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(02/15/18 1:59am)
The women’s basketball team played its final pair of regular season games on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 9 and 10. Middlebury defeated Hamilton (14–10) in Pepin Gym on Friday 53–44, ensuring they would host a quarterfinal game in the Nescac playoffs. The Panthers lost their final home game of the regular season at home to the defending Nescac and NCAA Division III champions Amherst, 68–41.
Hamilton looked aggressive from the opening minutes on Friday. After a brief moment of being tied at four, the Continentals were effortlessly finding the bottom of the net to go on an 11–0 run. On the defensive end, Hamilton managed to cut off much of Middlebury’s movement inside the paint. Hamilton’s lockdown defense forced the Panthers to take difficult shots, only allowing seven points to Hamilton’s 17 at the end of the first quarter.
The Panthers stepped up on the defensive end in the second quarter. They hustled tenaciously on both ends of the floor, and scored the opening six points of the quarter to cut the lead down to four. Sabrina Weeks ’18 came up with a huge steal and finished the layup to keep the Panthers close at 19–15 with three and a half minutes to play. The final few minutes saw Hamilton score five of the next eight points to give themselves a half-dozen point lead heading into halftime.
The visitors opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer to extend their lead to nine. But the Panthers continued their strong defensive efforts and fluid ball movement to go on a 14–2 run, limiting the Continentals to just one basket and forcing nine turnovers. The Panthers finally managed to take the lead off a 3-pointer from Sarah Kaufman ’18 late in the quarter.
Catherine Harrison ’19 opened the final quarter with a jumper to give the Panthers a 39–33 lead. An exchange of runs ensued for the remainder of the game, and the Panthers led 48–40 after a pair of Maya Davis ’20 free throws. The Panthers overcame a six-point halftime deficit to win by nine, 53–44. Harrison led the Panthers in scoring with a season-best 13 points on 6 of 9 shooting.
The following afternoon, defending champion Amherst immediately looked dominant in the opening quarter as they led 10–0 after seven minutes of play. The Panthers found their first basket of the game on a Lily Kuntz ’20 3-pointer with 2:45 left in the first ten minutes.
Behind 16–5 at the beginning of the second quarter, Middlebury began to slowly chip away at the large deficit, eventually cutting the lead down to six on another three from Kuntz. The Mammoths immediately retaliated and cemented a 25–15 lead going into halftime.
The Mammoths looked unstoppable coming out of the locker room for the third quarter, putting together a 13–5 run over the first half of the quarter. Middlebury could not slow the Mammoths this time, and the lead ballooned as many as 26 in the third quarter.
Though the fourth quarter was tight in scoring, 16–15, the Mammoths were able to end their regular season with a 27-point win away from home.
Kuntz was the Panthers’ top scorer with 11.
Though the Panthers would not have liked to end their final game of the season at home with such a tough loss, the errors and shortcomings should be internalized quickly to prepare themselves for the playoffs. Amherst has not lost a game since the start of the 2016-2017 season, making them undefeated in their past 57 games. If the Panthers are looking to make a run for the Nescac title, they can almost assuredly expect to face Amherst again.
Fourth-seeded Middlebury, who boasts a 17–7 overall record and 6–4 record in the conference, will host fifth-seeded Wesleyan (5–5, in the Nescac) on Saturday, Feb. 17, at 3 p.m. The Panthers defeated the Cardinals 77–60 at Pepin Gym earlier this season.
This is the second straight season Middlebury will host a quarterfinal game, but only the third time since 2002, the first and only time the Panthers advanced to the Nescac championship game. If the Panthers win on Saturday, they will advance to the semifinals held the following weekend at the highest-remaining seed’s gym.
(02/15/18 1:51am)
The men’s basketball team’s 10-game winning streak was snapped last Friday, Feb. 9, when the Panthers fell to Hamilton 102–83, in Clinton, New York. In a crucial game for Nescac seeding the next night at Amherst, Saturday, Feb. 10, Middlebury lost to the Mammoths 80–68. After sitting atop the conference standings entering the weekend, the Panthers fell into a five-way tie for first place and lost the tiebreaker because of their 1–3 head-to-head record with the other teams, dropping them all the way down to the fifth seed in the Nescac tournament.
In Middlebury’s loss on Saturday, Jack Daly ’18 became the 23rd Panther in program history to score 1,000 points. Daly has accumulated 1,002 career points, 611 rebounds and 579 assists, and is believed be the first player in Nescac men’s basketball history to tally 1,000 points, 600 rebounds and 500 assists.
“Jack is a unique player,” said Head Coach Jeff Brown on Tuesday. “He has the ability to impact a game in so many different ways with his scoring, passing, rebounding and defense. His mental and physical toughness is at an elite level. The fact that Jack is the first NESCAC player to reach 1000 points, 600 rebounds and 500 assists shows the impact that he has had in our success.”
A week earlier in a 75–56 victory over Colby, the Panthers’ star player became Middlebury’s all-time assists leader, surpassing Jake Wolfin ’13’s record of 553 helpers. He leads all of DIII this season with 8.7 assists per game.
Middlebury will travel to Middletown, Connecticut, for their quarterfinal matchup with Wesleyan this Saturday, Feb. 17, which will mark the first time the Panthers have had to play a conference tournament quarterfinal game away from Pepin since 2004.
Middlebury had two chances to clinch the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, the first coming on Friday at Hamilton. Middlebury entered the matchup 7–1, while Hamilton was 6–2 in second place. The Continentals led by as many as nine points in the first half after going on an 8–0 run to go ahead 32–23. But the Panthers responded with an eight-point run of their own to pull within one. At the end of the first twenty minutes, Hamilton led 38–32.
Middlebury struggled with turnovers in the first half, giving the ball away 12 times compared to Hamilton’s six.
The Panthers kept pace with Hamilton the first nine and a half minutes of the second half, staying within six. But then the Continental offense took off, hitting four straight threes to take an 11-point lead, 73–62. Middlebury cut the lead to single digits a couple more times, but Hamilton’s attack was too much in the second half. The Continentals scored 64 points in the final 20 minutes to defeat the Panthers 102–83.
Hamilton’s Kena Gilmour scored a career-high 29 points on 10 of 15 shooting, including four of four from three. The Continentals’ shooting from beyond the three-point line carried them to victory, as they knocked down 15 of 24 threes after making only eight per game before Friday.
Eric McCord ’19 led the Panthers with 21 points coming off the bench. Matt Folger ’20 scored 17 while hitting four threes, and Daly added 15 points, nine rebounds, and six assists.
With the win, Hamilton moved into a tie for first place with Middlebury, but controlled their own destiny heading into the last game of the regular season by beating the Panthers.
Entering the last game of Nescac play on Saturday, Middlebury, Hamilton and Williams sat atop the Nescac standings, one game ahead of Amherst and Wesleyan.
Ahead 16–14 a little over seven minutes into the first half on Saturday afternoon, Amherst went on a 16–0 run to take a 32–14 lead at the 7:20 mark in the first half. The Mammoths hurt the Panthers with offensive rebounding all afternoon, and half of their 16 points in this game-defining run were second chance opportunities.
Over the final 7:20, Middlebury outscored the Mammoths by three but still trailed 43–28 at halftime.
Middlebury could never get much closer either, only trimming the lead to single digits with around a minute remaining in the game, 75–66. McCord got the Panthers within eight, but Amherst hit four free throws to secure an 80–68 win.
Middlebury shot 35.8 percent from the field and 25 percent from three on an afternoon when the Panther offense never got going, scoring its lowest total of the season. Amherst hurt the Panthers inside, where the Mammoths outscored the Panthers 42–30. The hosts also scored 17 more second chance points than the visiting Panthers, 22–5, and outrebounded the visitors 60–34.
Jack Farrell ’21 scored a career-high 22 points for Middlebury, and Nick Tarantino ’18 also finished in double digits with 11 points. Daly had a tough day from the field, making only two of 15 shots on the afternoon when he scored his 1,000th career point.
The Panthers’ hopes at hosting the Nescac semifinals were dashed with the losses to Hamilton and Amherst, and with those hopes also went any playoff game in Pepin Gym. But Middlebury still finished in a tie for first place with a 7–3 record in conference. And as Coach Brown pointed out, “I am going remind our guys that two years ago, we lost our last two regular season games on the road and won the NESCAC Tournament. We will put last week’s results in our rear-view mirror.”
Now fifth-seeded Middlebury will travel to Wesleyan on Saturday, Feb. 17, to play the fourth-seeded Cardinals at 3 p.m. Earlier this season, on Jan. 6, Wesleyan beat Middlebury 80–70 but led by only three with 47 seconds remaining. With the win, the Cardinals snapped a 15-game losing streak against the Panthers dating back to the 2004-05 season.
Wesleyan lost two of its first three Nescac games, but won six of its last seven to finish in the five-way tie for first in the standings.
The Cardinals had the third-stingiest defense in Nescac play, allowing only 65 points per contest. They’re led by junior guard Jordan Bonner, who averages 15.6 points per game, and have four other players averaging at least seven points per game. Senior forward Nathan Krill averages 11.9 points and nine rebounds per game, while shooting 38.5 percent from three-point range.
The Panthers tip off in Middletown on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.
(02/15/18 1:50am)
Following a third-place finish at Nescacs earlier this month, punctuated by the Panthers’ dismantling of Williams 8–1 in the third place match to avenge a narrow road loss on Jan. 6, the 21st-ranked men’s squash team rode into last weekend’s trip to No. 16 Navy, No. 11 George Washington and No. 12 Drexel aiming to defeat a more highly ranked team which could have propelled the Panthers into the CSA top 16 and the B bracket draw at nationals.
Despite Middlebury’s 8–1 victory over Williams just two days prior, the rankings the CSA released on Feb. 6 slotted the No. 21 Panthers one spot below No. 20 Williams.
“It was discouraging to not jump Williams in the rankings after beating them as badly as we did,” team captain Ryan Swope ’18 said, “but that actually ended up being motivation for us moving into this weekend.”
The road trip began last Friday, Feb. 9, with Middlebury taking on No. 16 Navy in Annapolis. In what was the program’s first trip to Navy’s home courts in Bancroft Hall, the Panthers figured that the matchup against the Midshipmen would be their best chance of the weekend to knock off a top 16 opponent and pull closer to their goal of breaking through to the B bracket.
“Navy was expected to be the most winnable match but we just didn’t come ready to play – Navy also happens to be, unsurprisingly, one of the toughest teams mentally and physically,” said Swope, which posed problems for a sluggish Panther team.
The Panthers’ record over the last few seasons in matches against Navy suggested they had the potential to push the Midshipmen last Friday. However, the Panthers came out flat and lost 9–0, with no one pushing his Navy opponent past four sets—Sam Giddens ’18 managed to sweep Navy’s Danny Finnegan in straight sets in the exhibition match.
John Epley ’21, who has played well in his rookie campaign, narrowly missed the chance to send his match with Navy’s Dylan Sweeney into a fifth set. After dropping the first set to Sweeny 11–4, Epley made things closer in the second set which he lost 11–7 before he managed to turn the tide in the third set with a convincing 11–5 victory. With some momentum on Epley’s side, the first-year pushed Sweeney in the fourth and deciding set before falling 14–12.
At the bottom of the ladder, Swope and Thomas Wolpow ’20 also narrowly missed on playing a fifth match against their Navy opponents. In the No. 8 slot for the Panthers, Wolpow rebounded from a 0–2 set deficit to defeat Navy’s No. 8 11–9 in the third set before falling 11–9 in the deciding fourth set. In the nine spot for Middlebury, Swope made things closer in his second and third games than the final score indicates. Swope won his second set over Navy’s Greg Hyer 11–8 and dropped a marathon third game 16–14 before Swope bowed out in the fourth set by losing 11–2.
