sunday, Sept. 29. While the weekend had no bearing on the team’s standing, many Panthers rose to the challenge in the individual competition.
The men’s tennis team hosted the New England Region ITA Tournament, and fielded multiple Panther entrants in both the singles and doubles tournaments. In singles play, Alex Johnston ’13, Brantner Jones ’13, Jackson Frons ’16 and Palmer Campbell ’16 all were able to win multiple match-ups.
Of particular mention was Campbell, who advanced to the tournament’s semi-final. Campbell and Williams’ Conrad Harron squared off in a battle that lasted over two hours. Campbell easily took the first set on the strength of strong play at the net, (6-1), preceding a grueling second set. The war of attrition continued, with neither Campbell nor Harron content to give up a point, until Harron finally took the set (7-5), before winning the3rd and final set (6-2).
Campbell, the last remaining Middlebury athlete in the singles tournament, rebounded in doubles play with partner Jones. The duo meshed well, playing in lockstep with one another. Easily beating their initial opposition, Jones and Campbell advanced to the final of the tournament where they met Ben Fife and Joey Fritz of Amherst College. In yet another marathon matchup for Campbell, the Middlebury pair split the first two sets with their opponents before falling 10-7 in the tiebreaker to end their day.
“Palmer played very well throughout the weekend and was the only player to be in the semi-finals of both singles and doubles,” head coach Bob Hansen said. “He and Brantner will represent our region at the ITA Small College Championships on Oct. 10-12 and have a chance to compete for the Div lll National Small College doubles title.”
The women’s team, also competing in the ITA tournament, traveled to Williams College.
Ria Gerger ’16, played a strong tournament, picking up multiple wins with ease. She breezed past her first three opponents (6-1, 6-1), (6-2, 6-1) and a dominant (6-3, 6-0) in the round of 16, before falling in the quarterfinals.
Gerger also advanced far in the doubles tournament with teammate Sadie Shackelford ’16. The sophomores rolled to two early wins in the tournament, besting their opposition (8-1) and (8-2) before losing to the entrants from Williams in the quarterfinals.
“This was our first tournament together as a doubles team, but we definitely worked well together and got to play several NESCAC teams that we’ll see in the regular season, which was a helpful preview for the future,” Shackelford said.
As the major tournament for the Panthers in the fall season, the ITA has set an impressive precedent after facing some of the best competition they will see this year. The men return to action in the Brown Hidden Dual tournament on Saturday, Oct. 5 and Sunday, Oct. 6, while the women will travel to Mount Holyoke to take part in the Newitt tournament on Friday, Oct. 18.
(09/12/13 1:11am)
Cross Country
Both the men’s and women’s team claimed second place at NESCACs last year, as well as first and third place for men’s and women’s respectively at the NCAA regional. Men finished eighth at the NCAA championships while the women finished 11th.
Both squads begin their competitive seasons at the Aldrich Invitational hosted by Williams on Saturday, Sept. 14.
After losing All-Americans Addie Tousley ’13 and Jack Davies ’13, two of the most successful runners in program history, Coach Nicole Wilkerson will be looking for returners and first-years alike to step up and fill the gap.
“Right now our greatest weakness is that we do not have a frontrunner, as we have in years past,” captain Sam Craft ’14 said. “Our strength, however, is that our top runners are already running as a tight pack. Our team as a whole is very deep and if we can continue to run as a pack, that will more than make up for our lack of a clear frontrunner.”
NCAA competitors Katie Carlson ’15, Alison Maxwell ’15, Sarah Guth ’15 and Summer Spillane ’15 return for the women while Greg Krathwohl ’14, Nate Sans ’14, Wilder Schaaf ’14 and Sebastian Matt ’16 bring experience to the men’s team.
Under strong leadership from Regional Coach of the Year Nicole Wilkerson, a relatively young team with nine first-year runners looks to emulate its success from 2012.
“As a team, we want to finish at the top of the NESCAC and the New England. We also want to improve on our finish at NCAAs last year,” Craft said.
Field Hockey
It took a goal 75:40 into an overtime loss at the hands of Depauw in the NCAA Regional game at Middlebury to end the 2012 field hockey team’s perfect season. The then number one-ranked Panthers ended with an 18-1 record overall, including a 3-2 shootout win in the NESCAC championship against Bowdoin.
In other words, this year’s Panthers have some big shoes to fill.
Despite losing only four seniors, the team lost some significant contributors. Most notably, starting goalie Madeline Brooks ’13 and leading-scorer Lauren Greer ’13 graduated after successful seasons. Greer in particular led an outstanding campaign, landing All-American honors and being named National Player of the Year.
“[As the] first girl on the top of the formation, she was a true role model for everyone who came after her,” said Mary Claire Eccelsine ’16. “Her absence has been a popular topic of discussion amongst our team simply because we have to develop a new plan to score the goals that Lauren tallied up last year.”
