Though training for the spring season is just getting underway, the women’s lacrosse team will be stepping up to a hefty challenge Saturday evening when it faces the U.S. women’s national senior team under the lights at Soldiers Field Soccer Stadium. Leading the squad will be Jessica Halpern, the team’s top scorer in 2009. After a leave of absence following a season-ending injury last year, J-Halp is back and ready to tackle three-legged mice as well as the rest of the Ivy League. Every week, The Full-Court Press will give you the sort of personal scoop that you’re not likely to hear at a typical press conference.

Name: Jessica Halpern

Year: Senior

Stats: After winning Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2008, Halpern played in all 16 games her sophomore season, leading the Crimson in points (55) and goals (46), six of which came in a season-opening win against Holy Cross. She led the Ivy League in goals per game and points per game that spring.

Now, to the questions!

1.Typical pre-game meal.

Definitely have got to say that I load up on carbs pre-gametime.  Pasta and bread (with oil and vinegar, of course) are definitely go-tos in the dhall so that I am energized for the game next day.  And no meal ever ends without a bowl of cereal, usually made by my roommate, who makes the best cereal combinations at Harvard.

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Reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year Kyle Casey suffered a broken metatarsal while playing pickup basketball with his teammates Saturday afternoon at Lavietes Pavilion, Casey told The Crimson last night.

Casey will undergo surgery at Boston’s Baptist Hospital tomorrow and is expected to miss between six and eight weeks before returning to the court.

“I got the ball and made a hard cut going to the rim,” Casey said. “I felt a pop, and I fell.”

Casey had X-rays taken yesterday afternoon that revealed the break in his foot.

Casey will likely miss the opening portion of Harvard’s nonconference schedule but is expected to return in time for the start of Ivy League play.

“It could have been worse, so I’m just trying to stay optimistic, but it’s pretty bad news for myself and my team,” Casey said.

Heading into his sophomore season, Casey was predicted by several media outlets to contend for the Ivy League Player of the Year Award while helping the Crimson compete for its first conference title. As a freshman, Casey led the Crimson in rebounding and finished second in scoring, averaging 10.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.

Sometimes, there just isn’t a whole lot to cheer about.

The luckless, winless Buffalo Bills were smashed, 38-14, by the visiting New York Jets, marking the Bills’ second loss in a row with Harvard alum Ryan Fitzpatrick ’05 at the helm.

The Jets, keyed by the play of LaDanian Tomlinson, had a 31-point lead going into the final quarter. Things got so out of hand that New York could afford to bring in Mark Brunell, who was born during the height of the Nixon Administration and whose prime probably came in 1999.

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We certainly hear about plenty of Harvard athletes making their mark on an international level, even a few on the Olympic stage—but at the Commonwealth Games? Not so much.

The Commonwealth Games, the Olympic equivalent for the members of the British Empire, will be held for the 19th time beginning this Sunday in Delhi, India, where Siddharth Suchde ’07 will be representing the host country.

Suchde was a top-tier squash player at Harvard from 2003-2007 and won the national championship his senior year. According to the Hindustan Times, “with his Harvard degree, hard body and steely nerves, 25-year-old Siddarth Suchde is India’s second highest-ranking player in squash, a game that puts immense strain on the joints and mind.”

Such elaborate praises for Suchde and other individual athletes have been just about the only positive news coming out of the Commonwealth Games so far.

Preparations for the event have been riddled with political and social scandals and various other mishaps.

Several athletes have withdrawn from the Games, with one Australian participant leaving after he found a snake in his bedroom in the athlete village. Other competitors have also withdrawn citing general safety concerns, and it looks like their worries weren’t too farfetched.

In the past week and a half, a footbridge to one of the main venues collapsed, a part of the roof over the weightlifting arena caved in, and two tourists were shot outside of Jama Masjid, one of Old Delhi’s largest attractions.

To find out if the Commonwealth Games can overcome their dismal start and to see how Harvard’s representative performs, click here.

“Hey, this ain’t the MLB, kid. We only have five balls,” said one of the Harvard club baseball team members when a fan caught a foul ball and wanted to keep it.

When Harvard decided to get rid of junior varsity sports programs and transform them into club programs due to budget cuts, the Harvard club baseball team had to take on a good deal of the financial burden. The guys lost their coaches and had to schedule practices and games themselves. The Undergraduate Council Finance Committee gives the club baseball team $2,000, but it’s not enough to cover all of the squad’s equipment.

But these setbacks have not stopped the club from succeeding and coming together as a team. Even though it’s not a varsity sport, the team takes the practices and games just as seriously. The men are 7-1 so far for the fall season. It may sound crazy for a baseball team to already be playing games this early in the school year, but the squad plays a full season in both the fall and the spring.

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