Understandably deflated by the lopsided loss to a Navy team they needed to challenge in order to have a shot at achieving their goal of finishing the season in the top 16, the Panthers had a hard time rebounding when they headed to the nation’s capital last Saturday, Feb. 10, to take on a very talented No. 11 George Washington squad.
The Panthers’ Nos. 2 and 3, Jacob Ellen ’20 and Jack Kagan ’20, along with Swope at No. 9, all managed to get off to a good start against GW by winning their first sets. Ellen’s 11–5 victory in his opening game was the most convincing of the three, but Kagan and Swope also scored emphatic 11–7 victories.
Unfortunately, Ellen and Kagan were overmatched by their top-of-the-ladder opponents from George Washington, who evidently stepped up their urgency after falling behind. Ellen lost to Jamie Oakley, who has played well for the Colonials at the top of their ladder, 11–5, 11–6, 11–7 in the second, third, and fourth games. Kagan lost in succession to George Washington’s senior from Dublin, Oisin Logan, who is 13–4 on the year despite playing all of his matches at the top half of GW’s ladder, 11–3, 11–6, 11–0 in their final three games. At the bottom of the ladder, Swope played GW’s Omar Mussehl more closely. Swope lost the second and fourth sets 11–6 and played Mussehl tightly in a 12–10 loss in the third game.
The closest match for the Panthers on the day, however, came courtesy of Wolpow in the eight spot. Wolpow was in a position to beat GW’s No. 8 in three of the four sets he played. He lost the opening game 12–10 before rebounding in a close 11–9 second set. After letting the third set get away from him, Wolpow battled back in what turned out to be a marathon fourth set and just narrowly lost 14–12.
After back-to-back 9–0 defeats, the Panthers headed to Philadelphia to close the regular season last Sunday, Feb. 11, when they took on No. 12 Drexel. While they could simply have packed it in, the Panthers came out fighting and played Drexel closely, despite the 7–2 losing result.
Against the Dragons, the wins for the Panthers came from Ellen and Kagan at the top of the ladder. Ellen perhaps got lucky given his opponent in the No. 2 spot, Lucas Rousselet, had to retire after beating Ellen 11–3 in the opening game. However, when Rousselet had to drop out, Ellen held a 5–2 lead in the second game.
Kagan got a victory for the Panthers in the third slot over Atticus Kelly, a senior who is winding down a good career for Drexel, in four sets: 11–6, 9–11, 15–13, 11–7. Despite winning the opening set and playing a close second game, Kagan must have been in a slightly uncomfortable position. He won his opening set only to lose the ensuing three games against both Navy and GW. On top of those results, Kagan was facing a formidable opponent in Kelly.
“Those results definitely did cross my mind against Kelly because in both of them I was playing really strong opponents and I came out strong in the first game but wasn’t able to keep it up,” said Kagan. “I didn’t feel like I did anything particularly special in the first game so losing the second definitely scared me.”
The fact that the third set turned into a marathon could not have made things any easier for Kagan. Nevertheless, the sophomore held on and grinded out a 15–13 momentum-swinging victory that ultimately propelled him to win the match for the Panthers in the No. 3 slot.
“I would definitely say winning the third was a huge relief,” said Kagan. “I knew I had the upper hand and I was telling myself whether it be in four games or five that I was winning the match no matter what. For whatever reason I just wasn’t getting tired, which was really different from the GW and Navy matches.”
The result was a good way to end what was a long weekend for Kagan, and it was a good way to build some momentum heading into nationals.
“This weekend was definitely draining but I think it was a positive experience overall,” said Kagan. “We increased our level of play continuously.
“I think especially after the Drexel result, people are ready to rest but also ready to work and are super excited for nationals next weekend,” Kagan said in describing how the team is looking forward to the opportunity at the championships in Hartford Feb. 23-25.
Although Ellen and Kagan represented the only victories for the Panthers in the regular season finale against No. 12 Drexel, Middlebury made things close from top to bottom on the ladder.
At the bottom of the ladder, Wolpow and Swope again put in good efforts for the Panthers as both took their opponents to a fifth set. Wolpow actually held a 2–1 set lead after winning his second and third games 11–7 and 11–6. Swope managed to send his match to a fifth game by winning a nail biter in the fourth game 13–11, momentarily staving off a loss and evening his tilt with Drexel’s Royston Raymond.
Middlebury’s No. 4, Henry Pearson ’18, also had a good showing. Pearson lost to Dylan Kachur in four sets but all three games that he lost came down to the final points. Pearson pushed the first set past 11, before falling 12–10. Following a loss in the second game, 11–9, Pearson took it to Kachur in the third game, winning 11–5. Much like the first two sets, the fourth of Pearson’s games could have gone either way, but Kachur escaped with an 11–9 win to take the match. Pearson’s and Swope’s fellow senior, Giddens, also provided the Panthers with another positive with his straight sets victory in the exhibition match.
After last weekend’s results that saw the Panthers’ hopes of achieving their top-16 goal evaporate, the team has begun to adjust and prepare for another C bracket championship nationals. If they manage to finish 17th again – which would entail a Middlebury victory in the C draw at next week’s national team championships – it would mark the seventh time in the last decade that the Panthers bring the Summers Cup back to Middlebury.
“Since our team will be put into the C draw for the national tournament, the goal is to now win the C draw and finish 17th,” said the captain, Swope. “The takeaway from this past couple of weeks is that we ought to believe we can do that. The teams we played this weekend – Navy, Drexel, and GW – are all better than the competition we will face in the C draw at nationals, which will include Williams and Bates – teams we have now beaten.”
When asked about why it seems this year’s rendition of the Panthers has had a tougher time getting over the hump as compared to past seasons when the team had an even or lesser talent level, Swope agreed with the idea that relative lack of experience at the collegiate level has played a factor. For evidence of the relative inexperience at the college level, look no further than last weekend’s starting lineup where seven of the nine starters were first-years or sophomores.
“I think it has been easy to understate the talent on this team just because we haven’t gotten some of the wins we wanted to, but I would absolutely agree the talent is as strong this year as it ever has been, if not better,” Swope explained. “What we lack is college match experience. Seven out of the nine in our starting lineup are underclassmen, and our seniors that are playing in the top nine only have [approximately] two years of starting experience compared to the four years of experience seniors on other teams sometimes have. I believe that has been a factor in some of the close 5–4 and 6–3 losses we’ve been dealt.
“However, this team’s ceiling is incredibly high with a very talented and quickly growing underclassmen base. I’ve been nothing but impressed with the way this team has handled adversity in the form of injuries as well as inexperience. Their growth has been really visible, and I believe they are ready to finish 17th just like we did last year!”
The Panthers will take a break from match play for the rest of this week as they await the CSA’s final rankings for their seeding in the C draw and continue preparations for next weekend’s trip to nationals.
(02/15/18 1:48am)
College treasurer David Provost explained why Middlebury has a smaller endowment and provides less financial aid than many of its peers, and described how the college is working to improve on both fronts, in a presentation on Jan. 24 in Dana Auditorium.
Introduced by SGA liaison to student endowment affairs Will Dowling ’18, Provost addressed topics such as the previous college deficit and the relationship between college endowment and student financial aid. The presentation, which was followed by a brief Q&A segment, was a co-effort by the SGA and the finance office and part of the “How Midd Works” series.
Provost began his presentation by introducing the basics of the college endowment. Middlebury’s endowment reached $1.074 billion at the end of fiscal year 2017. Although it is up $74 million from the previous year, Middlebury’s endowment is overshadowed by its peers; Williams, Amherst and Wellesley each hold endowment sizes double that of Middlebury, at $2.568 billion, $2.248 billion and $1.97 billion respectively.
Bowdoin holds an endowment of $1.46 billion. In 2011, the two institutions had nearly identical endowments at $900 million. What accounts for the almost forty percent gap today?
Provost suggests that the difference is the result of poor operating budgeting. Between 2011 and 2016, total operating expenses increased at an average of 4.18 percent annually. However, net fees only increased at an average rate of 2.52 percent annually. In order to fill the gap between revenue and expenditure, funds were drawn from the corpus of the endowment.
Middlebury has since worked toward a solution to achieving financial sustainability. In fiscal year 2017, the college made significant budget changes to combat its deficit trend. Net fees increased by 3.5 percent, generating $151 million in revenue. Expenses, on the other hand, decreased by 1.4 percent — the first drop in nearly ten years. With the current plan in place, Provost estimates that the college will be able to reach operational surplus or neutrality by 2021.
Financial aid is also closely tied in with the endowment, as 20 percent of endowment usage of funds is funneled toward scholarships. Currently, 44 percent of students receive financial aid, and the average aid package is $47,000. Twenty-five percent of the total financial aid budget — nearly $13 million — is funded from the endowment and expendable funds.
Still, Middlebury lags behind its peers in providing financial aid. In 2016, Amherst, Williams and Pomona each offered grants to 50 to 60 percent of students, with an average grant of $50,000 to $55,000.
But Provost said Laurie Patton, Middlebury’s president, is looking to push the college’s financial aid program into the same competitive range as its peers. As a new cycle of fundraising is beginning, Patton may tailor the campaign to fit the theme of need.
Ultimately, Provost believes that his role is not solely to manage finances, but also to realize the college’s education mission. During the Q&A segment, Provost was asked why the college’s endowment was managed by Investure rather than in-house, in comparison to institutions such as Harvard and Williams.
“We could (bring endowment management in-house). However, I believe firmly that it is not core to who we are, that is not why we exist. That is not our mission and purpose — to be exceptional at investing our money. There are people who do that,” Provost said.
“We need to challenge ourselves on everything that we do: is it meeting [Middlebury’s] objective? When we decide to do things, spend money or invest in things, is it core to what a Middlebury education represents to its students?”
(02/15/18 1:45am)
MIDDLEBURY — On Sunday, Dec. 3, members of the local community and the college gathered at the Town Hall Theater for the inaugural film of the 2017/18 Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival (MNFF) Winter Screening Series. Titled “Menashe,” the film was directed by Joshua Z. Weinstein and follows the struggles of its eponymous protagonist to maintain custody of his son Rieven after the passing of his wife. The traditions of Menashe’s orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, New York, require a mother to be present in every home, forcing Rieven to be rehomed away from his father into another household. Shot in secret and based largely on the real life of its Hasidic star Menashe Lustig, the film allows a rare glimpse into a famously private community to explore the weighty bonds of both parenthood and faith.
“Menashe” was the first of six films screened in a series that spans from December 2017 to May 2018. The second film in the series, Doug Nichol’s documentary “California Typewriter,” was screened on Sunday, Jan. 7. The film paints a moving portrait of artists, writers and collectors who stand together against the waves of time, united by their loyalty to the typewriter as a tool and muse. Alternating between the nostalgic and the forward-thinking, the film meditates on the changing dynamics between humans and machines.
The four films that follow in the series are connected by their celebration of women’s experiences and achievements. This emphasis on the female spirit in the selection of the films suggests the festival’s increasing recognition of women in film and echoes the establishment of a new award in this year’s festival: the Clio Visualizing History Prize for the Advancement of Women in Film. The honored film, “Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story,” is directed by Alexandra Dean and documents the life and work of Hollywood’s “Most Beautiful Girl” in 1940, whose role in inventing devices that led to secure Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS communications is often overlooked.
The next upcoming film, scheduled to screen on Sunday, Feb. 18, is writer-director Margaret Bett’s drama “Novitiate,” which tells the story of a young woman’s training to become a nun in the Roman Catholic Church amid the changing religious landscapes of the 1960s. As she progresses from postulant to novitiate, the protagonist faces complex struggles between personal faith and organized religion.
Following “Novitiate” will be “I Am Evidence” on Sunday, March 11. The film, directed by Geeta Gandbhir and Trish Adlesic, presents a sharp exposé of a frequently broken criminal justice system through the lenses of four sexual assault survivors whose rape kits went untested for years. “Lady Bird,” a drama written and directed by Greta Gerwig on the turbulent bonds between a California nurse and her teenage daughter, Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson, will be shown the following month on Saturday, April 7. The final film in the series, “The Judge,” will be screened on Friday, May 11 and captivatingly chronicles the rise of Kholoud Faqih, the first female Sharia judge in the history of the Middle East.