In order to make up for Greer’s 90 points, the Panthers will rely on Katie Theiss ’14 up front and Ellie O’Brien ’14 and Cat Fowler ‘15 in the midfield.
“[O’Brien and Fowler] are the two rocks of our team,” said Eccelsine. “They are both incredibly talented field hockey players and have game sense like I have never seen before.”
Looking ahead to this season, the Panthers have their sights set on the Bowdoin matchup, set for Saturday, Sept. 21.
“We are really excited to keep the tradition alive this season with an undefeated regular season, a NESCAC championship and of course a NCAA win,” said Eccelsine.
Football
Having graduated a number of playmakers on both sides of the line of scrimmage after a 7-1, NESCAC-runner-up 2012 season, the football team enters the 2013 season with a number of holes to fill. That list does not include quarterback, however, as senior captain McCallum Foote ’14 returns for his final season, a year removed from setting virtually every single-season Middlebury passing record. While Foote’s 2012 season was superlative, only one of his top five pass catchers returns in 2013.
Three members of his conference-best offensive line from 2012 also graduated, including First Team All-NESCAC tackle Ryan Moores ’13. The offensive line will be a position to watch this season, bolstered by the tutelage of offensive line coach and 2012 American Football Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year Joe Early.
On the outside, meanwhile, wide receivers Brendan Rankowitz ’14 and Matthew Minno ’16 figure to see the majority of Foote’s targets.
“Our offense won’t change much from last year, but where we distribute the ball might change a little bit ... we’ll spread things out a little bit more,” Foote said.
Defensively, Doug Mandigo enters his third season as the defensive coordinator with a unit that made a marked improvement last season, jumping from the conference’s worst scoring defense in 2011 to the third best mark in 2012.
Tim Patricia ’16 is the leader in the middle, returning for his sophomore campaign after totaling the second most tackles in the conference en route to being named Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2012. The Panthers defense features a pair of experienced safeties in Jared Onouye ’14 and Matthew Benedict ’16, who will need to shore up a secondary that will feature a pair of unproven cornerbacks.
On special teams, Mike Dola ’15 returns to handle punting and kicking duties. The Panthers open the season Sept. 21 at Bowdoin.
Golf
The Middlebury men’s and women’s golf team look to build on a strong spring season after promising season openers for both teams. The men look to improve on a third place finish at NESCACs while the women hope they can better their 14 place finish at NCAAs. Both the women’s and men’s best competition will likely come from Williams, as both teams return with strong sides this year.
As well as a strong returning team, the men welcome three first-years in Fitzgerald Bowen ’17, Jacob Dana ’17, and Matt Marra ’17 hoping to make their mark on the program. Last year’s top finishers for the men include Max Alley ’14, Chris Atwood ’14, Rob Donahoe ’14, Eric Laorr ’15, and John Louie ’15.
“We’ve all been playing competitively through the summer so it just takes getting back into the right mindset here at school with the team to play well and win tournament,” Alley said.
The men began their season with a win at the Bowdoin Invitational Tournament on Saturday Sept. 7 and Sunday Sept. 8. The women also began their season this past weekend with a third place finish at the St. Lawrence Invitational.
While the women only welcome one new face, first-year Theodora Yoch ’17, captain Caroline Kenter is still optimistic about her team’s chances and teamwork.
“We lost a great player and a great friend when Keely Levins ’13 graduated in May,” Kenter said. “Since we have such a small team, it’s really important that we’re friends first and teammates second. We’re really excited about Yoch joining us this week and we’re sure she’ll bring a lot to the team.”
Men's Soccer
The Middlebury men’s soccer team looks to improve on last year’s 6-7-1 record despite losing its top goal scorer in Alvand Hajizadeh ’13 and starting goalkeeper Zach Abdu-Glass ’13, amongst a total of 12 departing seniors.
A rash of season-ending injuries and bad luck worked against the Panthers last year, notably Sam Redmond ’15 and Jon Portman ’13. With a few good bounces and good health this year’s squad could surprise the NESCAC.
Senior Ethan Collins ’14 did enough to earn the starting job in net during the preseason.
“He’s worked hard and earned his stripes,” said head coach David Saward.
A handful of first-years also are looking to make an impact this season.
“They better do well,” said Saward. “They’re a very savvy soccer group, and they’re going to get chances to play.”
Adam Batista ’14, Harper Williams ’15, Noah Goss-Woliner ’15, Sam Peisch ’13.5, Graham Knisley ’14 and Deklan Robinson ’16 look to build on strong seasons last year to carry the Panthers squad.
