2011 was a big year in Harvard athletics. Women’s soccer captured its third Ivy League championship in four years. The men’s basketball team took home a share of the Ancient Eight title and entered the nation’s Top 25, both firsts in program history. Football set a modern-era program record for points in a season, scoring 374 points en route to a 9-1 finish and a league crown. Four other teams—men’s fencing, men’s heavyweight and lightweight crew, and softball—also finished 2011 on top of the Ivy League standings.
There were a number of standout individual performances as well. Women’s fencer Alexandra Kiefer captured the NCAA Foil Individual title. Men’s basketball forward Keith Wright became just the second player in Harvard history to take home Ivy League Player of the Year honors. Women’s soccer and lacrosse captain Melanie Baskind was named to the First Team All-Ivy in two different sports and was selected as the Ivy League Player of the Year in soccer.
We at The Back Page have taken on the tall task of determining the best Harvard athlete of 2011. Here’s how it will go down: we’ve selected 16 standout Harvard athletes—eight male and eight female—and set up two single elimination brackets. Each round, Harvard’s finest will square off in head-to-head matchups. And based on their performances in 2011, we will determine who advances and who is eliminated until just one male and one female remain. Then, the two champs will square off to determine the top Harvard athlete of 2011.
Recently we released the first-round winners on the male side of the bracket. Today, we reveal the winner of our first semifinal matchup between football's Josue Ortiz and men's basketball's Keith Wright.
Check back all this week as we go through our selections.
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2011 was a big year in Harvard athletics. Women’s soccer captured its third Ivy League championship in four years. The men’s basketball team took home a share of the Ancient Eight title and entered the nation’s Top 25, both firsts in program history. Football set a modern-era program record for points in a season, scoring 374 points en route to a 9-1 finish and a league crown. Four other teams—men’s fencing, men’s heavyweight and lightweight crew, and softball—also finished 2011 on top of the Ivy League standings.
There were a number of standout individual performances as well. Women’s fencer Alexandra Kiefer captured the NCAA Foil Individual title. Men’s basketball forward Keith Wright became just the second player in Harvard history to take home Ivy League Player of the Year honors. Women’s soccer and lacrosse captain Melanie Baskind was named to the First Team All-Ivy in two different sports and was selected as the Ivy League Player of the Year in soccer.
We at The Back Page have taken on the tall task of determining the best Harvard athlete of 2011. Here’s how it will go down: we’ve selected 16 standout Harvard athletes—eight male and eight female—and set up two single elimination brackets. Each round, Harvard’s finest will square off in head-to-head matchups. And based on their performances in 2011, we will determine who advances and who is eliminated until just one male and one female remain. Then, the two champs will square off to determine the top Harvard athlete of 2011.
Last week, we went through each of the individual matchups. Now, it’s time to reveal the winners. Yesterday we revealed the first-round winners from the first half of the men's bracket. Today we reveal the other half.
Check back all this week as we go through our selections.
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2011 was a big year in Harvard athletics. Women’s soccer captured its third Ivy League championship in four years. The men’s basketball team took home a share of the Ancient Eight title and entered the nation’s Top 25, both firsts in program history. Football set a modern-era program record for points in a season, scoring 374 points en route to a 9-1 finish and a league crown. Four other teams—men’s fencing, men’s heavyweight and lightweight crew, and softball—also finished 2011 on top of the Ivy League standings.
There were a number of standout individual performances as well. Women’s fencer Alexandra Kiefer captured the NCAA Foil Individual title. Men’s basketball forward Keith Wright became just the second player in Harvard history to take home Ivy League Player of the Year honors. Women’s soccer and lacrosse captain Melanie Baskind was named to the First Team All-Ivy in two different sports and was selected as the Ivy League Player of the Year in soccer.
We at The Back Page have taken on the tall task of determining the best Harvard athlete of 2011. Here’s how it will go down: we’ve selected 16 standout Harvard athletes—eight male and eight female—and set up two single elimination brackets. Each round, Harvard’s finest will square off in head-to-head matchups. And based on their performances in 2011, we will determine who advances and who is eliminated until just one male and one female remain. Then, the two champs will square off to determine the top Harvard athlete of 2011.
Last week, we went through each of the individual matchups. Now, it’s time to reveal the winners. First, we take a look at two first-round men’s matchups.
Check back all this week as we go through our selections.
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The Harvard men's basketball team rose to No. 24 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll after picking up wins over Monmouth and Dartmouth.
Last week, after losing to Fordham, the then-No. 21/22 Harvard men’s basketball team plummeted out of the AP Top 25 and fell four spots to No. 25 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.
This week went a bit better for the Crimson, which gained ground in both of the two major polls, released Monday afternoon. Fueled by wins over Monmouth and George Washington, Harvard moved to No. 24 in the coaches poll and picked up six more points in the AP.
With the Crimson’s at-large hopes largely shot thanks to the Jan. 3 loss to the Rams, Harvard will likely have to take the Ivy League title to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 66 years. 1-0 in league play so far thanks to a 63-47 win against Dartmouth at Lavietes Pavilion, Harvard has only conference games left on its slate.
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Men's lacrosse tri-captain Kevin Vaughan was selected with the 14th selection by the Denver Outlaws in Thursday night's MLL draft. Teammate Daniel DiMaria went 41st to the Charlotte Hounds.
Unlike many of their fellow seniors at Harvard, Kevin Vaughan and Daniel DiMaria no longer have to worry about finding employment after graduation this May.
Instead, they are on their way to becoming professional lacrosse players, as the two Crimson standouts were selected in the Major League Lacrosse collegiate draft Friday night.
Vaughan, a tri-captain and midfielder from Ridgewood, N.J., was taken in the second round—the 14th pick overall—by the Denver Outlaws. DiMaria, a defenseman from Dix Hills, N.Y., was taken four rounds later—the 41st overall selection—by the Charlotte Hounds, an expansion franchise.
“I’m still taking it all in,” DiMaria said. “I thought I had a good chance [of getting drafted], but you never really know what’s going to happen with that, so I wasn’t sure. It turns out I was, and I’m really pumped about it.”
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