Founded in 2015 by producer Lloyd Komesar, the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival aims to showcase up-and-coming talent in the film industry. The third annual festival ran from August 24 to August 27 last summer and presented 90 films across all genres, among which were the works of Middlebury alumni Beth Levison ’91, Adam Kritzer ’11, Matt Lennon ’13, and Sasha Whittle ’17. According to the MNFF website, “the emphasis at MNFF is entirely on filmmakers who have completed within the 24 months prior to the Festival either their first or second feature film or first or second short film.” For new filmmakers, MNFF provides a specialized platform to both “offer a level playing field to new and emerging voices in filmmaking” and allow audiences to “discover fresh and engaging talent…in a setting that is all about their work,” as stated on the festival’s website.
Single tickets ($12) and Winter Screening Series Passes ($60 for six films) can be purchased either on the Town Hall Theater website, at the box office in the Jackson Gallery, or at the lobby of the Town Hall Theater on the day of the show. Trailers for the six films in the Winter Screening Series can be found on the MNFF website at middfilmfest.org.
(02/09/18 5:25pm)
“We were really worried that what was going on on the floor and sort of our culture in the building that we were marching a slow death and we didn’t want to be a part of that,” said Koby Altman ’05, the Cleveland Cavaliers general manager and former Middlebury men’s basketball player, on a conference call with reporters yesterday, Feb. 8. Following a 23–8 start to the season, the Cavaliers have gone 8–14 since Dec. 19, and have the second-worst defensive rating in the league during that time. In addition to their struggle on the court, the Cavaliers, as Altman cited, seemed to be falling apart off the court. It was time for change with the team on the brink of collapse leading up to LeBron’s decision to stay in Cleveland or move on.
Altman put it all on the line yesterday and completed a major roster overhaul just before the trade deadline at 3 p.m., trading six players and two draft picks away in return for four players and one pick, as the Cavaliers attempt to right the ship heading into the final third of the season. They continue to operate in a position of uncertainty with LeBron James’ potential departure from Cleveland looming at the end of this season. With James in mind, Altman’s trades reflect his attempts to stabilize the Cavaliers’ defense while keeping a post-LeBron future intact by acquiring younger players more defensive-minded than the veterans they traded away.
After winning the Eastern Conference each of the last three seasons, the Cavaliers’ streak of NBA Finals appearances seems to be in jeopardy this season. By trading for Rodney Hood, George Hill, Jordan Clarkson, and Larry Nance, Cleveland seems better positioned to return to the NBA finals than they were before yesterday.
This group of four replaces Isaiah Thomas, Dwayne Wade, Jae Crowder, Derrick Rose, Channing Frye, and Iman Shumpert. Thomas, the fourth-runner up in last year’s MVP voting, has struggled immensely offensively and defensively in his 15-game stint in Cleveland after returning from a hip injury. Wade’s age, 36, has caught up with him and was lost amidst Cleveland’s decision to move towards a younger roster. Crowder was a shell of his Boston self, scoring and shooting much worse than last season.
The perimeter upgrades will bring shooting and size to Cleveland’s backcourt. Hill is shooting a career-best 45 percent from three and Hood shoots 39 percent to provide spacing around LeBron. Clarkson will come off the bench behind Hill to lead the second unit, after doing the same in Los Angeles where he started only two games this season but averaged 14.5 points per game in just 24 minutes.
Nance provides help to a very thin Cavalier frontcourt that includes Tristan Thompson, LeBron, Cedi Osman, and injured Kevin Love.
These pieces complement LeBron better than their outgoing players who could not shoot to space the floor for LeBron and contributed a lot to Cleveland’s terrible defense. Hill is a proven versatile defender, Hood is a lengthy wing, and Nance is an athletic big man.
With these trades, Cleveland reinserted itself into the Eastern Conference’s list of contenders. But there may not be enough time for the new-look Cavaliers to gel as a team to win the Eastern Conference. They certainly have no better chance of winning the title than last year, when the Warriors beat them in five games. More than anything else, these moves may signify to LeBron the organization is trying to improve.
Did the Cavaliers hurt their future?
They did trade their 2018 first-round pick in their trade with the Lakers for Nance and Clarkson. In addition to taking on Clarkson’s large contract ($12.5 million next year and $13.4 million the year after), the Cavaliers gave up a first-round pick for Nance. But, as ESPN’s Zach Lowe notes, the Lakers would never give up Nance without getting a first-round pick back. Whether they should have given up their first-round pick for Nance can be debated and no one has the right answer right now.
Most importantly, the Cavaliers hung onto the Nets pick, which could easily end up being a top-five pick and will be a lottery pick.
Besides their own first-round pick, the Cavaliers did not lose much in future value. It seems extremely unlikely Thomas would return to Cleveland next season, unless something changed dramatically between now and the end of the season. Wade and Frye are too old, and Crowder did not fit in Cleveland. Shumpert has been in trade rumors forever.
The Cavaliers got three talented players who are all 25. Hood is a restricted free agent this offseason, but could be worth paying. Nance is on a cheap contract next season. Clarkson is expensive for the two years after this season, but Cleveland is not able to sign any superstars to pair with LeBron, if he stays, and Kevin Love, barring trades. Without LeBron, who would want to sign with Cleveland? No one good enough for Cleveland to justify spending a significant amount of money on.
Of course, Altman and the Cavaliers hope LeBron stays. He is their best chance of winning the NBA championship in the immediate future. If he stays, something unexpected can happen for them to win another championship.
Adding Hill, Hood, Clarkson and Nance gives them better pieces around LeBron, and Hood and Nance especially could help in the future if LeBron leaves. Cleveland is definitely in much better shape than they were last time LeBron left, when they went 19–63 after going 61–21 in LeBron’s last season.
Altman has made his second big move (or moves) in his tenure as general manager. He entered a difficult position. As soon as he became GM, Kyrie announced he wanted out of Cleveland, leaving Altman tasked with moving Cleveland’s second-most important piece. Without Kyrie, Cleveland stood almost no chance of beating Golden State, even with a completely healthy Isaiah Thomas. The Cavaliers still have a chance of winning the Eastern Conference, probably a better one after yesterday’s trades. Barring a miracle, Cleveland is not going to win a championship this season and their future will rest on LeBron’s decision.
Altman tried to prove to LeBron the front office wants to win this year. But they did not hurt their future with these trades. Most importantly, the Cavaliers did not jeopardize their future at the trade deadline.
(01/24/18 10:32pm)
During the winter months, snowy weather becomes embedded in the daily routines of students and staff alike. Snow opens up valuable opportunities, such as pursuit of popular winter sports and outdoor activities, and simultaneously creates challenges for those who live at the college. When a winter storm approaches many students anticipate the coming snow with excitement, preparing to make the trek to Sugarbush or the snowbowl after fresh powder has fallen.
But while students plan their winter sports excursions or hunker down in their dorms to avoid the cold, a huge team works quickly, efficiently and tirelessly to prepare the campus for approaching inclement weather. As a snowstorm approaches, an array of shovel and plow crews run by Facilities Services prepares to clear the campus of impending snowfall.
Clinton “Buzz” Snyder, the college’s landscape supervisor, and Luther Tenny, facilities maintenance and operations director, work together in order to oversee snow removal operations. Snyder has worked at the college for four years and drives a plow during snow removal operations. Tenny has occupied his position for the past 14 years. When word of an impending snow storm emerges, the two decide on the scale and logistics of initiating a removal operation.
“Luther and I stay in close contact because between the two of us, we make the decision and the call on snow,” Snyder said. “We both are constantly looking at the weather.”
Tenny said that he and Snyder consider an array of factors in evaluating how to tackle a typical “snow event.”
“Usually a snow event is when campus is iced over considerably or we’ve gotten more than an inch of snow and we have to check every entry and plow,” he said. “So Clinton and I work together taking all these factors into account. Do we have classes tomorrow? What do we have for events tonight? How many staff members are either unavailable or out sick can tell us how early we need to come in to be campus ready by the morning so folks can come in, park their cars, get to the buildings, get to the dining halls, stuff like that.”
When a typical winter storm hits (Tenny refers to a “typical snow event” as a foot of snow or less), 14 snow plows, each with its own route around campus, as well as ten crews of shovelers, mobilize. Tenny calls workers from a list organized by the distance that the employees live from the college — workers who live in New York are called in earlier than those who live in Middlebury, for example. Plow crews arrive early, around 4:00 a.m., and begin clearing roads and walkways. These crews include both “sidewalk plows” that work to clear walkways and larger plows that work to clear roads and parking lots, both on campus and surrounding campus buildings as far away as Weybridge, Homestead and the Mill. Shovelers arrive two to three hours later and begin clearing the doorways of over 120 college buildings. As ice builds up on walkways, salt has to be laid down.
Steve Santor, who operates a plow for a crew that works on the northern end of campus, said that the early start time allows the plow crews to function most efficiently.
“The idea behind [the early start time] is it’s just less traffic,” Santor said. “We can get out on the sidewalks and roadways where the employees are parking their cars, get that parking lot clear, etc. We can get some of the main sidewalks clear so the shovelers can easily get started maneuvering around when they arrive later.”
The shovelers, who arrive two to three hours after the plow crews, have a grueling job: clearing all entryways by hand.
“Every door has to be cleared,” Snyder said of the shoveler’s work. “Every entry, every ADA ramp. The sidewalk tractors have about 11 miles of sidewalk to do if you want to get into detail. We also have the outside properties, so we’re not just doing the regular campus. We’re doing, you know, the houses down South Street, drives and homes.”
Plow operator Brian Paquette, who works with the north crew along with Santor, said that the snow removal operation has expanded as the size of the college has increased.
“Over just the last five years or so, the campus has grown quite a bit,” he said. “So our workload goes up and our standards go up as well. [Of] some other campuses and other things I’ve seen, we’re definitely up there as far as standards are concerned with safety, snow and ice removal. The first thing we check on every single morning this time of year during the winter is, is there ice? Is there snow? Is everything safe for everybody?”
Tenny said that storms that clash with warm temperatures, which bring ice on the ground and a resulting wealth of safety hazards, are the most challenging to deal with. Fresh, normal snow is much easier to handle.
“I will take a foot of fresh, fluffy snow — it’s so easy to move,” he said. “ The hard storms are the ones like this past Saturday [Jan. 13] where it starts off as rain. It was 57 degrees at 8 o’clock that night, and within a two hour window it dropped to below 32 degrees. And that’s when all of that rain then turns to ice and then sleet.”
Safety is a huge focus for the snow removal staff, which has been injury free for two years, according to Snyder. Snyder said that when a snowstorm hits, there are a number of steps students can take to increase their safety, the safety of those around them, and the ease of the staff’s job. It starts with simple spatial awareness.
“Students should just be aware of us out there,” Snyder said. “We’re driving equipment that’s got lights going, it’s loud, and we literally have to stop, which we should anyway. But there are so many students that will just come out of nowhere and come right around and it’s like, where did that person come from? Be aware, be cautious, stop when you see us working.”
(01/24/18 10:03pm)
The Alpine Ski Team opened up their season last weekend at Sugarloaf Mountain in Carabassett, Maine. High winds cancelled the first day of the Colby Carnival, but the Panthers got on the mountain this past Sunday.
The women’s side finished in a tie for first place with Dartmouth, finishing with 226 points in the Giant Slalom. Leading the way was Caroline Bartlett ’19 who posted a day-best 1:00.81 in her first run. Bartlett followed that performance by crossing the line at 1:03.5, giving her a second-place finish on the day. The other top-10 finishers for the Panthers was Jackie Atkins ’20, who finished in 2:07.15 overall, good for sixth place. Lexi Calcagni ’19 was just behind at 11th place with a 2:08.16 time.