Williams was second on the 2012 team in scoring, while Batista started nine games but was bit by the injury bug. Goss-Woliner started 13 games last year and Saward calls him “Mr. Steady.” Peisch also started 11 games a year ago. Knisley started every game last season, and Robinson led all first-years last year with eight starts.
Saward hopes that a team effort will replace the scoring lost with the departure of top-scorer Hajlzadeh.
“Batista, Peisch, Williams are a pack of midfield players that have got to come up with some goals,” said Saward. “Tyler Smith ’14 moves to forward from his more comfortable position of center back to assist in the offensive attack. First-year Adam Glazer ’17 has the ability to score goals as well. [Glazer] shows a real natural instinct to go to goal … and he can finish,” says Saward.
Women's Soccer
The Middlebury women’s soccer team hopes that its opening loss to Amherst is not an indicator of the season to come, and looks to build on last season when the Panthers went nine games without a loss to begin the year and finished 13-3-1, reaching the NESCAC Quarterfinals and earning an NCAA Regionals berth.
After losing a talented senior class, 11 first-years come in to the team looking to re-enforce the midfield as well as add more goal-scoring opportunities to the side that scored 1.65 goals per game last year. Coach Peter Kim believes that his team is well-balanced and has experience in the most important places.
While the new faces on the team will prove to be valuable in later games, Kim presently sees inexperience as an obstacle.
“We’re young and have to integrate into one team,” said Kim. “We have many players who have never played against NESCAC competition.”
The team is led by veterans Lindsay Kingston ’14, Moria Sloan ’15, and Julia Favorito ’14, who bring composure and experience to a young team. Top scorer Scarlett Kirk ’14 is also looking to add more goals to her name, while Elizabeth Foody ’14 provides steady hands in goal after claiming nine clean sheets last season. Kim hopes that strong upper-class leadership will be a key to his team’s success.
While winning NESCACs is the ultimate goal, Kim has a set of more fundamental expectations for his team.
“We want to play the beautiful game which is difficult to do with new faces, so our first goal is getting up to speed so we’re playing our own style,” Kim said. “We have diligent, hardworking, and intelligent players so we can definitely get there.”
Tennis
The Middlebury men’s tennis team is poised to replicate last year’s winning season with many of its core contributors returning.Last year’s campaign, resulting in a 20-5 team record as well as an NCAA quarterfinal loss to top ranked Claremont, was indisputably a triumph for the Panthers, who seek to build upon a solid foundation. With no incoming first-years, the team is dependent on upperclassmen leadership. Key returnees include Alex Johnston ’14 atfirst singles, as well as Andrew Lebovitz ’14, who teamed up with Johnston in the NCAA doubles tournament. Play for the Middlebury men’s tennis team resumes Sept. 14 with the Middlebury Invitational. The truncated fall season will provide valuable experience for younger players on the team before the championship season begins in the spring.
“The fall is a critical developmental time for the team to make tactical and technical improvements and adjustments,” said men’s head coach Bob Hansen.
The Middlebury women’s tennis team also seeks to duplicate a successful season, which also saw them exit in the NCAA team quarterfinals to fourth-ranked Emory. The women’s team, reaching a ranking ofeighth nationally with a 13-7 record, also sent multiple team members to the NCAA singles championships. However, their success this season will rely more on younger members of the program following several key departures from the team, including Lok Sze Leung, the team’s top player and NCAA Divison III singles champion, who transferred to Northwestern and the graduation of the All-American Doubles pairing of Brittany Faber ’13 and Leah Kepping ’13. In 2013-14 the team will look to underclassmen Ria Gerger ’16 and Margot Marchese ’16 to continue their impressive progression as players as well as a talented first-year class.
“The freshmen are certainly a great class of players, but they been fantastic team players and that is what has been most impressive,” said women’s head coach Mike Morgan.
Volleyball
After a successful preseason, the women’s volleyball team looks to jump off a NESCAC Championship as they begin competition this Friday, Sept. 13 and Saturday, Sept. 14 at the Johnson & Wales tournament.
Their first NESCAC match up will be the following Saturday, Sept. 21 against Colby at home. While another NESCAC championship and a long run in the NCAA tournament are the teams season goals, tri-captain Meg Anderson ’14 sees a short-term goal as beating long-term NESCAC rivals in regular season games.
“We are definitely hoping to repeat our NESCAC championship and to win NCAA regionals. On the way to reaching those goals, we hope to take down some of our league rivals,” said Anderson. “I think we could easily achieve our goals given the level of play I’ve seen in our first two weeks of practices.”
While the women lost six players last year, the addition of four promising first years and the return of several star players have the team’s captains hopeful for the impending season.
“We graduated some good players, but we have many strong returners and first years,” said Anderson. “Overall, the team looks really strong and has great team chemistry that will no doubt help us have an amazing season.”
