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.

Earlier this morning, we took a look at the matchup between Rebecca Nadler and Laura Gemmell. Now, we turn our attention to our second showdown on the women’s side: fencer Alexandra Kiefer v. hockey’s Josephine Pucci.

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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.

Yesterday we finished off the first round on the men’s side of the bracket. Today we turn to the women, as skier Rebecca Nadler squares off against squash’s Laura Gemmell. Check back next week when the winners of each matchup will be revealed.

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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.

Earlier today we took a look at Winters v. Gibbons. Now, we focus our attention on the final first-round matchup on the men's side: squash's Gary Power against lightweight rower Andrew Campbell.

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Although the Harvard men’s hockey team hasn’t been able to find its rhythm in the young 2011-12 campaign, both senior forward Alex Killorn and junior defenseman Danny Biega certainly have. For their play, the two received nominations for the prestigious Hobey Baker Memorial Award.

Given in honor of Hobey Baker, a World War I veteran and a talented amateur athlete at Princeton, the award is given annually to the best player in collegiate hockey, though other attributes, including exemplary character, integrity, sportsmanship, and academic achievement, are taken into consideration.

Killorn and Biega have a tough act to follow. In the past, the Crimson hockey program boasts three Hobey Baker award recipients: Mark Fusco ’83 in 1982-83, Scott Fusco ’85-86 in 1985-86, and Lane MacDonald ’88-89 in 1988-89. Harvard is only behind Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth in the overall number of award recipients.

Killorn, an assistant captain, also received a nomination for the award last season. Through 14 games, Killorn’s 18 points and nine goals are Harvard bests while his .64 goals per game and 1.29 points per game rank 13th and 16th nationally, respectively. Killorn was drafted in the third round of the 2007 NHL Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Biega, drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2010, has 17 points, second in the nation for a defenseman. He leads the Crimson squad with 13 assists, eighth best in collegiate hockey.

At this stage, 77 hockey players have been nominated. 10 finalists will be named on March 15, with the field narrowed to three on March 29. The winner will receive the honor at the Frozen Four Championship on April 6.

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.

After examining the matchup between Keith Wright and Matt Jones yesterday, we now turn to a faceoff between football’s Collier Winters and lacrosse’s Dean Gibbons. Check back next week to see the winners of the first-round matchups.

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