Calcagni noted the terrain was tough because of some wind and ice but, all in all, the team was glad to start the season off on such a high note.
“I don’t think we could have asked for a better start to the season on the women’s side,” said Cacagni.
With 130 points in the giant slalom, the men’s squad finished the day in sixth place. Riley Plant ’18 was the first Middlebury man to finish. His two-run time of 2:03.62 placed him 16th.
Davon Cardamone ’18 and Justin Alkier ’21 were the second and third Panthers to cross the finish line, posting times of 2:03.77 and 2:05.97. While the men’s side did not achieve their hoped-for results, the season is young.
Plant talked about how Sugarloaf poses challenges.
“[Sugarloaf is] one of the most difficult hills we compete on,” said Plant. But the Panthers viewed the challenge as an opportunity to improve.
“During inspection and minimizing preventable mistakes during our race runs” is especially where the team can focus on getting sharper, said Plant. “We can achieve that by relaxing pre-race; this will be easier now that the first-race-jitters are out of the system. With the slalom race postponed to next weekend, we’ll make sure to hammer the slalom training this week in preparation for the St. Mike’s Carnival.”
On the Nordic side, Cate Brams ’18 backed up the high expectations for her this season. Brams crossed the line second in the women’s 5K Classic with a time of 13:15.85, a career best, on the first day of the St. Michael’s Carnival in Hinesburg, Vermont.
Katie Feldman ’18 placed sixth for the second consecutive week after completing the course in 13:46.25. Sophia Hodge ’20 had the best placement of her young Middlebury career, crossing 23rd in 14:20.84. Overall, the women’s team registered 103 points to come in third.
Meanwhile, the men’s side racked up 103 points — also good for third place.
Evan Weinman ’18 paced the Panthers with a 24:58.03 in the 10K Classic, placing fifth individually. Two spots behind Weinman was Peter Wolter ’21, with a time of 24:59.24. Adam Luban ’18 and Sam Wood ’19 placed 20th and 21st, with times of 25:52.07 and 25:53.41.
Day 2 opened with the women’s 10K Freestyle, where Brams once again led the Panthers by crossing the finish line in 29:56.3 for seventh place. Annika Landis ’20 was the other Middlebury athlete to place in the top-20, as she finished 19th by crossing the line at 30:34.1. The women’s squad once again collectively captured the bronze, this time with 81 points.
“It was great to see us build on what we put together at Colby, and it gives us a lot of confidence in the work that we’ve put in all year,” Brams said after last weekend’s competition. “We were so excited about what the men’s team put together — great to see a huge team win. On the women’s side, we have a pretty young team that is still adjusting to college racing, and I’m incredibly proud of their confidence and drive this weekend. We’re all excited and hungry for more.”
The men’s squad also surged forward as they won the 15K Freestyle event with 123 points. This was their first on-day win since 2009.
This time Wolter led the pack, continuing his hot start from the previous day. He earned his best-ever finish with a second-place tally by crossing at 38:31.7.
Three other Panthers finished in the top-ten: Lewis Nottonson ’19 (fifth, 38:47.9), Wood (sixth, 38:56.2) and Luban (ninth, 39:19.2). Nottonson and Wood also garnered their best finishes of their respective careers, while Luban tied his career-best finish.
“Saturday’s course was highlighted by a long gradual downhill section on the front of the course and a gradual climb back up towards the stadium,” Nottonson said, describing the layout of the course. “Sunday used a partially overlapped lower loop that extended another kilometer downhill from the previous day’s course and had an additional switchback climb added onto the upper end of the course.”
The Nordic squad will be back in action on Feb. 2nd at the Vermont Carnival in Stowe, Vermont, while the Alpine team is in action this weekend in Jeffersonville, Vermont, at Smuggler’s Notch, where they will take part in the St. Michael’s Carnival.
(01/24/18 9:59pm)
At the end of December and beginning of January, the men’s basketball team (14–3) seemed a little bit lost, losing three out of five games after starting the season 6–0. But two wins last weekend, a 70–66 defeat of Nescac rival No. 11 Williams on Friday, Jan. 19, in Pepin Gym and an 87–62 win at Pine Manor on Sunday, Jan. 21, extended the No. 10 Panthers’ winning streak to six games and vaulted them to the top spot of the Nescac standings.
The Williams game set-up as monumental rematch of last season’s Nescac championship, which Middlebury won 84–62, and the NCAA Sectional Finals, which Williams won 79–75 at Pepin Gym. The matchup also held important implications for this season’s Nescac standings, since the teams entered the contest tied for second place along with Tufts at 3–1.
Williams built a 21–13 lead early on, but then went cold as Middlebury went on a run to go ahead 25–23 with a little under two minutes left in the half. Tied at 28 on the last possession of the first half, Jack Daly ’18 hit Matt Folger ’20, who sank a three to give the Panthers a lead they would never relinquish.
Ahead 43–38 just over four minutes into the second half, the Panthers started to run away from the Ephs. Their lead grew to as many as 17 points, 66–49, around the seven-minute mark. But then the Ephs fought back and got the deficit to 68–58 with 1:23 left in the second half. Off a missed free throw, Williams’ Bobby Casey hit a three with 53 seconds left, and then Griffin Kornaker ’21 committed an offensive foul to give the Ephs the ball back. Casey hit another three off the ensuing inbounds play, and Middlebury led by just four with 50 seconds remaining.
The Ephs fouled Daly, who missed the front end of a one-and-one. Casey knocked down a two-point jump shot inside the paint to make the score 68–66 with 24 seconds. Williams pressed on the inbounds, trying to deny Middlebury the basketball, but Eric McCord ’19 slipped behind the press and Daly found him for a layup and a 70–66 Middlebury lead.
Williams had two more chances to cut into the lead but missed two threes, and Middlebury held onto a 70–66 victory for a crucial Nescac victory over its heated rival.
“Sometimes when you’re down 10 at the end of a game you have more confidence shooting contested threes like they did,” said team captain Nick Tarantino ’18 after the game. “Coach Brown told us to value the basketball and close out hard on their threes. Williams could have given in but they’re a proud and talented team.”
Hilal Dahleh ’19 and Joey Leighton ’20 stepped up to lead the Panthers in scoring with 16 points apiece, for players who averaged just under nine and six points-per-game entering the contest. It was a career-high for Leighton, who came off the bench to hit seven of his 10 shots from the field in 22 minutes. The pair provided needed production from the wings, Middlebury’s most unproven spot on the court.
“With Jack returning at point and the four bigs also coming back, the biggest question mark for us entering the season was who would fill the minutes on the wing,” said Tarantino. “Hilal and Joey have really grown this year and were vital to beating Williams. We become a dangerous when they catch fire from deep and bring intensity on defense.”
Daly scored seven points and assisted on 11 buckets, while McCord added eight points and five rebounds. Folger scored seven points, grabbed eight rebounds, and blocked four shots.
Defensively, Middlebury held Williams under 36 percent from the field, and the Ephs shot below 40 percent in both halves. The Middlebury bench outscored Williams’ 32–16, and the Panthers controlled the painted area, outscoring the Ephs 40–24 in there.
Tarantino believes the team’s defensive effort against the Ephs was the best it has been all season.
“We communicated very well and really made them work hard to get off open looks,” Tarantino said. “Coach Brown gave us a defensive game plan that we focused on the majority of last week’s practice.”
Brown’s gameplan, coupled with the Panthers’ effort on defense, forced Williams into its worst shooting game of the season.
With the win, along with Hamilton’s 75–49 loss to Amherst and Tufts’ 77–75 defeat at the hands of Bates, Middlebury moved into sole possession of first place in the Nescac at 4–1.
Middlebury was back in action the next day, Sunday, Jan. 21, when it travelled to Pine Manor in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. The Panthers did not waste any time getting ahead against the Gators, as they raced out to a 12–2 lead within the first five minutes. They continued to add to their advantage and led 44–31 at halftime.
The Panthers came out firing on all cylinders once more in the second half, and their lead ballooned to 27 points at the 15:12 mark in the second half. The Gators cut their deficit in half over the next five minutes, but Middlebury came right back to put them away. The Panthers led by as many as 29 points on the way to an 87–62 road victory.
Daly led scored 18 points, corralled 11 rebounds, and handed out seven assists, all game-highs. With 150 assists this season, Daly is well on his way to breaking his own program record for assists in a season, which he set last year when he handed out 183 helpers. He is currently third on Middlebury’s career assist leaderboard, needing only 30 more to break Jake Wolfin ’14’s record of 553.
Folger added 12 points, five rebounds and four assists for the Panthers, while Jack Farrell ’21 tallied 11 points on four of five shooting.
With the two weekend wins, the Panthers extended their winning to six games, tying their six-game streak to start the season. Tarantino thinks the team is putting the pieces together as it gets deeper into Nescac play.
“We’re starting to see the team hit its stride as the younger guys are feeling more comfortable and older guys are filling their roles,” said Tarantino. “We’ve played quality opponents all this month, and sometimes it takes some bumps in the road in order to learn what it takes to beat a very good team. We’re feeling confident now and are looking forward to closing out our Nescac schedule.”
Middlebury has two more away games in the next week, when it travels to Trinity this Sunday, Jan. 28 and Keene St. on Tuesday, Jan. 30. To stay atop the Nescac, the Panthers will have to beat the Bantams, who are in a three-way tie for sixth in the standings at 2–2. However, Trinity has had one of the stingiest defenses in the conference thus far, allowing the fewest points per game as a team overall and the third fewest in Nescac play.
(01/24/18 9:51pm)
This past weekend was a busy one for the 15th-ranked Middlebury women’s squash team as they defeated Franklin and Marshall on Saturday with a score of 6–3, but got swept 9–0 against Cornell on Sunday.
Starting off the weekend strong against the 18th-ranked Franklin and Marshall, the Panthers grabbed an early 2–0 advantage with a win at No. 9 from Natasha Lowitt ’20 over Katie Anderson (11–1, 11–2, 11–6) and Virginia Schaus ’21 against Melissa Epstein at No. (11–0, 11–2, 11–6).
However, the Diplomats did not go down easily, as they made the score 2–1 with a victory at No. 3. The Panthers then continued to secure the team victory with four-consecutive triumphs.
Mira Chugh ’20 eased past Liana Zranchev at No. 8 (11–5, 11–3, 11–4), Natalie Madden ’20 defeated Katherine Galambos in the fifth spot (11–6, 12–10, 11–2), and Lucy Bostwick ’18, after dropping a tight first game, clinched the match with a 11–13, 11–4, 11–6, 11–3 win against Lauren Johnston in the No. 2 spot.
Emily Beinkampen ’21 continued the winning streak and gave Middlebury a 6–1 lead, cruising past Grace Smith at No. 7 (11–4, 11–0 and 11–2).
The Diplomats won the last two matches with a four game in the top spot on and a heartbreaker for the Panthers at the No. 4 for the final score of 6–3.
In their final home game of the season, the Middlebury women’s squash dropped a 9–0 game to eighth-ranked Cornell. In the home contest against the Big Red, all victories were three game victories except against Madden and Lowitt. Each of them managed to claim a game before defeat.
Bostwick, captain of the team, unnerved by the loss against Cornell, stayed optimistic.
“This is the last time I will be on a competitive sports team, playing at this high of a level, and having my teammates feel like family,” said Bostwick. “There are a lot of ups and downs and successes and challenges that come with being an athlete on a team like this, but I hope to take them all in-stride, continue to learn from them, and enjoy every aspect of what this final season brings. I love to play the game and I love love love my teammates, so my goal is to focus on those feelings and hopefully success will come as a result.”
The 15th-ranked Panthers return to the court tomorrow afternoon at 4:30 p.m. when they play Wellesley at MIT beginning at 4:30 p.m.