The team finished last season 23-7, earning their fourth NESCAC Championship, with a 3-0 win over Connecticut College. Their season came to an end in the NCAA regional tournament with a 3-1 loss to third-ranked Clarkson, dashing the team’s hopes of a NCAA Championship. Clarkson went on to the quarterfinals of the tournament, losing to St. Thomas, the team who went on to win the National Championship.
(09/12/13 12:40am)
Middlebury has always exposed students to a unique mixture of the arts, boasting world class performances and exhibitions alongside inspired faculty and student artists, but this fall, the arts at Middlebury promise to be particularly exciting. Featuring options from every genre of the arts, this semester’s line-up showcases strengths in contemporary art, international works, and an impressive array of chamber music.
Already open to viewers, the Middlebury College Museum of Art’s fall exhibition, Vito Acconci: Thinking Space, celebrates the 30th anniversary of the artists’ winter residency at Middlebury and his 1983 premiere permanent exhibition Way Station I (Study Chamber). Acconci’s career has included a wide array of media including performance, visual art and international design of public places. A reconstruction of his ’83 work, Study Chamber, is available for viewing adjacent to the Mahaney Center for the Arts Pond. Acconci himself will give a public talk on Nov 7. Also at the museum from Sept 13 until Dec 8 is Screened and Selected II: Contemporary Photography and Video Acquisitions, 2006–2011. The museum is free of admission for all students.
Kicking off the season with a dynamic start on Sept 20 and 21, the Living Word Project will perform Word Becomes Flesh, a thrilling event of urban hip-hop theater written by American playwright and national poetry slam champion Marc Bamuthi Joseph. The show is described by the author as a “choreo-poem,” depicting letters from a young single father to his unborn son through performance. The cast of five poet performers and a live DJ will be in residence from September 16-22, teaching master classes to students and community members and hosting a Verbal Onslaught night at 51 Main in preparation for their two shows. Mahaney Center for the Arts Director Liza Sacheli describes the show as fusing “tender stories, playful wit—and at times, purposeful rage—to give voice to the complexities and contradictions surrounding race, gender, and parenthood in America.” Sacheli also enthused about the performers impressive credentials, noting, “Students might recognize them from HBO’s Def Poetry Jam and Brave New Voices.” Both performances will feature opening acts by student spoken-word artists and a post-performance discussion.
Hyphen, a contemporary dance company led by dance faculty member Catherine Cabeen, will grace the Middlebury stage for the first time for two public performances on Oct 11 and 12. The performances will explore the relationship between music, language, and emotion as manifested in the dancing body, and Cabeen will be giving a lecture and demonstration about the work on Oct 9. Tickets are on sale now to the Middlebury community and on Sept 16 to the general public.
The Middlebury Department of Music presents a diverse selection of choices this fall, starting with two solo concerts by faculty Affiliate Artists Eric Despard on Sept 21 and Dayve Huckett on Oct 4, both on guitar. Anne Janson will present an evening of flute on Oct 5, and on Nov 2 many Affiliate Artists will come together for a collaborative concert. The Performing Arts Series presents accomplished British pianist Imogen Cooper on Oct 10 and the rising British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor on Oct 29. Grosvenor is especially impressive because he is only 20 years old, yet has already proven himself an international force on the music scene. He was selected as Gramophone magazine’s 2012 Young Artist of the Year and as one of BBC Radio 3‘s New Generation Artists in 2010. The Jupiter String Quartet will present a free concert on Nov 23, a powerful addition to the lineup of world class classical musicians.
Despite the abundance of excellent guest artists, the Middlebury arts calendar still offers plenty of room for student groups. The Middlebury College Orchestra will host a Halloween themed concert on Oct 31 (costumes welcome), and the College Choir will perform American works and feature Middlebury composers on Nov 17, all while preparing for their upcoming Germany tour this summer. The Middlebury College-Community Chorus will perform their annual Thanksgiving concert on Nov 24, and the African Music and Dance Ensemble will delight audiences with a kick of culture on Nov 19. A few days later on Nov 22, the Sound Investment Jazz Ensemble will show off their impressive sound with their fall concert. These student events are all free to the public and serve as an excellent way to support fellow students and the arts.
On Oct 14, south Indian classical dancer Sasikala Penumarthi will grace the concert stage for a performance with her students from the Atlanta, Georgia Academy of Kuchipudi Dance, giving the Middlebury community a free, unique look into an international dance form.
In addition to guest artists, the 2013-2014 Dance Company of Middlebury will be working hard this fall in preparation for the premiere of an original work, The Meaning of the Masks, in the spring, and the community will have an opportunity to witness the culmination of four years of work in dance when two students, Adeline Cleveland ’13.5 and Amy Donahue ’13.5, perform contemporary dance incorporating gender dynamics, contemplative practices, and multimedia expression on Dec 5 and 6.
