Sports Features

Sports

American University Winter Sports Preview Edition: Women's basketball

By Justin Hall | November 9

The return of dribbling basketballs, squeaking sneakers and bouncing ponytails has signaled the return of the AU women's basketball team to the court for the 2006-2007 season. Led by third-year coach Melissa McFarrin, the Eagles look to improve on last season's 7-21 (4-10 PL) record, which saw them finish seventh in the final league standings.

---

Sports

American University Winter Sports Preview Edition

By Patrick Ambrosio | November 9

Men's basketball After a disappointing 2005-'06 season that started out with a six-game losing streak and ended with a 14 point loss to Bucknell in the second round of the Patriot League Tournament, the AU men's basketball team hope that their status as one of the most experienced teams in the PL will make them serious contenders for the league title.

---

Sports

American University Winter Sports Preview Edition: Swimming and Diving

November 9

The men's team lost three valuable seniors in Steve Brennan, Kevin Falkenstein and Valery Fomenko but will rely on juniors Matt Bank, Joe Coronato, Chris Leggett, Dan Nagelberg and Taylor Smith. Bank is the team's leading returner, as he scored the most points out of any of the current swimmers at last year's PL championships.

---

Sports

Men's basketball wins pair of exhibition games

By Patrick Ambrosio | November 6

AU 66 - Carleton 64 Brayden Billbe scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Eagles to an overtime victory over four-time Canadian National Champion Carleton University Thursday night. AU trailed for most of the first half, with Carleton leading by as many as eight points.

---

Sports

Field hockey wins fourth straight Patriot League championship with 5-3 win over Holy Cross

By Patrick Ambrosio | November 6

A relentless offense and sound defense led the field hockey team to their fourth consecutive PL Title with a 5-3 victory over Holy Cross yesterday. The Eagles took an early lead nine minutes into the game on a penalty corner goal by Denise Infante. However, Holy Cross struck back quickly, scoring just two minutes later to tie the game.

---

Sports

Volleyball puts streak at 14 with win over Navy

By Erin Keaveney | November 6

The AU women's volleyball team completed a three-game sweep of the Navy Midshipmen on Friday, recording their 14th straight victory and keeping a steady hold on first place in the Patriot League. The Eagles had no trouble prevailing in the first two matches, winning 30-18 and 30-8 respectively, and out hitting the Midshipmen by a wide margin.

---

Sports

Swimming competes at Bucknell Sprint Invite

By Justin Hall | November 6

The AU swimming and diving teams competed at the Bucknell Sprint Invite over the weekend, picking up a victory in the 200 meter Free style relay as well as four top-four finishes overall in the meet. In an ultra-close 200-meter freestyle relay race, the foursome of Chris Leggett, Matt Bank, Matt Pelletier and Joe Coronato were able to claim victory with a time of 1:27.

---

Sports

Bald Canadians, diabetic rookies and drive-bys: The NBA is back

By Patrick Ambrosio | November 2

After the success that was last week's MLB awards column (and since nobody sent in any questions to answer and I didn't feel like making any up this week), I had to decide between two possible topics: NFL Midseason Awards or NBA Season Preview. Although making fun of Brett Favre never gets old (can't say the same thing about Brett), anticipation over the return of Hubie Brown to our televisions made this one an easy decision.

---

Sports

Women's hockey wins season opener

By Justin Hall | November 2

Growing up, many kids playing youth hockey hope to one day be good enough to skate on the same ice as their NHL heroes. For a group of AU girls, this dream became a reality on Oct. 21, when the AU women's ice hockey team took on the University of Maryland at the Verizon Center for the third annual "Beltway Battle" between the two clubs.

---

Sports

Field hockey captures PL regular season title; beats Holy Cross 4-1

By Patrick Ambrosio | October 30

In their last regular season game, the senior players on the AU field hockey team made sure that they'll play at home at least one more time. Seniors Camila Infante, Tiffany Carter and Kaitlin DeTroia provided all of the offense for the Eagles in their 4-1 victory over Holy Cross to clinch the Patriot League Regular Season Championship.

---

Sports

Senior Day spoiled for women's soccer, shut out by Colgate to miss PL playoffs

By Erin Keaveney | October 30

The AU women's soccer team suffered a devastating shutout on Saturday afternoon with a 2-0 loss to Colgate, putting a damper on Senior Day and effectively eliminating them from the Patriot League playoffs. Locked in a fourth-place tie with Lehigh coming into Saturday's game, American needed a win or a tie to get an automatic playoff berth.

---

Sports

Cross Country wins fifth straight PL championship

October 30

The AU men's cross country team had a successful run at the Patriot League Cross Country Championships on Saturday, winning their fifth straight title. The team was led by junior Brendan Fennell's first-place finish, who was one of five AU runners to finish in the top eight spots.

---

Sports

Men's soccer falls to Army 3-2, miss PL tournament for first time since '03

By Justin Hall | October 30

The AU men's soccer team failed to earn a spot in the PL postseason for the first time since 2003 on Saturday, losing to Army 3-2 in the regular season finale. The loss ends the Eagles' season at 2-3-2 in the league and 6-10-3 overall, finishing with its fewest win total since the 1991 season.

---

Sports

Fat toads, midgets and a homeless man: The Eagle's MLB awards for 2006

By Patrick Ambrosio | October 26

The dorms shut off air conditioning and two teams from the Midwest are playing a World Series that nobody cares about, so it's about time baseball season ended. Here are the Eagle Awards for the 2006 season. The Javy Lopez Award (Best Performance in a Contract Year): Jeff Suppan, SP, STL In 15 innings against New York, Suppan allowed only one run (which came on a bloop single) and was named NLCS MVP.

---

Sports

Men's soccer has first home loss

By Justin Hall | October 26

The AU men's soccer team lost at Reeves Field for the first time this season, falling to Navy 1-0. The loss prevented the Eagles from clinching a spot in the PL tournament and kept their slim one point lead over fifth-place Bucknell with one PL game remaining.

---

Sports

Beardslee back on track, helps cross country stay in front

By Erin Keaveney | October 26

Most athletes who are sidelined by a season-ending injury enter an intense rehab regiment and can take months to get back into top form. That wasn't the case with AU runner Dan Beardslee. After missing the entire cross country season last fall due to a right leg injury, the senior captain is back and dominating the course.

---

Sports

Women's soccer in third after weekend play

By Erin Keaveney | October 23

Despite recording a no-decision in their first match of the weekend, the AU women's soccer team grabbed three points in the Patriot League standings this weekend with a 1-0 win over Lehigh yesterday afternoon. The Eagles got off to a slow start, with both teams failing to score in the first half.

---