CSA Women’s Squash Rankings
Nos. 10–16
10. Dartmouth
11. Brown
12. George Washington
13. Virginia
14. Williams
15. MIDDLEBURY
16. Amherst
(01/24/18 9:33pm)
The Women’s basketball team managed to recover from their back-to-back losses against Bates and Tufts last week by beating Williams in Massachusetts on Jan. 20, 57–54. On Monday Jan. 22, when they hosted Smith in a non-conference bout, the Panthers suffered their first home loss of the season, losing 60–45.
Middlebury looked to dominate the Ephs last Saturday evening when they confined Williams to just one point at the 5:40 mark of the opening quarter. With less than three minutes to play, the Panthers found nine of the final 12 points coming from guard Kira Waldman ’20, who scored three from beyond the arc.
With Middlebury leading 25–11, Williams responded by making the second quarter a more tightly contested matchup. After seven and a half minutes of buckets being exchanged by both teams, Williams closed out the second quarter with a 9–2 run, outscoring the Panthers 16–8.
The Panthers built on the half-dozen-point lead, 33–27, that they took into halftime straight away in the second half as they opened with a 6–0 run that saw a pair of free throws converted by forward Maya Davis ’20. As the Ephs answered back with a 6–0 spurt of their own, the Panthers defense allowed them to tack on some additional points in the last two and a half minutes of play. Heading into the fourth quarter, the Panthers comfortably led 48–35.
The game seemed to be tucked away as the Panthers found a three from Sarah Kaufman ’20 less than a minute into the final quarter. However, the remainder of the quarter was dominated by Williams as they went on a 14–4 run and only trailed 55–51 with 90 seconds on the clock. When Amanni Fernandez of Williams drilled a three with 20 seconds left, the Panthers’ lead was down to just two points, 56–54. In the final four seconds, Williams was unable to find the bottom of the net from downtown, allowing the Panthers to narrowly escape with a victory.
Davis had a team high 12 points and game high eight rebounds while Waldman scored 11 off the bench for the Panthers, which included sinking three of the five shots she took from beyond the arc.
On Monday, the Panthers hosted Smith and got off to a shaky start. The first half of the first quarter saw Smith score seven unanswered points. As the clock approached the four minute mark, the Panthers managed to cut the lead down 7–6. However, the Panthers were unable to contain the swarming Pioneers who went on a 10–2 run to end the first quarter with a 17–8 lead.
Finding themselves down 22–10 in the second quarter, the Panthers went on an 8–2 run. Five of the eight were scored by guard Sabrina Weeks ’18, who finished with a team high 13 points. With the deficit then down to four points, 24–20, Smith scored five of the half’s final points to lead 33–24 heading into halftime. Both teams scored 16 in the second quarter.
Smith seemed to slow down when they came out for the third quarter thanks to some Middlebury halftime adjustments. The Panthers managed to hold Smith to just seven points as they ended the final the 90 seconds of the third with a 6–0 run. Behind threes from Weeks and Davis, the Panthers refused to go away and headed into the final quarter down 40–36.
The Panthers looked to even the score or take the lead when Davis converted a layup immediately into the final quarter. With the lead cut to two, the Pioneers chipped away at the Panthers, outscoring them 14–3 over the next six and a half minutes. With less than three minutes left, Middlebury trailed 54–41. Down 13, the Panthers did not have enough time to get back into it, and fell at home for the first time this season.
A short stint of quick turnarounds this past week-plus has tested the Panthers’ endurance. After suffering their first home loss, they still boast an impressive 13–5 overall record while being 3–2 in conference play.
The Panthers return to action in Pepin for a game in Nescac play as they will host Trinity this Sunday, Jan. 28, at 2 p.m.
(01/24/18 9:28pm)
Last weekend, the No. 19 Middlebury men’s squash team had an opportunity. Facing No. 16 Franklin and Marshall on Saturday and then No. 15 Cornell on Sunday at their home courts, the Panthers had a shot to boost their resume and chances of cracking the College Squash Association’s top-16 teams by the time nationals roll around next month. Unfortunately, the Panthers came up short, losing 5–4 to Franklin and Marshall and 6–3 to Cornell.
At the beginning of the season the Panthers made it their goal to earn a spot in the top 16, which would qualify them to compete in the second bracket for the Hoehn Cup at nationals next month. With losses to two teams occupying the very spots the Panthers had set their sights on, Middlebury will face an uphill battle to achieving their goal.
“Our goal of finishing in the top-16 is now difficult, but not impossible,” said team captain Ryan Swope ’18 after this weekend’s matches.
Another seasoned veteran, Will Kurth ’18 echoed the sentiments of Swope that the top 16 could still be within reach.
“Our goal is still the top-16,” said Kurth when asked if the Panthers had to redirect their aspirations. “We can compete at the level of those teams [in the top-16] and are more than eager for the opportunity to do so. We have been battling injuries and adjusting our line up accordingly.”
Injuries continue to be a problem for the Panthers. Jacob Ellen ’20 is still not at 100 percent and Nick Bermingham ’20 missed his seventh and eighth straight matches last weekend due to a nagging injury.
“In terms of injuries, Jacob [Ellen] has been playing through his soreness in his knee and is doing well,” said Swope. “Alex Merrill ’21 just returned from a long ankle injury, and Nick Bermingham will hopefully return this week having successfully rehabbed his injury for weeks now.”
Heading into play on Saturday, the top of the Panthers’ ladder had played as strong as it has for any Middlebury squad in recent memory. Typically the middle and bottom third of the ladder are strong suits for the Panthers, but this season their quintet of sophomores, Will Cembalest ’20, Ellen, Jack Kagan ’20 and Bermingham, along with Henry Pearson ’18, have played well and allowed the Panthers to compete at the top.
However, against tough competition last weekend, the Panthers only won one match in the top five slots of the ladder, which came on Sunday when Kagan jumped out to a 2–0 sets lead in the No. 3 slot against Cornell senior Jordan Brail, whose comeback attempt Kagan managed to stave off for a five sets victory.
Despite the results, the Panthers made things difficult for the Diplomats and Big Red.
“I thought everyone was pushed to play their best,” said Kurth. “The result was disappointing, but we really made these higher ranked teams ‘beat us’ rather than ‘roll over’ for the them. I thought we showed our true colors. We fought hard this weekend.”
These were some of the positives that the Panthers can take with them as they head into this weekend’s pivotal matches in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which features a date with 14th-ranked Virginia on Saturday.
A win over the Cavaliers would go a long way to helping the Panthers boost their resume.
“With a good opportunity against a beatable No. 14 UVA,” said Swope, “the top-16 finish is still attainable.”
In addition to the opportunity on Saturday against Virginia, the Panthers will also get a crack at No. 9 Drexel, No. 11 George Washington and No. 13 Navy next month before Nescacs.
Kurth believes that the Panthers can use the Nescacs as an opportunity to overcome bumps in the road they faced earlier in the season.
“I hope our results at Nescacs nullify our early results against, for example, Williams,” he said, referencing a match the Panthers dropped in Williamstown 6–3 on Jan. 6. “We are looking forward to University of Virginia, the Naval Academy, Drexel, George Washington University. We will continue to train hard and prepare for these great opportunities.”
Despite the losses, the Panthers’ best is likely in front of them because the team may have shooed away the injury bug just as it enters the season’s homestretch that features matchups against quality competition to get back on track.
“We have had a really tough go with injuries this season with as many as three players out of our lineup at times,” said Swope. But Swope asserted that things are looking up because the team believes Bermingham may have a chance to return this weekend.
“If Nick does return [for this weekend’s slate], this will be our first week with a truly full, healthy lineup,” said Swope. “We could not be more excited about that as we head to Boston to take on MIT and UVA.
“Morale is still high,” Swope said. In all, the team believes that things are trending upward.
“This [past] weekend was disappointing, if we’re speaking purely in terms of results,” said the captain. “But we are playing well and with, hopefully, a full lineup moving forward after this week, most of the guys have faith we will perform quite well.”
With their season on the line, the Panthers will be in action at MIT tomorrow afternoon in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they will take on a 22nd-ranked Engineers squad. Saturday will be the big showdown for the Panthers, as they make the short trip from MIT to Harvard where they will take on 14th-ranked Virginia.
CSA’s Men’s Squash Rankings
Nos. 10–25 (Panthers’ result when played)
10. Dartmouth (L, 0–9)
11. George Washington
12. Western Ontario
13. Navy (Feb. 9, Annapolis, MD)
14. Virginia (Sat., Cambridge, MA)
15. Cornell (L, 3–6)
16. Franklin and Marshall (L, 4–5)
“B” Bracket
“C” Bracket
17. Dickinson
18. Bates (W, 5–4)
19. MIDDLEBURY
20. Brown
21. Williams (L, 3–6)
22. MIT (tomorrow, Cambridge, MA)
23. Colby (W, 7–2)
24. Amherst (W, 9–0)
25. Hobart
(01/17/18 10:56pm)
Over winter break and into New Year’s, the country as a whole and New England in particular experienced severely cold temperatures. Vermont saw many days of below zero degree weather with temperatures in Burlington dipping to 28 below during the day and as low as 40 below at night. The cold weather even forced Jay Peak Resort to close down its upper mountain lifts; temperatures came in at 31 below zero without windchill for areas higher than 2,500 feet above sea level. Forecasters warned people to be wary of hypothermia and frostbite from the arctic blast in Vermont and large areas of the Midwest and Northeast.
The severe temperatures negatively affected many local ski areas in Vermont. According to Candice White at Sugarbush Resort, “The cold temperatures certainly had a negative impact on lift ticket purchases over the Christmas holiday. We were down in revenue.” Peter Mackey at the Snow Bowl offered a similar insight stating, “[the cold weather] impacted us negatively for sure; our busiest day was the day after Christmas, which was the only day during the holiday week above zero.”
Ben Arquit ’20, who skied in Vermont over break and explained how the cold temperatures had a big impact on skiing in Vermont: “Many people, especially families, chose to stay home on days where the wind chill resulted in temperatures of 40 below zero. One day was so cold (55 below with wind chill) that Killington, the biggest ski area in the east, had to close for a whole day for the first time in recent memory. The mountains were definitely less crowded than usual during the winter break.”
Towards the end of break, the country experienced another round of drastic weather in the form of a ‘bomb cyclone.’ ‘Bombing’ occurs when a low pressure system’s central pressure falls 24 millibars in 24 hours or less. The country saw the effects of the bomb cyclone on a large scale. The storm’s path through some of the busiest air travel corridors in the country also prompted airlines to cancel more than 4,000 flights and delay 2,000 more. Boston’s Long Wharf was impacted by a three-foot tidal surge that pushed floodwaters into buildings and down the steps of the Aquarium mass transit station.
According to White, “The recent bomb cyclone brought us Winter Storm Grayson, which delivered some terrific snow, driving skier visits, also brought cold temperatures, which typically negatively impact skier visits.”
“Following break, the bomb cyclone was awesome for the ski areas. More than a foot of snow was welcome news to many of the resorts after a cold, icy break,” Arquit said. “The Snow Bowl especially benefited and was fully open by the beginning of J-Term.”
“The bomb cyclone affected us very positively but, unfortunately, only for a short time. We were in full operation for a few days with great conditions even where we don’t make snow,” said Mackey.
In the next phase of dramatic weather, Vermont saw unusually warm temperatures in early January that negatively affected skiing. “The warm temperatures were accompanied by almost two inches of rain, which hits our natural snow trails fairly hard. Our man made snow trails, which make up 70 percent of the mountain, can withstand the rain much better. On Jan. 13, we closed many of our natural trails for the day. The changeover from rain to cold temperatures also caused some icing on our lifts, which caused delayed openings on some lifts. And the winds were strong, which caused wind-hold on some upper-mountain lifts,” said White.
Mackey explained how, “We’re only operating the Sheehan Chair presently while we make snow on the Worth Mt. Chair to make those snowmaking trails safe. Two to three feet of natural snow that we accumulated over the course of a month basically disappeared within 36 hours!”