This semester, the Theater Department is presenting two exciting plays directed by faculty and featuring student actors, starting Oct 31 and running until Nov 2 with controversial British playwright Caryl Churchill’s Vinegar Tom, an unsettling play about hanging witches directed by Cheryl Farone. The next month, Richard Romagnoli will offer his interpretation of Pentacost, a historical and political epic by David Edgar, whose title is a New Testament reference to the multiplicity of languages.
Students should not forget about the Hirschfield International Film Series, which presents free foreign and independent films on Saturdays at 3 and 8 p.m. Included this fall are a bold 2011 British adaptation of the Emily Bronte novel Wuthering Heights on September 13, the Oscar-winning French film Amour, discussing love in old age on November 9th, and the story of 1970’s American musician Sixto Rodriguez in Searching for Sugar Man on November 16.
There are simply too many events to describe this fall, and Mahaney Center Director Liza Sacheli wants students to know about a unique opportunity to see Performing Arts Series events.
“We offer every first-year student a free ticket to a Performing Arts Series event,” Sacheli said. “We hope that this ‘welcome gift’ will be a first introduction to the amazing performances they’ll experience during their four years at Middlebury. Upperclassmen aren’t totally left out, though—Performing Arts Series events are only $6 for Middlebury College students. If you went to hear the same artist in New York or Boston, you could pay hundreds of dollars for the same concert. Last spring a student said our concerts were ‘a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, for less than a Noonie’s sandwich.’” Students should also keep in mind that each Commons purchases a limited number of free tickets available to students for certain events.
There’s no excuse not to check out something new this fall. The arts at Middlebury are a wonderful way to take a break from academic stresses and be exposed to different cultures and ways of thinking, all while supporting fellow students and seeing the greatest artists in the world.
A full arts calendar with detailed event and ticket information can be picked up at the Mahaney Center for the Arts or online at go/arts. See you there!
(05/09/13 3:45pm)
Last Sunday, the Middlebury Film Society hosted a screening of “Syrup,” an edgy comedy set in the cut-throat world of advertising, based off of the best-selling novel of the same name by Max Barry. The film was produced in part by Middlebury alumni Aaron Becker ’10, Shane Mandes ’10 and Baird Kellogg ’10. Current student Hunter Nolan ’13 also worked on the film as an associate producer and assistant editor. After the screening, Kellogg, Mandes, Becker and Nolan all sat down for a Q&A with the audience.
With loud music blaring over the speakers of Dana Auditorium and with a veritable entourage of the college alumni who worked on the film and their friends, the premiere was quite the event. Arriving 10 minutes before the show started, I was stuck sitting in some of the front row seats as excited students had already packed the auditorium for the film.
The film stars Shiloh Fernandez as Scat, a business school graduate who thinks he has the next great marketing idea. After being betrayed by his friend ‘Sneaky Pete’ at the beginning of the film, Scat teams up with ‘6’, his new boss at the Addy drink company to work his way to the top through an industry he soon finds to be riddled with deception. At first, I thought the running gag of the characters giving themselves unique names was a bit gimmicky, but as the film progressed, it tied in well with a running theme of self-reinvention and our attempts at hiding behind a false image we create for the world.
“It’s a dramedy — a dramatic comedy,” Becker said. “[It’s] a society piece and a bit of a satire.”
The acting was solid throughout the film. Fitting with the off-and-on lack of seriousness in the film, each actor was able to pin down a different trope for his or her character. The sexy and mysterious business woman, the ‘always thinks his idea is the next big thing’ idealist, the silent but deadly archenemy — all of the characters seemed to want to be a cliché, while still managing to be interesting with a sense of depth.
My only real issue with the film was the pacing. After only the first half-hour or so of the film, two or three conflicts had been established and resolved. At one point, the story seemed to rush by at break-neck speed, only to slow down for another 20 minutes without plot development.
While there were a lot of interesting and plot-moving scenes, the transitions sometimes felt rushed and fragmented. That being said, the story as a whole did manage to hold my attention throughout and even kept me guessing at points. And, as well as being compelling, the story presented a less-than-cliché love story. In fact, love story is a bit of a misnomer in this case and I enjoyed seeing the romantic tension culminate in a way I didn’t predict.
The filming process began three summers ago. Kellogg, Mandes and Becker spent many weeks travelling the country, trying to juggle commitments from actors and producers in a difficult balance that proves that there’s a lot more involved in a movie than filming.
“A script had been circulating in Los Angeles as an earlier adaptation of the story written by the author of the book and we were able to buy the rights from him and completely readapt it,” Becker said at the Q&A.
According to the three involved, they aren’t using the term ‘readapted’ conservatively, as the film really only takes the name and basic idea from the novel. It becomes a new work in and of itself.
“It was great to have the author so heavily involved,” Mandes said. “He took the characters, ideas and themes from the book and made a whole new story.”
