For the first time since the 2005 season, Harvard baseball won the Ivy League Playoff Series, defeating Columbia by an 8-6 score in a pulse-racing 11-inning affair and advancing to the Regional round of the NCAA Tournament.
In April, Coach Jenny Allard lauded the Crimson (23-17, 16-5 Ivy) for “not having as many quality at bats as we’d like” and “giving pitches away”; last weekend, the team blew those fears out of the water, clinching their second straight Ivy League Title on Saturday and taking the trophy outright on Sunday.
A 7-2 victory over Brown in Providence on Monday guaranteed Harvard its first regular season Ivy League championship since 2005, and the right to host Columbia in the Championship Series on May 18 and 19.
After three illustrious seasons at Harvard, the blue-liner will forego his senior campaign, for which he was elected a tri-captain, and embark on his NHL career.
With strong support systems on “both sides of the river”, these seniors believe more student-athletes can pursue a thesis while continuing to excel on the field.
For McColl and the other seniors, the berth into the Tournament is especially meaningful. The veterans of the Crimson squad will leave their mark on the program as they don a Harvard uniform for the last couple of times.
But contributing to the record of Harvard athletics and making memories with the small (yet fearsome) band of fellow sportswriters at 14P has given me some great stories of my own to tell. And I will continue to tell them for years to come.
A recap of the 2018-2019 Harvard men's hockey season.
A stalwart in front of the net, the former England U-18 team captain immediately solidified herself as one of the best at her position across the NCAA.
While a significant number of ‘08-09 Crimson athletes had at least brief careers as professional athletes, just 11 — slightly over one percent — still are.
When he lost his shoe between the 400m and 500m mark of the race, he had enough of the unnatural motion and kicked it off, exposing his bare foot to the track.
While I will probably forget the final score of that game in 10 years, I will never forget the way my teammates made me feel.
While the accomplishment is truly remarkable, Tertsch’s initial reaction was rather neutral, considering her performance.
By season’s end the Ivy League had bestowed seven such honors, enough to surpass a program record held by Siyani Chambers ‘16-17 and Dan Clemente ‘01.
Despite shared time with three other backs, Shampklin rose quickly to the top of the league. By the conclusion of the season, the sophomore led in total rushing yards — and it wasn’t even close.
Throughout her childhood, Harvard hockey continued to play a major role even after she moved on from the learn-to-skate to youth teams.
So it was all the more heartbreaking when, after skirting past Brown, 11-10, Harvard fell to Princeton in the NEWPC championship, 12-10.
Not only did both squash teams meet those expectations, but they smashed them, as both went undefeated and cruised to national championships.
The fairytale comeback was indicative of a truly storybook season for Harvard Baseball.