Arquit further described the impact on the snow bowl stating, “Unfortunately, the recent warm weather dealt a blow to the Bowl. Even as temps dropped this weekend, only one lift at the Bowl was open. Luckily, they are blowing lots of snow and should be back fully open within a few days.”
“We’re experiencing extreme weather and extreme swings in the weather,” Mackey described, “going from 10 degrees and full operation on Wednesday (Jan. 10) to 53 degrees with one lift open two days later and back to 13 degrees the next – that’s a 73 temperature swing over the course of 3 days!”
“This business is fickle - we’ve certainly had better years. It’s tough when any holiday period is impacted by the weather, because they are critical to our success,” White said.
(01/17/18 10:12pm)
Middlebury women’s hockey had quite a time this past weekend, taking to the road to handle UMass Boston on Friday, Jan. 12, and Endicott on Saturday, Jan. 13. In both contests, the Panthers blanked their opponents 5–0, outshooting UMass Boston by a margin of 40-19 and Endicott by 33–16. Middlebury now sits at 8–3–1, with their only loss in 2018 coming on Jan. 8 against Connecticut College.
During the first contest, Middlebury made use of their special teams, scoring the opening goal shorthanded after Anna Zumwinkle ’20 received a two-minute penalty for interference. Jessica Young ’18 brought the puck up on the left wing, gliding towards the goal, before centering a pass to Maddie Winslow ’18 who blasted the puck into the net. In the final minute of the first quarter, the Panthers doubled their lead thanks to a shot by Haley LaFontaine ’18. LaFontaine’s goal, as with the rest that followed, would only serve as insurance to add to Middlebury’s margin of victory in the shutout.
In the middle stanza, the Panthers ramped up the offensive pressure. Although just two shots went in, the Panthers took a stunning 22 shots on goal, including eight within the first five minutes by eight different players. Young had the closest bid, hitting the pipe before the puck ricocheted back into play.
Undeterred, the Panthers continued challenging the Beacon goalie until their persistence finally paid off at the 16:15 mark. Collecting her own rebound, Young nested a shot into the back of the net with a beautiful backhand, extending it to a 3–0 lead. In the final minute, the guests added another point to their lead: Zumwinkle blasted a shot that was batted away, but Elizabeth Wulf ’18 poked in the rebound. Wulf’s score not only gave the Panthers a 4–0 lead, but also extended her five-game point streak.
The Beacons had a chance to score in the opening minutes of the third and final stanza, but Julia Neuburger ’18, who posted 19 saves, batted away the attempt. The Panthers added their last score of the game on a power-play opportunity. With a five-on-four advantage, Jenna Marotta ’19 and Madie Liedt ’21 helped to find Young at the top of the left key, where she finished for her team leading ninth goal of the season.
“We went into the weekend knowing these were going to be two tough opponents, so had the mentality of playing our game at the level we are capable,” said Wulf. “Against UMass Boston, we generated a lot of scoring chances and it was just a matter of capitalizing and finishing on those opportunities which did, especially at the ends of periods, give us momentum going into the next period.”
Against Endicott on Saturday, Middlebury leapt out to an early 1–0 lead. Wulf continued her hot streak when she collected a rebound from Katherine Jackson ’19 and put it through the outstretched glove of the Gulls’ goalie. The hosts had a pair of opportunities to score, but Lin Han ’20 made back-to-back saves to preserve the 1–0 lead.
In the second stanza, the Gulls were looking at a potential breakaway score from the right side, but Han remained steady and calmly batted the puck away. Later in the frame, Leidt carried the puck down into Endicott’s zone from the left wing before wristing a shot pass Endicott’s goalie to give the Panthers a 2–0 lead.
Even though Middlebury was relatively slow to start in the first two periods and entered the third stanza with a four-on-five disadvantage, the guests did not waste any time scoring in the final period. Right as the power-play ended for the Gulls, LaFontaine found the puck and passed it off to Lied cutting down the ice, who netted the third team goal and the her second of the game. A minute later, Janka Hlinka ’18 won a faceoff and fed the puck to Winslow, who deposited the shot into the back of the net for the fourth score of the game.
With a 4–0 lead, Endicott fought for a chance, but Han deterred every shot. The Panthers could smell the shutout; to seal the game, Jackson found the back of the Gulls’ net after a feed by Sydney Porter ’20. Endicott mustered a couple attempts, but they could not come back and the Panthers capped the weekend with a combined 10–0 in final scores.
Wulf commented on the momentum the team build over the weekend, hoping to build further upon it in the future. “We did not have as strong of a first period as we wanted,” she said, “but we came out hard in the second and third and put more pressure on their defense and finished our chances.
“The weekend was a testament to our focus on playing good defense, great goalie play, and our determination to generate and finish more scoring chances. Overall, we had a great weekend, and we hope to carry that play into the rest of the season!”
(01/17/18 10:06pm)
While the campus was silent over winter break, the men’s hockey team made some noise down on the ice in Kenyon Arena. In their annual Middlebury Holiday Classic, the hosts shutout St. Michael’s 4–0 and slipped past the number three ranked Oswego State 4–3 on their road to victory. The Panthers came back from their successful weekend to face conference foes on home ice on Saturday, Jan. 6. But, their win streak was cut short as the men fell to both Wesleyan 6–1 and Trinity 3–0. Middlebury had another opportunity at home to entertain their loyal fans, but Plattsburgh State held tough and skated past the Panthers with a 3–2 win.
Middlebury showed signs of brilliance on Saturday, Dec. 30, sweeping the visiting St. Michael’s.
It was an even fight throughout the first stanza, with both Vermont teams unable to sneak the puck past their respective goalies. It was not until seconds into the second period that Owen Powers ’20 put the Panthers on the board, giving them the edge over the Purple Knights. He sent the shot to the right post with help from David Belluche ’18. Belluche was not finished yet, as he capitalized off of a perfect pass from Mitchell Allen ’20. This second tally gave the Panthers some room to breathe, but the hosts offense showed no signs of slowing. In the final period Danny Tighe ’20 and Trevor Turnbull ’20 slapped in two more goals to secure their advancement into the finals of the tournament.
Coming off of a strong showing the day before, the men skated confidently into the rink to upset third-ranked Oswego State 4–3 on Sunday, Dec. 31. The win is the highpoint for the program that continues to stay on schedule with its rebuild.
Oswego’s Tyson Bruce was the first player to knock a goal back in the first three minutes. But it took the Panthers no time to respond. Turnbull came up with the answer within minutes for his second goal of the weekend. After 13 minutes of evenly matched play, the Lakers overcame the Middlebury defense and notched a second tally to their score.
A 2–1 deficit did not intimidate the Panthers, which Belluche proved true as he countered the Lakers’ shot. With some help from Powers, Belluche evened the score at 2–2 as the team entered the second stanza. The middle period remained scoreless thanks to Stephen Klein ’18, blocking slaps from the Lakers with ease in order to keep his teammates in the game. Middlebury found a way to steal the lead from Oswego at 6:27 in the final period. Charlie Lawrence ’21 energized the crowd with a goal off of a pass from Allen. After ten minutes, the Lakers netted a shot past the Middlebury goalie off of a power play.
With the game on the line and the clock counting down, Allen was able to hammer a shot past the St. Michael’s goalie and lift the Panthers past the nationally ranked team.
Turnbull reflected on the victorious weekend.
“It was amazing to get a win like that at home,” said Turnbull. “As far as the games go, I think we just kept our play simple against Oswego and outworked them for three periods straight. We definitely surprised them but when we play with that confidence we showed we can beat anyone. On top of that it was also our seniors first tournament championship so to be able to give them that was something a lot of us will always remember.”
Unsurprisingly, Klein received the tournament’s most valuable player considering he closed out the tournament with 34 saves and 65–68 stopped shots. Powers and Belluche earned themselves a spot on the all-tournament team.
The Panthers returned the following weekend to compete against Nescac rivals. Wesleyan visited Kenyon Arena on Saturday, Jan. 6, and outplayed Middlebury 6–1.
Wesleyan tallied two goals within the first ten minutes of the first stanza. The Cardinals revealed its impressive offense, as Dylan Holze pelted a shot past Klein and Cam McCusker finished off a rebound. Trailing by two, Middlebury found a solution when Alex Heinritz ’21 broke through the Wesleyan defense and scored his first collegiate goal within minutes of the second period. But, the Cardinals quickly slid a shot past the Panthers just a minute later, as Vincent Lima earned one of two goals he would go on to score in the match. Lima increased the lead to 4–1 just before the second stanza came to a close.
In the final period, the Panthers were unable to find a way past the unrelenting Wesleyan defense despite their previous weekend’s success. Although the hosts were given multiple scoring opportunities, earning four power plays, each one was denied, and the visitors successfully netted two more strikes past Klein to bring the final score to 6–1.
On Sunday, Jan. 7, the men took to the ice for a matchup against the second conference opponent of the weekend, Trinity. Middlebury fell to the third-ranked Bantams 3–0.
The teams showed an even matchup as neither team was denied all opportunities to reach the scoreboard until the third period. Klein once again was a major contributor to the scoreless first two periods, as he was able to reject all of the 13 slaps Trinity sent his way within the first 20 minutes. He closed out the match refusing 39 shots, while Bantam goalie left with 18 stops.
All was silent on the rink until visiting team’s Dylan Healey pelted the puck past Klein in the first breaths of the third stanza. Barclay Gammill doubled Trinity’s lead to promise them a win of 3–0 over their Nescac foe.
The Panthers had their most recent competition this past Friday, Jan. 12 on Kenyon Arena against Plattsburgh State. With winter break now over, the Panthers had a chance to show off their skills to their classmates in the stands. But, the Panthers could not deliver as the visitors stole the win from them 3–2.
Vincent Gisonti ’18 swiped a rebound past the Plattsburgh goalie to give the Panthers an early lead within the first six minutes. After just 50 seconds, visiting Mike Falanga returned the favor as he took advantage of a rebound and swiped a shot past Klein. Both teams collected two more goals in the first stanza, entering the second with a tie of 2–2. At the 11:57 mark in the middle period, Andrew Pizzo netted the deciding goal of the competition. Both teams would hold scoreless for the remaining time periods, and Plattsburgh would come out over the Panthers 3–2.
On Tuesday, Jan. 16, Middlebury fell at home to No. 10 Norwich 5–1. With the score tied at 1, the Cadets scored four unanswered goals to skate past the Panthers. Connor Lloyd ’20 scored Middlebury’s lone goal in the first period, the first goal of his Panther career.
The Panthers have showed signs that they are capable of beating top-notch competition. Look no further than their 4–3 victory of Oswego State.
Next up the 3–11 Panthers head to Waterville, Maine, to take on Colby tomorrow night at 7 p.m.
(01/17/18 10:04pm)
The women’s squash team has been on top of its game since the turn of the calendar year to 2018. With a busy J-term, their rigorous practice schedule seems to be paying off. With a recent weekend sweep, the Panthers now hold a 1–0 conference record and 6–2 mark overall. They were 15th in the College Squash Association rankings heading into winter break and, with their recent results, they should maintain that spot.
Middlebury started the new year off with a tough loss to 14th-ranked Williams. Anne Glassie ’20 got the team’s only point as she won a five-set match over Williams’ Ananya Mahlingam-Dhingra in the fourth slot, with the score of 11–8, 11–9, 9–11, 4–11, 14–12. With her team down 8–0, Glassie’s win allowed the Panthers to walk out of Williams’ Simon Squash Center on a positive note.
After a 7–2 victory over No. 16 Amherst, the Panthers hit the road last weekend and stayed the weekend in Maine. That evening, the Panthers came out on top in one of their tightest matches of the season against Bates in a teeth-clenching 5–4 victory. Bates grabbed an early lead with a win at No. 3, but Lily Bogle ’18 quickly tied the match with a 9–11, 11–8, 11–4, 11–2 victory over Katie Bull at the bottom of the ladder.