The enthusiasm on the part of all four involved was incredibly evident during the Q&A. The effort that went into this film was clear both from their stories and in the final product. And their effort certainly did not go to waste; the film was released on iTunes last Friday and by the end of the week it was already the second most downloaded independent film on the site.
“You get really anxious the day it is released because you don’t know how people will receive it,” Becker said, “so seeing people get so excited about the movie was my favorite part of the whole process.”
The final question of the Q&A, asked by Nolan himself, directed to the other more experienced filmmakers touched upon the goals that many students at the College have; to take something they are truly passionate about, create a product they are proud of and go somewhere with. “What are some stepping stones,” he asked, “in getting to where you are?”
“The first and most basic thing,” Mandes said, “is just doing it … if you get thrown into the fire, you’ll figure it out. If someone has an idea and there’s an opportunity, just go for it and make something.”
Looking ahead to the future, the three Middlebury alumni hope to keep up their momentum from “Syrup.” This summer they will be in Chicago shooting a political thriller about a cyber-terrorist attack on the United States.
“Syrup” is currently On Demand and available for download on iTunes and is set for a theatrical release on June 7.
(05/09/13 3:40am)
The Middlebury women’s lacrosse team fell short of the NESCAC championship in a nail-biting, overtime tournament final, falling to Trinity this past Sunday in Hartford, by a score of 8-7.
After a come-from-behind win against Colby on Saturday in the NESCAC semifinals, winning by a score of 11-10, the Panthers had to quickly recover and prepare for their matchup against Trinity, who prior to the game was ranked first in the nation.
The Panthers came out flat in the beginning of the first half, allowing five unanswered goals within the first 20 minutes of game play. Middlebury’s effort was jump-started after back-to-back goals from Emma Kramer ’13, both of which were assisted by Liza Herzog ’14. These goals were followed up with a goal from Katie Ritter ’15 off of a feed from Ellen Halle ’13 to make the score 5-3 at the end of the second half.
After a scoreless 10 minutes to start the second half, Middlebury’s Alice Pfeiffer ’13 found the net off a feed from Kramer. Pfeiffer’s goal was answered by a pair of Trinity goals to make the score 7-4 with 18 minutes to play.
The late-game Panther comeback was initiated by Halle with 13 minutes to go. Her goal was followed by a goal from Laurel Pascal ’16, and a game-tying goal with 4:30 left to play from Kramer off of a feed from Herzog.
The game then went to overtime and, after a missed shot by Trinity’s Hadley Duncan and a save from Trinity’s Olivia Whitney, Bantam Caroline Hayes was able to send one past goalkeeper Alyssa Palomba ’14 on a free position shot, scoring the winning goal with 1:37 left in the overtime period.
Herzog, who finished the day with four assists, led Middlebury’s effort along with Kramer who also finished with four points off of three goals and an assist. Halle added a goal and assist for the Panthers, while Pfeiffer, Katie Ritter and Pascal each added a goal of their own for the Panthers. Palomba , who played the entire game in net, finished with seven saves on 15 shots faced.
Kramer commented on the team’s performance against Trinity.
“It was a really tough loss because we played so hard and came so close but in the end it can only make us stronger,” she said. “After a slow start, we learned that we need to be able to put a full 60-minute game together.”
With the loss, the Panthers fall to 15-2 overall on the season, with both losses coming by one goal on the road at Trinity.
Despite falling to Trinity, Middlebury’s strong play throughout the season earned them an at-large bid for the upcoming NCAA tournament, as well as home-field advantage in the tournament’s regional round.
Kramer spoke about the team’s prospects in the national tournament.
“We are really excited to host the first round and hopefully regionals next weekend,” she said. “We also hope that we get another shot at Trinity.”
Given that Trinity is on the other side of the NCAA bracket, Middlebury will have to make it to the finals if the Panthers want another shot at defeating the Bantams.
The tournament begins Wednesday, May 8, when the Panthers matchup against in-state foe Castleton State at 5 p.m. on Kohn Field.
(05/09/13 3:38am)
With the clock showing double zeros and the final horn having sounded, members of both the Middlebury men’s lacrosse team and the visiting Wesleyan Cardinals celebrated on Middlebury’s Youngman Field. Just seconds previously Jon Broome ’16 — the NESCAC Rookie of the Year, and the conference’s leading goal-scorer — had maneuvered his way into the heart of Wesleyan’s stingy zone defense and, as time expired, unleashed a shot into the lower left-hand corner of the goal.
Pandemonium ensued — Broome and his teammates under the impression that the first-year phenom had tied the game with no time left, sending the NESCAC semifinals into overtime, Wesleyan players convinced that Broome’s shot hadn’t broken the plane of the goal before time expired. The moment of confusion ended up being just that — a moment — as the referees converged, waving off the goal that might have saved the Panthers’ season.