After Bates took another match to go up 2–1, Mira Chugh ’20 brought the match to 2–2 with an easy straight-sets victory in the eighth slot (11–1, 11–3, 11–2).
Once again, the Bobcats regained a narrow edge after Kristyna Alexova defeated Bostwick in straight-sets in the second slot, but Emily Beinkampen ’21 tied it up for the Panthers with a straight-sets victory of her own in the seventh slot (11–7, 11–5, 11–5). Natalie Madden ’21 earned a hard-fought, four-set victory to give the Panthers the momentary lead. After dropping the second set 9–11, which tied things up at one set apiece, Madden pulled off back-to-back 12–10 victories over Katie Manternach in what was the match and performance of the day. After Bates evened things up, it set up a rubber match situation with Glassie still left to complete her match in the fourth slot. She did so in intense straight-set fashion, beating Maeve O’Brien 11–7, 13–11, 11–8.
The No. 15 Panthers took on No. 22 Colby the next day. In a complete sweep, the Panthers were led by Lowitt at the bottom of the ladder, who eased past her opponent with scores of 11–4, 11–1, 11–7, the recently-returned-from-abroad No. 3 Alexa Comai ’19 who won 11–6, 11–8, 11–7 and Beinkampen in the sixth slot who won by scores of 11–7, 11–4, 11–4. The second wave of wins came from the top-half of the ladder as Virginia Schaus ’21 won in the fifth slot 11–7, 13–11, 11–5, No. 2 Bostwick (14–12, 11–7, 11–4) and No. 4 Madden (11-6, 11–7, 11–4). Beatrijs Kuijpers ’19, who also recently returned from a semester abroad, won in the first slot 11–4, 11–8, 11–5, No. 7 Chugh won 11–4, 11–9, 11–5 and, finally, closing out the 9–0 sweep was Bogle who earned a victory in the eighth slot by scores of 11–6, 11–9, 11–7.
The Panthers rounded out the Maine trip with another complete sweep against Bowdoin on the same day. Middlebury quickly took a 3–0 advantage with another dominant performance at the bottom of the ladder from Lowitt (11–0, 11–0, 11–2), an almost equally dominant victory from Beinkampen in the sixth spot (11–2, 11–5, 11–2) and a four-set win by Comai in the third slot (7–11, 11–4, 11–5, 11–2). Chugh surrendered just eight points in the seventh spot (11–4, 11–0, 11–4). Bostwick tallied the eighth point with a four-game win at No. 2 (11–7, 8–11, 11–6, 11–4), and the No. 1, Kuijpers, concluded the scoring at No. 1 (11–2, 11–8, 11–6).
Yesterday afternoon the Panthers took on Trinity, who is coming off suffering its first loss of the season to Princeton. This weekend the Panthers will be playing Franklin & Marshall and Cornell at the squash center.
(01/17/18 10:02pm)
The men’s squash team will enter this weekend with an opportunity to beat teams more highly ranked in the College Squash Association poll. A win over either No. 15 Franklin & Marshall or No. 16 Cornell would go a long way to helping the Panthers stay in the running for a top 16 ranking to qualify them for the second division at the national championships and a chance to compete for the Hoehn Cup.
In their last match before winter break, the Panthers hosted No. 10 Dartmouth at the squash center. Already a tall task for the Panthers, they were without Jacob Ellen ’20, who missed the match with a leg injury. Despite the setback to Ellen and the eventual 9–0 defeat at the hands of the Big Green, there were many positive takeaways for the Panthers.
The most notable performance of the match was that of Will Cembalest ’20. Cembalest showed excellent skill, raw talent and a willingness to take risks throughout his first-year season last year. In the Dartmouth match, Cembalest was tasked with facing Dartmouth’s No. 1, Alvin Huemann, a senior who finished 12th in the top bracket at last year’s individual championships. For reference, Cembalest finished 67th at last year’s individual championships. For those of you doing the math at home, that is a difference of 55 spots. But you would never have known that by watching Cembalest put Huemann on the ropes in December.
“Dartmouth has a very strong men’s program,” Cembalest said. “I knew how good the No. 1 [Huemann] would be, so it was little pressure going into the match.”
Cembalest lost in straight sets, but that is misleading. He probably should have won the first two sets as he held an 8–6 lead and set point opportunities in both of them. Regardless of the outcome, Cembalest went shot-for-shot with Huemann, mixing in a couple of slick backhands, changes of pace and shots to keep Dartmouth’s No. 1 on his heels.
“I knew the kid was tall and physically strong,” Cembalest explained, “so my game plan was to be very patient and try to volley as much as possible. Making as few mistakes as I could and keeping the ball in play would get me the most success.”
While the loss to Dartmouth was not the way the Panthers hoped to leave things for the break, they showed signs of progress, especially among the slew of sophomores on the top half of the ladder. However, when the Panthers returned to action on Saturday, Jan. 6, they lost 6–3 at the hands of No. 21 Williams on the road.
Last season, the Panthers split their two matches with Williams, both of which were 5–4 nail biters. However, they were without Ellen in the match they lost.
This time around, the Panthers dropped the match 6–3, although they had the services of Ellen at full strength. Cembalest continued his roll with a straight-set victory, all by a score of 11–7, against the Ephs’ No. 1 Will Means. Ellen, in his return, fell in the second slot to John Fitzgerald who Ellen had split his pair of matchups with last year.
Part of the challenge in the Williams match was a hamstring injury to Nick Bermingham ’20. Without Bermingham to occupy the fourth slot, everyone from there on down had to play a spot up.
This proved to be no problem for the Panthers’ pair of first-years in the middle of the ladder, Wiatt Hinton ’21 and John Epley ’21. Hinton won a hard-fought, down-to-the-wire victory in the No. 5 match. In doing so, he managed to overcome a 13–11 setback in the first set and a 2–1 set deficit by taking a marathon fourth set 13–11 and an 11–5 victory in the rubber match. Epley won his matchup in the sixth spot in straight sets. He won the first two of those 11–5 and 11–4 before having to outlast the Williams No. 6, David Pincus, 12–10 in the final game.
Further down the ladder the Panthers had a harder time adjusting. Williams took all matches in the No. 7 through No. 9 slots, although Sam Giddens ’18 and team captain Ryan Swope ’18 managed to take a game off of their opponents at the bottom of the ladder.
After the setback against Williams, the Panthers had four days to recuperate before they hosted No. 24 Amherst a week before yesterday, Jan. 10, at the squash courts for a matinée. In a match the Panthers needed to win to keep their goal of cracking the top 16 in play, they rose to the occasion, easily dispatching the Mammoths 9–0. The top two-thirds of the ladder played exceptionally well for the Panthers as they made it through the match without dropping a set.
With the win over Amherst in hand, the Panthers began their yearly Maine round-tripper with their most important match of the year to date against Bates in Lewiston.
Bermingham was again not in the lineup, but the Panthers managed to win 5–4. Ellen and Jack Kagan ’20 headlined the Panthers’ efforts with wins in the second and third slots, each doing so in four sets. In the top slot, Cembalest lost in four sets, but did so in close fashion.
Cembalest dominated the first set with an 11–2 victory. After falling 11–7 and 11–6 in closely contested sets, he almost slipped by Yousry in the fourth set before dropping it 13–11.
“My match against Bates was a good experience for me,” said Cembalest. “[Yousry] came out slow in the first game and I was ready on the first point. This boosted my confidence, but possibly too far that I was a little bit thrown off by how he turned it around in the second game. He was a very talented player with a large crowd at his home courts, so it was difficult to outperform him on that day. I am happy with my performance.”
With Ellen limited by injuries and with Cembalest playing excellent squash, for the moment Cembalest has claimed the No. 1 slot on the ladder.
“I have been working extra hard this season on court and have put a lot of time into my mental game,” said Cembalest. “I put in numerous hours at the end of the summer working on fitness and my movement on the court. It feels awesome to see the results from my pre-season work.”
Following the Bates win, the Panthers travelled the next day to Waterville to play No. 23 Colby at the Mules’ Dunaway Squash Center, where they won easily 7–2. Kagan and Pearson continued playing well even though they were slotted up due to Cembalest’s tweak of an ankle in the Bates match the day before. Kagan continued to prove he is capable of winning in the No. 2 position as he played his opponent to scores of 11–5 and 6–11 before he finished off Colby’s No. 2 with a pair of 11–6 scores. Kagan is now 2–1 in the second slot on the season and 3–1 in the third slot.
“I’ve been really excited about and impressed with the top four this season,” Kagan said of the slew of sophomores at the top half of the ladder. “We don’t typically have a top group that we can count on to always put up points; we often rely on the middle or our depth to beat teams.”
This year has proven different and the most promising aspect is that the top performers are sophomores.
“I have to feel confident about our top four,” said Kagan. “It takes pressure off of the bottom guys while giving the top guys a big confidence boost.”
All of this has not come without hard work, though.
“I would have to attribute this to work everyone did in the summer and the fall,” Kagan said. “We’re all just better players than we were a year ago, simply put. We really have been able to match up with most of our opponents this year from the top to the bottom and that’s a good thing to see looking forward.”
Pearson and Hinton also kept the Panthers rolling against Colby, as Pearson won in the third slot in a set sequence of 11–9, 11–4, 7–11 and 11–7. Hinton split his first two sets against the Colby No. 4 before taking the third set 11–5 and holding on for a 13–11 victory in a marathon fourth set. After defeating his Bowdoin opponent, Hinton now has a five match winning streak, leading Kagan, Ellen, Swope and Will Kurth ’18 each by one match for the longest current winning streak by a Panther.
After defeating Colby, the Panthers got back on the bus and travelled approximately 50 miles south to Brunswick where they took on Bowdoin at the Polar Bears’ Lubin Squash Center to wrap up the Maine trip.
Still without the previously red-hot Cembalest, the Panthers nonetheless won easily against Bowdoin, 7–2. Ellen was dominant in the top position, allowing only four points in the first set and then only two each in the second and third sets. Kagan once again won in the second position, also in straight sets. The match of the match was probably Thomas Wolpow ’20’s.
In the No. 6 spot, Wolpow found himself down out of the gate when he dropped the first set 11–7. He nearly evened the match in the second set, but the Polar Bears’ No. 6, Uday Khanna, edged him out 13–11. Wolpow battled back even though he could have shut it down in the third set. In another nail-biter, he flipped the script in the third set and won 13–11, which shifted the momentum firmly to his side. After winning the fourth set 11–7, Wolpow gutted out a victory in the deciding fifth set 11–9.
With the annual Maine trip behind them, the Panthers now head into a weekend that can help their chances of qualifying for the top 16. By winning at least one of their two matchups with F&M and Cornell, they will be firmly in the conversation to qualify to compete for the Hoehn Cup.
“Success in this weekend’s matches,” Kagan said, “is [us] winning one or two of those. We beat Bates who is ahead of us, but lost to Williams who is behind us. There’s some teams in our range who we don’t play in the regular season, so to reach our goal of top 16 in the country, beating No. 15 [F&M] or No. 16 [Cornell] would be a huge help to our case. We lost a tight 5–4 match to F&M last year and we’re out to flip that one this year for sure, having them at home this time. We see these two matches as 100 percent winnable.”
Added Cembalest: “I am really looking forward to Cornell and Franklin and Marshall next weekend where I will be playing more top-ranked players. I’m looking to bring the heat on my home courts.”
You can catch both the men’s and women’s squads in action this coming weekend at the squash courts. They take on F&M on Saturday at 11 a.m. and Cornell on Sunday at noon.
(01/17/18 9:59pm)
The men’s basketball season can be split into three phases. The first ended with the team’s 91–76 win over previously undefeated No. 16 Skidmore on Friday, Dec. 8. Its second phase occurred over the break, when the Panthers experienced their first road bumps of the season and lost their first three (and only) games so far. Now, the team is in its third phase as they have experienced a resurgence since the beginning of J-term, including Nescac victories over Bates 82–76 on Friday, Jan. 12, and Tufts 78–63 on Saturday, Jan. 13. After this stretch of nine games, Middlebury stands at 12–3 overall and 3–1 in the Nescac, good for a three-way tie in the conference with Tufts and Williams and a half-game behind undefeated Hamilton.
In its final game before winter break, Middlebury travelled to Skidmore and managed to recover from a 38–34 halftime deficit with a monstrous 57-point second half that propelled them to a 91–76 defeat of the Thoroughbreds.
The Panthers’ starting-five led the way offensively, scoring 82 of the team’s 91 points. Jack Farrell ’21 tallied a career-high 22 points, while Nick Tarantino ’18 added 20 and a career-high 17 rebounds. Entering the game, the Panthers ranked second nationally, behind only undefeated Whitman.
After final exams and returning home for break, Middlebury returned to campus for a couple days of practice, before heading south to play in the Washington & Lee Holiday Tournament. In their first game of the tournament, the Panthers faced their second-consecutive undefeated opponent in No. 25 York (Pa.) on Friday, Dec. 29. Down 70–60 with only 4:16 remaining in regulation, the Panthers reeled off a 14–2 run to take a two-point lead with 36 seconds left. York responded with a late layup to tie the game and force overtime.
York jumped out to an eight-point lead in overtime, but Middlebury came right back with an 8–2 spurt to get within two points with 10 seconds left. York then turned the ball over, but Middlebury gave it right back and York sank one free throw to take a three-point lead. Farrell had a look to tie, but his three bounced off the back of the rim. The Panthers lost their first game of the season in overtime to York, 90–87.
Middlebury’s starting five once again did most of the scoring, tallying 73 of the team’s 87 points. Matt Folger ’20 and Jack Daly ’18 led the pack with 22 and 20, respectively.
The Panthers rebounded from its first loss of the season in the consolation game of the Washington & Lee tournament, handling Clarks Summit 81–58. Daly was the only Middlebury scorer in double digits with 16 points on an efficient five-of-eight shooting from the field. He added eight rebounds and six assists.
The following Tuesday, Jan. 2, No. 4 Middlebury returned home to host No. 12 Swarthmore. The Garnet built a 47–32 halftime lead that the Panthers could not recover from, as the visitors came away with a 91–75 victory. Folger scored 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Daly and Eric McCord ’19 both added 12 points in the Middlebury loss.
Middlebury took a 7–2 record into Nescac play when they travelled to Connecticut for games at Connecticut College on Friday, Jan. 5, and at Wesleyan on Saturday, Jan. 6. The Panthers doubled the Camels’ first half total to take a commanding 46–23 lead into the locker room, and cruised to an 82–60 win in their first conference game. Folger led the way again with 16 points, while five other Panthers scored at least eight points.
In a back-and-forth affair, No. 12 Wesleyan outlasted Middlebury the following night 80–70. Daly scored a game-high 21 points, grabbed a season-high 15 rebounds, and assisted on eight baskets. However, the Cardinals got to the line far more often and shot 28 more free throws in their 10-point victory.
Two days later, on Monday, Jan. 8, Middlebury had another non-conference game at home against Morrisville State. The Panthers won 85–64 with a balanced scoring effort, as Hilal Dahleh ’19, McCord and Adisa Majors ’18 all scored 12 points. Daly made only one shot from the field, but handed out a career-high 14 assists.
On Friday, Jan. 12, Middlebury played its first home Nescac game against Bates. The Bobcats built the largest lead of the contest in the first half when they led 43–31. However, the Panthers scored the last four points of the first half and extended their run into the second half, tying the score at 48. Middlebury went ahead by as many as seven two times, but Bates cut the lead to one, 71–70, with 2:32 left. Folger and Daly closed the game out by scoring Middlebury’s last thirteen points and leading the Panthers to a 82–76 victory.
A game after recording his career-high in assists, Daly scored a career-high 26 points, along with nine rebounds and eight assists. In coming from behind in the second half, Middlebury shot a blistering 64 percent from the field to outscore Bates 47–33.
The next night, the Panthers came from behind once more in Pepin Gym to knock off Tufts, who was previously undefeated in the Nescac, 78–63. Tufts led by as many as ten points in the first half, and took a 38–36 lead into halftime. Middlebury led 52–51 at the 13-minute mark, before going on a 14–0 run to put the game out of the Jumbos’ reach. The Panthers secured a 78–63 win by outscoring Tufts 42–25 in the second half, holding the visitors to only 24 percent shooting in the final twenty minutes.
Middlebury dominated on the boards, out-rebounding Tufts 70–41 and grabbing 33 offensive rebounds. McCord retrieved a career-high 15 rebounds and added 13 points, while Daly scored 16 and Folger tallied 15.
On Jan. 15, Small College Basketball released its Top 100 Watchlist for the 2017–18 Bevo Francis Award, given to the best player from Division II, Division III, the NAIA, USCAA, and NCAA men’s basketball. Daly was named to the watchlist, after averaging 16.4 points, 8.8 assists, and 8.6 rebounds per game in Middlebury’s first 14 contests. Daly also recorded what is believed to be the first triple-double in the program’s history. He is also leading the nation in assists per-game with 8.8.
On Tuesday, Jan. 16, the Panthers fell behind in their third straight game, this time to Albertus Magnus in Pepin Gym. At halftime, the Falcons led 36–34. Middlebury took a 57–47 lead with 8:37 left in regulation, and led 64–56 with just under five minutes. But Albertus Magnus scored 10 out of the last 12 points in regulation, including two free throws with 20 seconds left to force overtime.
Tied at 71 with a little over one minute remaining in overtime, Daly scored on a fastbreak layup to put Middlebury ahead for good. The Panthers scored the last six points of the game to outlast Albertus Magnus 77–71.
Daly scored 22 points to lead the Panthers, while Folger, Dahleh, and Joey Leighton ’20 all added nine. With nine assists, Daly brought his career assist mark to 503, becoming the third player in program history to record 500 assists.
Middlebury returns to the court on Saturday, Jan. 20, when it hosts Williams in an anticipated matchup between Nescac rivals. Last season, Williams beat Middlebury in the regular season, Middlebury got revenge in the Nescac championship game, but the Ephs got the last laugh in the NCAA Quarterfinals. Their rankings once they come out and records. On Sunday, Jan. 21, the Panthers travel to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, to face non-conference opponent Pine Manor.
(01/17/18 9:55pm)
In two games away on the road, Middlebury suffered its first Nescac loss of the season Friday, Jan. 12, to Bates by a narrow margin of 60–57. The Panthers were unable to bounce back from the loss as they also fell to Tufts Jumbos 61–45 the next day, Saturday, Jan. 13.
With just a one-point lead at the end of the first, Middlebury and Bates were exchanging well. Neither team secured a lead larger than three. The two teams went on to continue the back-and-forth with Middlebury holding a 28–26 lead after the first half.
Within the first minute of the third quarter, Bates was able to gain a 31–28 lead with baskets coming from Melanie Binkhorst, and a three-pointer by Emily Fredland. The Panthers fought back, managing to lead twice, but were unable to maintain a comfortable lead trailing 44–40 heading into the fourth.
With the score at 49–44 three minutes into the final quarter, the Panthers rallied a 5–0 run with Sarah Kauffman ’18 scoring a layup. Bates responded with a run of their own, breaking the deadlock and eventually gaining a 57–51 lead with around a minute remaining. Forward Betsy Knox ’20 managed to convert a three-point play with 37 seconds on the clock to cut the Bobcats’ lead to three. Bates managed to get a quick three-pointer to extend their lead to 6 down the stretch, to which Kaufman responded with a three-pointer of her own.
Kauffman led the Panthers in scoring with 15 and forward Maya Davis ‘20 had a game-high eight rebounds. The Panthers seemed to have done everything right, having fewer turnovers, out rebounding the Bobcats 33–30, and the bench pouring in a 15-point performance compared to Bates’ six.
In its second game, Middlebury were down eight to Tufts 14–6 after the first quarter. A 10–2 run halfway into the second quarter enabled the Panthers to be within two with 3:27 before the half. Knox led the way during the run with six points before Tufts grabbed a bucket to solidify a 25–21 lead entering the second half.
Roughly three minutes into the third quarter, Davis pulled off a three-point play to give the Panthers a 27–25 advantage. Just as the Panthers were going to close in on the lead, the Jumbos ran rampant with a 16–2 run for the next five minutes. With the score at 41–29, Middlebury scored eight of the next 13 to make the score 46-37. Sabrina Weeks ’18 scored four during the 8–5 exchange.
The Jumbos went on a 7–0 run midway into the final quarter to give themselves a comfortable lead of 56–39 with just over three minutes to play. After a few more exchanges, Tufts secured a solid victory over the Panthers, 61–45.
Knox led the Panthers in three statistical categories with 12 points, six rebounds, and two assists.
Middlebury will take on Williams on Saturday, Jan. 20, in Massachusetts before returning home Monday Jan. 22, to host Smith College.
(12/24/17 3:42am)
A Middlebury College student posted a “List of Men to Avoid” on Facebook last week, publicly accusing 33 current and former male students of sexual misconduct.
The list originally contained 16 names, but was added to throughout the day Wednesday, Dec. 13, until it was removed from Facebook. Beside each name was a brief description of the person’s alleged actions, ranging from “emotionally manipulative” to “serial rapist.”
“Feel free to dm me more names to add to this status because I could really give a f[—] about protecting the privacy of abusers,” the student, Elizabeth Dunn ’18, wrote in the post, adding a heart emoji.
It is unclear how many people submitted names to Dunn. The Campus is withholding the names of accused students because it could not independently substantiate each claim.
Physical copies of the list were posted in prominent locations around campus, including dining halls and dorms. The printed lists had “#ME TOO” emblazoned in large letters. The appearance of the list shook a campus engrossed in final exams just as students were preparing for winter break.
The list drew explicit parallels to the recent spate of sexual misconduct allegations that have forced the ouster of famous people from positions of power, including Harvey Weinstein and Sen. Al Franken — though none of the current or former students named are public figures.
“Something that’s been weighing me down for a while, especially after the #metoo movement, is how incredibly visible survivors can be, and yet how invisible the ones who violated our boundaries remain,” the student wrote in the original post. The student lamented seeing “people associate with those who have perpetuated this violence as if nothing has happened.”
The list appeared days before actor Matt Damon drew heated criticism for saying that “there’s a spectrum of behavior” when it comes to sexual misconduct, and that “patting someone on the butt” should not be conflated with rape. Earlier this month, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand rejected that view, saying, “You need to draw a line in the sand and say none of it is O.K. None of it is acceptable.”
At Middlebury, the list described some students as “serial rapist” and others as having committed “sexual harassment.” One student was described as treating “women but especially Black women like shit.” Another was said to have made “fetishistic, racist, sexual comments about Black women.”
The list concluded with this: “Here’s to not being complicit in 2018.”
The college responded the next day by advocating its judicial process. Katy Smith Abbott, outgoing dean of the college, said in an all-campus email on Dec. 14 that sexual misconduct should be reported to the college’s judicial officers, Karen Guttentag and Brian Lind.
“We have a dedicated professional staff with enormous expertise in handling these cases,” the email said.
Smith Abbott’s email was co-signed by Baishakhi Taylor, her interim replacement beginning Jan. 1.
The deans later sent a second email addressing concerns about the list’s public and unvetted nature.
“Public allegations should not take the place of our established procedures,” the deans said on Dec. 15. “These procedures exist to encourage reporting, to ensure that allegations are investigated thoroughly and confidentially, and to see to it that all parties are treated fairly.”
The deans also encouraged people who think they were “falsely accused of misconduct in a public forum” to contact the judicial officers.
The officers would “gather information from any student who makes a complaint that a policy has been violated, will evaluate the information to determine which policies may be implicated, and will ensure that the conduct is addressed through the appropriate process,” according to the deans.