Instead, Middlebury lost in heartbreaking fashion in the NESCAC semifinals, 9-8 to fourth-seeded Wesleyan, denying the Panthers a spot in the NCAA tournament in the process.
“I don’t think losing on Saturday was a function of being too confident,” said Scott Redmond ’13. “Wesleyan was a really good team and they were able to control the tempo of the game. They played us to within one goal in the regular season, and this game came down to the wire as well. I do think we all expected to play better than we did because of how well we played a week before against Amherst.”
After scoring a NESCAC-tournament-record 19 goals in the quarterfinals the week before against Amherst, Middlebury again started the game on the offensive end, opening up an early lead against the NESCAC’s top defensive team. Darric White ’14 and Stew Kerr ’13 each notched first quarter goals while Broome tacked on two more to give the team a 4-1 lead after the opening 15 minutes.
Dave Campbell’s team extended its lead to four late in the second quarter as Andrew Metros ’13 and Eric Pfeffer ’13 scored back-to-back long-range goals to give Middlebury a 7-3 lead with 3:44 remaining in the first half. That’s where things began to fall apart for the NESCAC’s top seed, as the Cardinals drew back two goals before the halftime break. Then, with seconds remaining in the half, Middlebury’s John Duvnjak ’13 was called for an ill-timed slashing penalty, giving Wesleyan an extra man opportunity to start the second half and guaranteed the Cardinals possession of the ball, as well.
The Cardinals carried the momentum into the second half, capitalizing on the advantage to start the half, scoring just 17 seconds after the re-start. Then, 62 seconds later, Wesleyan tied the game as Graham Macnab scored the third of his game-high four goals. Middlebury retook the lead later in the quarter as Billy Chapman ’13 scored the team’s only second half goal on a perfectly-executed fast break. Chapman, a first-team All-NESCAC selection, collected a pass from Panther goaltender Nate Gaudio ’14, raced the length of the field and exchanged a give-and-go pass with Mike Giordano ’13 before releasing a close-range shot that left almost no reaction time for Cardinals’ goaltender JD Dieterich.
This time, however, the lead was short-lived for the hosts as Wesleyan found another equalizer shortly after to send the game into the fourth quarter tied at eight. Both teams were denied multiple goal-scoring opportunities early in the quarter by the woodwork, including a sequence of three straight Wesleyan shots in a single offensive possession that ricocheted off of different sections of the goal.
The game remained tied at eight until the final minute when Macnab scored the game’s final goal with 46 seconds remaining, lulling Panther defenders to sleep before rocketing a shot into the top corner.
Middlebury then scrambled off of a lost face-off to re-gain possession of the ball for the game’s final sequence. Campbell called a timeout with 13 seconds remaining to draw up the team’s final play. Middlebury waited too long to set up Broome’s final shot, however, killing valuable seconds that cost the team an opportunity to tie the game and, ultimately, return to the NCAA tournament.
Despite the truncated postseason, the team made great strides from a season ago when it finished 4-9 and failed to qualify for the NESCAC tournament. And while a number of talented seniors depart, Broome and Joel Blockowicz ’15 — two of the team’s six double-digit goal scorers return, along with a talented crop of juniors and underclassmen.
“I would urge the underclassmen to work even harder next offseason than we did this year, and not to get complacent because of the success we had this season,” said Redmond. “I think this team has a bright future. This first-year class is one of the most talented classes I’ve seen in my four years.”
DAMON HATHEWAY ALSO CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT
(05/09/13 3:31am)
After a convincing 5-1 victory over fifth-seeded Tufts on Friday, May 3, third-seeded Middlebury suffered a heartbreaking 4-5 loss against eventual champion Williams in an epic five-hour battle on Saturday, May 4 in the NESCAC semifinals.
The Panthers now sit at 18-4 on the season and are ranked 11th in the country in the latest poll. Despite the loss, the squad received an at-large bid to the NCAA championships.
In contrast to the regular season match when the Panthers squeezed out a tight 5-4 win, the Middlebury men did not give the Jumbos any breathers. The first and third double pairs cruised to quick victories while junior Brantner Jones ’14, first-year Jackson Frons ’16 and sophomore Courtney Mountifield ’15 carried the momentum and stormed to two-set wins.
The much-anticipated contest on Saturday between the two NESCAC powerhouses was arguably the best match that the Middlebury men have played thus far this season. The team showed themselves to be much improved from the 2-7 loss in the first meeting between the Panthers and the Ephs two weeks before.
With its upperclassmen-filled lineup, Williams has been tapped by many as one of the favorites in the NCAA field this year.
On Saturday morning at Amherst, the Panthers started out well in doubles play. The top pair of juniors Alex Johnston ’14 and Andrew Lebovitz surged to an early 3-0 lead by breaking their opponents’ serve from the get-go.
Meanwhile, on court three, the hard-serving duo of senior tri-captain Spencer Lunghino ’13 and first-year Palmer Campbell ’16 had a 2-0 upper hand.
On the next court, the number-two doubles pair of juniors Brantner Jones ’14 and James Burke ’14 fell into an early 2-5 hole. That combo fought hard but was defeated by the score of 4-8. Immediately following that, both the top and the third Middlebury doubles pairs held their service games to notch the win in the identical score of 8-5.
“One doubles keeps getting better and better as Alex gains volley and overhead skills, is serving smarter and [Lebovitz] is more and more consistent overall and is also competing better as he matures as a player,” said head coach Bob Hansen. “Third doubles also looked great.”
The Middlebury men headed into singles play with a confidence-boosting 2-1 lead, and were looking to expand upon that lead against their conference rival.
Just two weeks before, the Panthers fell at all three doubles spots against the Ephs. The reshuffling of the doubles lineup and the intense work in preparation for the NESCAC championships proved to be the key of this big jump.
In singles play, Campbell went down rather quickly in the score of 2-6, 0-6 in a faceoff against Williams junior Felix Sun.
The 2012 NESCAC Player of the Year. Sun’s crafty play and accurate passing shots proved to be effective against Campbell’s aggressive game, as Campbell had severe difficulties in trying to consistently finish points against the relentless Sun.
Playing next to Campbell at the number-two spot was Jones. Similar to his teammate, Jones encountered much resilience from Williams senior Matt Micheli. Micheli handled Jones’s penetrating groundstrokes with his counter-punching style by hitting shots with great depth. Jones tried staying on the court for as long as possible but eventually succumbed to a 3-6 2-6 decision.
With the Panthers trailing 2-3, all eyes turned to court six. Mountifield gave one of his best performances. Perhaps more impressively, this was Mountifield’s very first dual match against an opponent from a top-15 team. His steady groundstrokes and quick movement gave senior Eph Dylan Page trouble. Despite falling to a 0-3 setback in the second set, Mountifield remained calm and crawled back to pronounce a two-set 6-2 6-3 victory.
“I dealt with the pressure by taking it one point at a time and telling myself that my teammates will support me no matter what the outcome of the match is,” said Mountifield. “My teammates are my biggest source of motivation. I would play for 10 hours if it meant getting them a point on the board. It felt great to clinch the Tufts match, but it felt even better knowing I took out a [Williams] Eph.”
Set at three all, courts one, four and five all went into third sets. At the fourth spot, first-year Jackson Frons ’16 managed to find his groove late in the game. He came back to snatch the second set 6-4 after a 1-6 deficit in the opening set. Both Frons and his opponent gave everything they had on the court. The lengthy exchanges from both sides of the net propelled the final set to progress into a tiebreaker. Unfortunately, Frons was downed by Chow in the score of 6-7 (2-7).
At this point, the Panthers needed to win the remaining two matches in order to win overall.
Senior tri-captain Lunghino did not disappoint. By coming into the net and putting away volleys, he battled back from a tough tiebreaker loss in the first set to seize the remaining two sets 6-3 6-2.
With the contest frozen at 4-4, the task fell onto the shoulders of number-one player Johnston. Even though he was topped 2-6 early on, he displayed great fight in the second set to win in a tiebreaker 7-6 (7-4). However, as the match came down to the wire, Eph senior Trey Meyer broke Johnston’s service game to take the set 6-3 and earn the necessary fifth point for the Purple Cows.
Coach Hansen saw a lot of positives from the play of his team against Williams.
“No question we are getting closer and closer to our best lineup,” he said. “Spencer had a great win at four where we got crushed a few weeks back, Jackson lost breaker in the third where we were beat 3,1 a few weeks back and Courtney came through at six where we were beat in straight sets [in the last match].”
After the loss to Williams, the Panthers have now lost three of their last six matches to end the regular season, including a loss to third-ranked Amherst and a pair of losses to the sixth-ranked Ephs.
With less than two weeks left for the 2013 squad, Hansen decided to make one final change to his team’s starting lineup.
“We will continue to work on our doubles this week in particular at [second doubles] where we will have a new team with Teddy Fitzgibbons [’14] joining Brantner.”
The Middlebury men will host a regional for the NCAA tournament, where they will open up tournament play on Saturday, May 11. The Panthers will take on the winner of a match between Drew and Farmingdale, who play in the opening match of the regional on Friday, May 10.
“I am getting more and more clear about what each individual needs to work on so practices are getting more focused and productive,” said Hansen.
The Panthers enter the tournament as the nation’s 11th-ranked team. Neither of their possible regional opponents is ranked in the top 30 nationally.
